Six more class fastest speeds were achieved in Thursday’s Practice, which was run in good conditions once a 20 minute delay for road cleaning had been endured.

The fastest lap of the week was set by 31-year-old company director Craig Atkinson from Keighley in West Yorkshire. Riding a 750cc Suzuki for Martin Bullock Racing, he lapped in 19 minutes 17.01 seconds, an average speed of 117.396mph.

Derek Brien (29), a carpenter from Bellewstown continued his grip on the Junior class by improving his previous best lap by 15 seconds. He lapped in 19 minutes 33.84 seconds, 115.713mph.

Sweden’s Mats Nilsson maintained his dominance of the 750cc Newcomers’ class by lapping his 600cc Yamaha in 19 minutes 58.54 seconds, 113.328mph.

31-year-old IT engineer Tony Cawte from Crosby, Isle of Man, took over leadership of the Lightweight by taking the Mannin Collections 250cc Honda round in 20 minutes 27.53mph, 110.651mph.

Michael Dunlop (18) a mechanic from Ballymoney continued as 125/400cc Newcomers’ leader, improving by 27 seconds at 103.812mph, a time of 21 minutes 48.40 seconds.

And Alan Oversby, a 48-year-old metal fabricator from Bolton-le-Sands rose to the top of the Senior Classic by lapping his 500cc Manx Norton in 22 minutes 02.12 seconds, an average speed of 102.735mph.

Three class speeds were not improved upon in Thursday’s session. The Junior Classic stands to Chris McGahan (Honda) at 99.638mph, the Lightweight Classic to Peter Wakefield (Suzuki) at 93.342mph, and the Ultra-Lightweight to Joe Phillips
(400 Kawasaki) at 105.079mph. All three of those times and speeds were set on Wednesday. The penultimate main practice session is on Friday evening at 6.15pm.