This year’s Classic TT Races presented by Bennetts will be brought to a thrilling climax on Bank Holiday Monday 28^th August with the four-lap Motorsport Merchandise Superbike Classic TT Race closing the 2017 race programme. And with a top quality line-up, it is expected to be another record-breaking affair.

Michael Dunlop, the winner of this race in 2013, 2015 and 2016, leads the entry on the 1100cc Team Classic Suzuki and with a near 127mph lap twelve months ago; it would be a brave man to bet against the Northern Irishman who again has the number three plate.

That will see him set off ten seconds behind 2014 winner and, arguably, his biggest rival - Bruce Anstey. The Kiwi has lapped at over 126mph on the Padgett’s Motorcycles YZR500 Yamaha and although he was out of luck last year, further refinements to the two-stroke machine should see him on record-breaking pace.

Just like this year’s Isle of Man TT Races, David Johnson will set off at number one with the Australian lining up on the 1100cc Team York Suzuki with his team-mate and namesake Gary Johnson hoping to make up for a disappointing season at number seven.

A significant threat to Dunlop’s dominance comes at number 9 with Dean Harrison on the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki looking to make amends for last year when he finished second only to be removed from the results due to a technical infringement.

The race is packed with potential race winners and podium finishers - none more so than at numbers four, five and six where Michael Rutter, James Hillier and William Dunlop line up. Rutter finished second last year but switches from the Winfield Yamaha to the Red Fox Grinta Racing Ducati he rode in 2015 whilst Dunlop, third in 2016, remains with the Herheim Racing Kawasaki team.

Meanwhile, Hillier lines up on the Oxford Products Ducati made famous in 1992 and 1993 by Trevor Nation, Mark Farmer and Robert Dunlop.

Conor Cummins, fresh from a strong outing at the Ulster Grand Prix, reverts back to his usual number ten on the Padgetts Motorcycles OW01 Yamaha with Josh Brookes ten seconds behind the Manx racer on the Advanced Performance Coatings Norton, arguably one of the most intriguing combinations in the entry list. 

Double Lightweight TT winner Ivan Lintin (12), who was running in the top six last year before retiring, returns with the Kraus Racing Kawasaki ten seconds ahead of Team York Suzuki’s Lee Johnston at 13 while two more potential podium finishers, at least, are also Kawasaki-mounted in the shape of the Mistral Racing pairing of Dan Kneen (14) and Jamie Coward (15), both of whom are enjoying excellent seasons.

Greenall Racing will field Horst Saiger (16) and Derek Sheils (18) on a pair of Kawasaki’s with Danny Webb (17) sandwiched in between them on the Team Classic Suzuki while Andrew Dudgeon (19) and Dan Hegarty (20) complete the top twenty on Kawasaki and Suzuki machinery respectively.

There are a whole host of privateers confirmed to race outside the top twenty who will be looking to impress including Phil Crowe, James Cowton, Michael Russell, Timothee Monot, John Barton, Dan Stewart, Dan Cooper and Michael Sweeney while David Madsen-Mygdal, Kiaran Hankin and Nick Jefferies are set to be the leading runners on the iconic RC30 Honda.

- Ends -

Classic TT Grandstand tickets are available now starting from as little at £5 with race day tickets priced at £20. VIP experiences, tickets for the RST Classic TT Legends Dinner on Sunday 27th and the Classic TT Prize giving on Monday 28th August are all available to buy now at iomtt.com or our sales hotline on (00 44) (0) 1624 640011.

The first qualifying session for the Classic TT takes place this Saturday 19^th August with live timing available via iomtt.com for all qualifying sessions and races.

Saturday’s schedule is as follows;
Roads Close at 1700 hrs until no later than 2100 hrs

1720 - 1745hrs: MGP & Classic TT Newcomers (speed controlled)
1730 - 1825hrs: MGP Senior /Junior /CTT 250/Superbike (No MGP/CTT Newcomers)
1830 - 1925hrs: Classic TT 350/500 / MGP Lightweight (No MGP/CTT Newcomers)
1930 - 2000hrs: All MGP Newcomers & CTT Newcomers (untimed)

Manx Radio will be live 7.30am on Friday 25th August with full coverage of the Festival of Motorcycling 2017 including Classic TT and Manx Grand Prix live commentary service. The station will also have practice reports each evening from Monday. You can listen online at manxradio.com, via the MR Smartphone app and via AM1368, 87.9FM in Douglas and 100.6FM in the north on Island.

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venue: Ashdown Farm, Knowle Hill, Evesham, Worcestershire, WR11 7PA

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EIGHTH PLACE FOR THE SPANIARD IN FP2, SAM LOWES IMPROVING

Practice conditioned by the weather has by now become a constant factor of recent MotoGP rounds. Even in Austria, the first day began on dry asphalt but under looming clouds which obviously influenced the teams' plans.

Aleix Espargaró, not entirely at ease in the early laps of FP1, continued working on the setup for his RS-GP throughout the session, using only one set of tyres and without ever attempting the final time attack in view of qualifying as almost all the other riders on the track did. His fifteenth place time in FP1 therefore did not worry the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, a sensation that was confirmed by Aleix's outstanding performance in FP2. After the rain, the Austrian track dried out progressively during the second session, allowing him to improve his time by almost one second. His 1'24.726 earned him ninth place in the combined standings and provisionally sends him straight through to Q2 tomorrow.

There was a lot of work for Sam Lowes, skilfully shaving off almost a half a second from one session to the next and eighteenth in the combined standings with a time of 1'25.270.

ALEIX ESPARGARO'
"I am happy with the way we finished the day, because this morning I did not have a good feeling with the RS-GP. Especially in braking, so much that we decided to try a big change in the geometry. Precisely for this reason, I did not use a soft tyre at the end of FP1, finishing quite far back in the standings. Fortunately, in the afternoon we had a dry track to work with, reconfirming the bike's improvements and gaining provisional access to Q2. I also tried the aerodynamic fairing. On this track, where wheelies are a problem, I found some benefits that we will continue to test."

SAM LOWES
"Things did not go too badly for the first day. I improved on the 2016 Aprilia times and that is a first important step for me. The first half of FP2 was a bit difficult because of the track conditions, but toward the end we had dry asphalt and a good temperature, continuing to do a lot of work on the bike. I had fun. At the end of the day we got close to the top ten times, so I am feeling optimistic about tomorrow."