Senior Manx Grand Prix race cancelled

MIST on the mountain and deteriorating weather conditions caused the main Senior Manx Grand Prix race to be cancelled on Friday for only the second time in its history.

Although Friday started with over an hours delay to racing, the Lightweight/Supertwin finally got underway at 12:10pm before being red flagged as the leaders reached Glen Helen on the second lap due to weather conditions.

The Lightweight/Supertwin race restarted at 2pm for a 2-lap dash which saw James Cowton in more despair as he retired at Sarah’s Cottage during the second lap and was unable to repair his machine before the restarted race.

2009 Manx Grand Prix winner Michael Russell set the fastest opening lap of 107.71mph with Michael Sweeney close behind with 107.68mph and Wigan’s Rob Hodson in third.

Sweeney crossed the line first, but on corrected time Russell won by less than a second with an average speed of 104.950mph. Wigan's Rob Hodson was confirmed in third taking the final podium place.

Alistair Haworth won the Lightweight race with a race time of 44:36.148 which ran alongside the Supertwin race with Colin Martin in second and Alex Sinclair finishing third which remained the top three since the end of lap 2.

Wednesday morning saw the Newcomers A, B and C races occur alongside each other.

In the Newcomers A race, mainly featuring 600cc machines, Christopher Dixon had a lead of nearly 40s at the of the second lap from Marc Livesey, however Dixon gained a 30s time penalty for speeding out of the pits at the end of the second lap, reducing said lead.

Dixon managed to regain time and took the victory in the Newcomers A race with Connor Behan in second and Marc Livesey taking third.

Callum Collister won the Newcomers B Supertwin race for Martin Bullock Manxsport team with consistent 108mph laps plus a lap record of 110.159 on his final lap building a lead of over 40s ahead of fellow Manxman Joe Faragher with James Neesom in third.

The Newcomers C Lightweight race saw Irishman Ben Rea dominate by over one minute with an average lap speed of 102.643mph with Richard Wilson finishing second on his Yamaha and Derek Wilson third.

The Junior Manx Grand Prix followed in the afternoon with Cowton leading from the first lap with an advantage of 26s on the last lap until he unfortunately ran out of fuel at the Nook only a few miles from the chequered flag.

Michael Sweeney took the win with Michael Russell in second after holding third place for most of the race. Andy Lawson finished on the podium in third.