Nigel Moore takes Manx Grand Prix’s Supertwin honours
Ross Johnson wins thrilling Lighweight race
NORTHERN Irishman Nigel Moore claimed the honours in Wednesday’s Manx Grand Prix Supertwin Race while Ross Johnson held off a late challenge from Tim Sayers to take the Lightweight title.
There was drama at the start of the former race when one of the pre-race favourites Phil McGurk, who was due to start in third place, broke a gear lever in Parc Ferme ahead of the race and had to start from the back of the grid.
McGurk was actually the leader at the first timing point, Glen Helen, but by the end of the first lap Moore with 20:29.11 (110.509mph) had a 17-second lead over Trevor Ferguson (20:46.41 – 108.975mph) with Michael Sweeney a further seven seconds back in third.
McGurk came into the pits in fifth place for repairs to the gear lever at the end of lap one but quit in the pits leaving Moore to build on his lead on lap two with Brian Mateer moving up into third by Ballaugh.
That remained the top three approaching the end of the second lap, with all three leading riders due into the pits at the end of the second lap. A good pit stop by Moore’s team saw him consolidate his lead at Glen Helen.
An incident at the Nook on the second lap saw Sweeney move into second and Brian Mateer take third at the end of the second lap although Rab Davie moved ahead of Mateer by Glen Helen on the third lap.
At the end of the third lap, Moore still led by a commanding one minute 25 seconds from Sweeney but Mateer moved back into the final podium position easing ahead of Davie with Andrew Dudgeon, winner of Saturday’s Newcomer B SuperTwins race, holding a credible fifth place.
The top three retained their positions at the end of the fourth lap with Moore taking the MGP SuperTwin title with 1:22.09.61 – (110.214mph) from Michael Sweeney (1:24.00.73 – 107.784mph) with Brian Mateer finishing third 1:24.28.55 – (107.193mph).
LIGHTWEIGHT
In the concurrent Lightweight race, Alistair Haworth established a lead of almost 13 seconds from Ross Johnson after an opening lap of 21:29.84 (105.306) with Colin Martin on a 400cc Honda in third, Adam Jones fourth and Gavin Lupton fifth.
However, race leader Haworth retired at the Bungalow on lap two leaving Ross Johnson to move into the lead and by the time he pitted, he had built up a lead of half a minute from Sayers. The latter was a minute and a half ahead of Dave Corlett in third with Adam Jones fourth and Stephen Harper fifth. Lupton, who elected not to pit, moved into third place by Glen Helen.
Lupton pitted at the end of the third lap, which dropped him out of the top three. At the front of the race, Sayers cut Johnson’s lead to two seconds at Ramsey on the last lap. Johnson duly finished in an overall race time of 1:27.44.87 but had a tense wait of almost five minutes before Sayers finished in 1:27.47.09 for his victory to be confirmed on corrected time. Adam Jones (1:29.43.59 – 100.920) took the final podium place.
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Weather for Isle of Man
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 12 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 32 mph
Wind direction: North west
