HM Plant Honda's John McGuinness raised the TT Superbike practice lap bar to 130.171mph tonight despite head-butting his screen after going over Ballaugh Bridge too quickly and shattering it.
McGuinness is only 1.5s off the outright lap record, which he also holds, and his lap tonight is the Superbike lap record, but it yet to be officially ratified by the stewards.
The Lancastrian set a fairly pedestrian opening lap of 126.391mph after getting stuck behind some slower riders on the approach to Sulby which meant his first lap through the speed-trap was only 158.600mph.
However, the first flying lap saw McGuinness wind the wick up and equal his Sulby speed from yesterday at 191.200, which comes after Ballaugh, so he had no protection from the wind for the rest of the lap, which was two miles an hour faster than next best man Hydrex Honda's Guy Martin.
"I felt comfortable and the bike is good. I left my braking into Ballaugh a little bit later than usual and came down hard, butted the screen and shattered it," said McGuinness.
"So for the rest of the second lap, I didn't have a screen so got lots of buffeting down Sulby Straight and over the mountain. I'm confident now on the Superbike and would like to race it tomorrow."
On the first lap out, McGuinness led from Bruce Anstey and Ian Hutchinson as far as Ballaugh but after his incident, Anstey took over on the timing screens right until the final sector, when Hutchinson went fastest with a 127.963, Anstey just behind on a 127.984, Martin with a 127.598 and Steve Plater a mile an hour down.
McGuinness was then on a mission for the whole of lap two, fastest in every sector with Martin and Plater swapping places between Ballaugh and Sulby before Martin opened a gap at Ramsey and was second over the line. Plater set a 1'28.453 while Martin clocked in at 129.168.
Michel Dunlop set the quickest Supersport lap with a 125.085 before he jumped onto the Norton rotary which made it all the way to Braddan Bridge, two miles, before it ceased to function.
Hutchinson was second quickest on the 600s with a 122.976mph lap, Swede Mats Nilsson was third fastest on a 121.817 while William Dunlop was fourth just fractionally down on Nilsson.
Newcomer Jenny Tinmouth blitzed her Supersport 98.857mph from yesterday, putting in a 104.259 on her first flyer, beating it by a gnat's on the third lap and then stuck in a whopping 107.415 on her last lap, going through Sulby at 150.800 - on a three-year-old CBR600.
Hutchison was quickest on the Superstock bikes, lapping at 126.849 with Scotland's Keith Amor in second on a 126.769, Adrian Archibald third with a 124.315 lap and Plater just behind in fourth.
Olie Linsdell has been taken to hospital with leg injuries after a crash at Glen Duff.
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READ STEVE PLATER'S TT DIARY
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