McGuinness sets imperious afternoon Classic Senior pace

Dunlop dominates again in Classic Superbike & Lightweight

John McGuinness set down a strong marker to beat at over 110mph in the Classic Senior session as one of the standout performances during this afternoon's Manx Grand Prix qualifying session.

During a busy few hours earlier on the Snaefell Mountain Course, Michael Dunlop maintained his Classic Superbike supremacy just off lap record speed whilst also topping the Lightweight MGP times this time around.

There was change at the summit of the Junior MGP table with Andrea Majola going quickest whilst Daniel Ingham set the benchmark in the Senior MGP.

An extended opening slot this afternoon allowed the Lightweight, Classic Senior and Junior MGP machines to get some important laps out on the course after some disruption during the opening days.

The leading Lightweight MGP machines were first on the road and - having had limited time on his bike in the class so far - Michael Dunlop went quickest on the MD Racing Honda at 115.964mph and 7.23 seconds ahead of second-fastest man Ian Lougher (115.253mph) who'd previously set the benchmark in the Lightweight category in the last three days.

Elsewhere - having been quickest so far of the Classic Senior competitors - John McGuinness upped the standards again on the Team Winfield Paton to set an imperious fastest pace of 110.848mph on his flying lap, a full 35.5 seconds ahead of his nearest contender, Dean Harrison (107.722mph).

The runout also meant the Junior MGP machines were able to get much needed practice time with the biggest statement coming from Italian competitor, Andrea Majola who went past the 116mph mark on his flying lap at 116.102mph to set the fastest pace of the class.

Close behind was Manxman Marc Colvin just 2.319 seconds back (115.872mph) at second-quickest before another gap of just over two seconds to Victor Lopez in third (115.579mph).

There was also valuable time for the newly-introduced Ultra-Lightweight machines and for the second session running, Isle of Man rider, Paul Cassidy, proved to be the man to beat on the Island Fuels Kawasaki at 109.281mph ahead of Daniel Ingham (106.622mph) and Jonathan Perry (106.117mph).

Cassidy's time sat just under the current Ultra Lightweight lap record of 109.680 set by Keith Taylor in 2003.

Into the second part of the session for the Classic Superbike and Senior MGP competitors, and it was a familiar story in the former as Michael Dunlop maintained his supremacy.

On board the Team Classic Suzuki he clocked a best speed of 125.699mph to top the leaderboard but it was change in behind from the previous session as David Johnson (124.433mph) slotted into second with Dean Harrison (124.256mph) going third quickest.

Meanwhile the pace was rising at the top of the Senior MGP class with this afternoon seeing Daniel Ingham setting the pace this time at 120.251mph whilst Tom Robinson (120.128mph) and Manx newcomer Joe Yeardsley (119.318mph) went second and third respectively.

A second MGP qualifying session is due to take place this evening with roads around the mountain course due to close at 6pm.

The Senior MGP and Classic Superbike machines will be first away at 6.30pm followed by the Junior MGP, Lightweight MGP and Classic Senior classes at 7.15pm.

Roads are then scheduled to reopen no later than 9pm.