The third night of practice at the 2014 Isle of Man TT Races ended prematurely following an incident at the top of Barregarrow and poor weather settling in for the evening.
The session began at 6:25pm following a few spots of rain in the air around 6pm, prompting some riders to play it safe and take out their Supersport machines, while some braved it out on the 1000cc bikes.
Michael Dunlop and Ian Hutchinson were the first away, followed by Guy Martin and James Hillier, all four opting to take their Superbikes out for a lap. William Dunlop, Gary Johnson and Michael Rutter all followed suit, while Conor Cummins set out on his Superstock bike. Meanwhile Bruce Anstey, Keith Amor and Dan Kneen took out their 600cc machines.
Michael Dunlop was the first man back to the grandstand, posting a lap of 128.690mph, just a shade slower than his best lap of Tuesday, with Martin also lapping at over 128mph. William Dunlop was third fastest with a 127.911mph lap, followed by Dean Harrison‘s personal best lap of 126.521mph. The only other riders to break the 125mph barrier were Rutter, Hutchinson and Dan Stewart, with Johnson retiring at Douglas Road Corner.
It was another good night for newcomers, with six riders posting laps over 110mph, the fastest of which was Peter Hickman, who put in a 117.895mph lap.
Cummins topped the Superstock timesheets (126.268mph), while Anstey’s 123.127mph lap was good enough to top the Supersport category. John McGuinness could only manage a lap at 122.387mph, which can be blamed on rain settling in from Ramsey onwards.
While most riders decided to go out for a second lap, they were almost immediately stopped by the red flag when newcomer Laurent Hoffmann was involved in an accident at the top of Barregarrow. Hoffmann was airlifted to Nobles Hospital where he was undergoing further assessment on what is believed to be leg injuries.
During the cleanup of Hoffmann’s incident, the north of the Island was welcomed with heavier rain, forcing the clerk of the course to call off any further action around 7:30pm.
