Yesterday’s qualifying session at the 2019 Isle of Man TT saw the first running of the Superbike and Superstock machines. In bright but breezy conditions Conor Cummins showed his pace straight from the blocks, and by his second lap was looking to be on close to 130mph lap pace. However, he was black flagged as a precaution due to smoke thought to be issuing from his machine. He was cleared to continue, finishing his lap at just over 104mph average.

Dean Harrison, fastest in the Supersport practice on Sunday topped both the Superstock and Superbike classes with best laps of 129.34mph and 129.53mph respectively. Michael Dunlop left it until late in the session to show his pace, characteristically throwing in some of the fastest sector times of the session before rolling right off, keeping his true potential to himself and his team. He ended the session with best times of 124.11mph on the Superstock and 126.93mph on the Superbike, but clearly with much more to come.

Honda’s David Johnson clocked 126.63mph on his Superstock machine and 126.19mph on his Superbike, but his team mate Ian Hutchinson wasn’t so lucky, coming off at the 11th milestone albeit with no injuries reported. He was back in the paddock before the session ended but took no further part in the proceedings.

Paul Potchy Williams who was off at Governor’s Dip but reported to be OK, Emmett Burke and Jason Corcoran were both taken to Noble’s Hospital after separate incidents. Emmett Burke was reported to have leg injuries and Jason Corcoran was said to have a neck injury.

The Sidecars entered the fray at the end of the solo sessions and it was the pairing of John Holden and Lee Cain who made the headlines, coming within a hair’s breadth of a 115mph lap from a standing start.

Their marker of 114.99mph wasn’t topped for the rest of the session, although Pete Founds and Jevan Walmsley came closest at 114.40mph (just 2.2 seconds outside their best ever time).

2018 winners and lap record holders Ben and Tom Birchall lapped at 111.55mph. Tim Reeves & Mark Wilkes (112.29mph), Alan Founds & Jake Lowther (111.89) and Lewis Blackstock & Patrick Rosney (111.80mph) all slotting in ahead of them.

The real stars of the session were Ryan and Callum Crowe who managed 109.76mph on their first ever lap of the course.