Dan Cooper is in high spirits ahead of race week at the 2011 Isle of Man TT after getting in some valuable track time on Friday evening.
The Stroud rider was compromised after the solo riders saw their sessions cancelled on Thursday due to an oil spillage in the sidecar session, but was able to get back down to business yesterday evening.
Cooper chose to take the Triumph Daytona 675cc out on Friday, putting in three successive laps and eventually setting a lap of 115.063mph comfortably ensuring qualification for the two four-lap Supersport races in 38th position.
After a slight problem on the Wednesday evening with the front mudguard rubbing, the issue was resolved in time for Friday's session and the 24-year-old was able to complete some solid, consistent laps.
A road traffic accident saw the start of the day's running delayed and as a result, Cooper was unable to take his Honda Superstock machine out for a run but his time on Wednesday had already booked his spot in tomorrow's first Superbike race, which starts at midday.
Team Principal Paul Rees was happy with the progress the Centurion Racing team has made, and is looking forward to the racing getting underway.
“I’m happy with how the week’s gone and although we would have liked more track time it’s been the same for everyone and what time we’ve had, we’ve used it well and it was good to get a full night in tonight after Thursday’s cancellation. Dan’s found the big bike a bit of a beast but he’s been relaxed the whole way through and just been going about his business intelligently and professionally.”
“He’s enjoying himself as are all the team and it’s great to be here. Everyone’s so friendly and the atmosphere amongst all the competitors is superb so we can now look forward to race week. It’s the Superbike TT first, a full six laps, so we’re all hoping Dan has a good, safe and enjoyable ride to put us all in a good frame of mind for the rest of the week.”
Racing gets underway at the 2011 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy on Saturday, with the Dainese Superbike race kicking things off at midday with the Sure Sidecar race one following at 3pm. Live Radio TT commentary and live timing of all 2011 Isle of Man TT Races will be available at www.iomtt.com.
