2022 Isle of Man TT | Hickman ups the pace, West injured in fiery crash

Peter Hickman consolidated his status as the hot favourite for the 2022 Isle of Man TT by becoming the first rider to crack 130mph on the second day of practice for the road racing event.

However, Tuesday evening’s session was overshadowed by a session-stopping accident for Sam West, who is reported to have sustained hand and leg injuries in a high-speed crash at Laurel Bank.

After Sunday’s initiation laps, Tuesday marked the second proper day of mileage for the TT contenders across all classes with Hickman, defending champion Dean Harrison (DAO Kawasaki) and Davy Todd (Padgetts by Milenco Honda) breaking clear at the head of the pack with their first laps.

From here though Hickman on the Gas Monkey FHO BMW M 1000 RR stretched his legs, circulating the course at a speed of 130.72mph, giving him a seven second advantage over Harrison (129.84mph).

Todd continued his impressive start to the event with a best Superbike lap that placed him third on 128.024mph, though his fastest loop of the day came on the Superstock specification Honda CBR1000RR-R with a class-topping 129.58mph.

Michael Dunlop followed up in fourth place on the Hawk Suzuki, followed by John McGuinness in fifth on the factory Honda Fireblade, the pair posting 127.944mph and 127.771mph efforts.

Classified in sixth but taking no further part in the TT was West, whose promising start to the event was brought to an abrupt conclusion with a fast crash at Laurel Bank that has left him nursing what is understood to be a broken leg. With the incident also causing his BMW to catch fire on impact, it forced the session to be red-flagged to be cleared.

West was one of five riders to suffer accidents on the second night of practice. As well as West, Michael Sweeney was airlifted to hospital after a crash at 11th Milestone, suffering suspected arm and leg injuries 

Ilja Cajouw was taken to hospital after suffering an off at 27th Milestone but has been discharged, while James Chawke and Jonathan Perry also came down without harm.

Behind Todd on the SSTK timesheets was team-mate Conor Cummins, while the sidelined West will be left to rue what might have been having been third best prior to his accident.