Dean Harrison continued his fine start to TT 2018, by topping the Superbike qualifying charts on Tuesday evening.

Harrison lapped the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki at 131.38mph (17mins 13.886sec) as the big bikes made their first outing of the festival.

With the session once again blessed with perfect conditions, the Bradford ace was one of three riders to clock laps of 130mph-plus.

Michael Dunlop, who unofficially broke the Lightweight lap record on Saturday evening, piloted the Tyco BMW Superbike round for a lap of 131.09mph, while Peter Hickman Smith’s Racing BMW topped the night’s Superstock charts with 130.219mph.

The session got underway at 6.40pm after a delay of 20 minutes because of a spectator on the course at Crosby.

Harrison was setting the pace throughout the lap but Hickman was first to complete a lap at 128.011mph quickly followed by Dan Kneen (125.526), Gary Johnson (125.939) and Conor Cummins (128.180), the Padgett’s Honda rider the quickest of the Superstocks ahead of the two Johnsons - David and Gary.

Harrison went to the top of the Superbike leaderboard with a remarkable opening lap of 130.232mph with Michael Dunlop slotting into second at 129.357mph. Harrison elected to run straight through as the Ulsterman pulled in to change machines. He only got as far as Quarter Bridge though before pulling off the circuit although he soon got back to the pits to go out again on his Superstock BMW, lapping at 127.000mph.

Second time around and Harrison and his Silicone Engineering Kawasaki increased their pace further, lapping at 131.376mph with Hickman posting 129.000mph although Cummins was quicker on his Superstock Honda at 129.584mph. Kneen was the second quickest Superstock (128.843) with David Johnson in third (128.139) but Cummins was out of luck on the Superbike, stopping at Ballacraine.

Ian Hutchinson upped his speed to 124.588mph on his Superstock Honda while Ivan Lintin was going well on his 600cc Kawasaki lapping at 123.563mph.

Newcomers Adam Lyon and Davey Todd were improving with 120.186mph and 119.148mph respectively with David Jackson finally getting his first laps in at TT2018 with an opening speed of 113.933mph after starting at the back of the field alongside Richard ’Milky’ Quayle.

As the session wore on, the riders repeatedly pitted to change bikes. Hickman and Harrison lapped at 128.142mph and 128.134mph respectively on their Superstock machines but Josh Brookes and Gary Johnson were other high profile retirements, the duo stopping at Sulby Bridge and Ballacraine.

Dunlop kept it late before posting his fastest lap which made him the second rider on the night to lap at more than 131mph with a speed of 131.087mph. Hickman remained in third as Kneen, David Johnson and James Hillier completed the top six while Hutchinson’s third lap on his Superbike of 125.843mph was his best of the evening which placed him eighth quickest in the Superbike class.

Hickman did go quickest in the Superstock class though with a late lap of 130.219mph demoting the Manx pairing of Cummins and Kneen to second and third overall. David Johnson’s good night continued as he ended the session fourth fastest ahead of Harrison and Dunlop.

A slight delay due to an oil spill at Ballacraine meant it was 7.58pm before the Formula Two Sidecars got their first session of the week. Ben and Tom Birchall led the field away ahead of Dave Molyneux/Dan Sayle, John Holden/Lee Cain and Alan Founds/Jake Lowther.

Holden/Cain were the first to complete a lap at 113.663mph and they were quickest ahead of the Birchalls (110.937), Molyneux/Sayle (110.508), Founds/Lowther (109.596) and Lewis Blackstock/Patrick Rosney (108.333). Only Holden went straight through with the others pulling in to make adjustments.

Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes had been quickest through the Sulby speed trap at 150.1mph but they never made it to the Bungalow, stopping at the Black Hut to make adjustments.

Holden/Cain slowed dramatically on their second lap with a lap of just 99.053mph but Pete Founds/Jevan Walmsley improved to 108.851mph with Tony Baker/Fiona Baker-Holden only slightly slower at 108.412mph. Molyneux/Sayle again broke the 110mph barrier second time around but were slower than their first lap and although Founds/Lowther remained fourth quickest, their second lap was quicker at 110.338mph.

Tuesday night’s schedule:

6.20pm to 7.25pm Superbike / Superstock / Supersport / Newcomers (except Lightweight)

7.25pm to 7.55pm Supersport / Lightweight / Newcomers (all Solo classes)

8pm to 8.50pm Sidecars