Peter Hickman moved back to the top of the timesheets with a new top speed marker on day four of practice qualifying at the 2022 Isle of Man TT in a session otherwise overshadowed by the death of Supersport rider Mark Purslow.
The 29-year old from Llanon, Ceredigion in Wales crashed on his third lap at Ballagarey, just ahead of the fourth mile marker. The session was red flagged at 8.05pm before the call to end the session altogether, with organisers later confirming Purslow had succumbed to his injuries.
He becomes the 152nd person to die at the TT since its inauguration in 1907. Full statement and story HERE.
Prior to the incident, Hickman was back on top in Superbike class, the Gas Monkey FHO BMW M 1000 RR rider ramping up the pace once more with a new 131.957mph standard.
As it has been throughout the week, Dean Harrison and Davey Todd continued to provide Hickman’s closest competition in what is shaping up to be a three-way tussle for the Superbike and Senior TT glory next week.
Harrison kept Hickman honest with a similarly rapid 131.767mph revolution on the DAO Kawasaki ZX-10RR, while Todd continued his impressive pace on the Milenco by Padgetts Honda in a close third.
Conor Cummins became the latest rider to exceed 130mph as he ascended to fourth on the leaderboard, the Milenco by Padgetts Honda rider turning in a 130.174mph effort.
Focusing on Superstock and Supersport on Wednesday evening, Michael Dunlop holds onto fifth place aboard the Hawk Suzuki, with Honda’s John McGuinness a steady sixth on his Fireblade.
Jamie Coward (KTS Yamaha), Ian Hutchinson (Milwaukee BMW), James Hillier (OMG Yamaha) and Philip Crowe (Handtrans Haulage/Nigel Appleyard BMW) hold down the remainder of the top ten positions.
Elsewhere, Glenn Irwin’s initiation to the TT continued to make encouraging progress with a new personal best of 125.447mph, lifting him to 17th in terms of personal best speeds over the week.
Supersport / Sidecar
In the Supersport session, Michael Dunlop led an unchanged top three of himself, Dean Harrison on the Kawasaki ZX-6R and Lee Johnston (Ashcourt Yamaha), while Paul Jordan lifted himself to fourth on the PreZ Racing by Prosper Yamaha with a fresh best of 124.041mph.
In the Sidecar category, Ben and Tom Birchall hold the advantage on the Haith Honda with a new benchmark of 116.825mph, followed up by Peter Founds and Jevan Walmsley aboard the FHO Honda in second (115.432mph) and Ryan and Callum Crowe aboard the Haven Homes Honda in third (114.598mph).
