Tyco BMW’s Michael Dunlop finally got in a flying lap of the Mountain Course in the last practice session of the week, setting a 132.983, grazing the 17m barrer as he had to negotiate waved yellows at Les Graham after an earlier oil spill.
Dunlop had only managed standing-start laps so far after back-to-back testing parts and setup on two different S1000RRs but tonight he went straight through after his first lap and was on course at Ramsey to set the quickest lap of the week but had to knock it off through the yellow flags.
The Ballymoney man set the top three quickest laps of the evening, starting with a 132.331, then a 132.659 followed by his quickest.
Dean Harrison, his main rival in the blue riband classes, set a best of 131.858 after a first effort of 131.557 on the Silicone Kawasaki.
James Hiller set his first 130mph lap of the week, punting his Quattro JG Speedfit ZX-10R around at 130.644 on a flying lap while Gulf BMW’s David Johnson took fourth, also into the 130s with a 130.097 on a flying lap.
Conor Cummins, on the Padgetts Honda, set a 129.461 on his third lap and he beat Phil Crowe into fifth place. Ian Hutchinson put in a 128.006 on a flying lap.
Gary Johnson finished eighth on the RAF Reserves Kawasaki with a standing 127.877, just ahead of Michael Rutter who set a 127.448 from a standing start. Martin Jessopp was tenth on the Riders BMW with a 127.228 standing.
Derek Sheils, Lee Johnston, Jamie Coward, Ivan Lintin and Brian McCormack completed the top 15.