Dan Cooper will head into today's six-lap Dainese Superbike TT race, the opening event of the 2014 festival, eager for a trouble free ride after a practice week saw competitors suffer from a lack of track time, a combination of the Manx weather and stoppages keeping practice laps down to a minimum.
The Stroud-based rider, competing this year for the Tsingtao WK Kawasaki team, will be competing in all six solo races on 1000cc, 600cc and 650cc machines, and set a best lap of 122.090mph on the former in preparation for today's six lap race.
A lap of 117.380mph on his regular Motorpoint British Supersport Championship machine has left him down the order in the 600cc class although, as is the norm, the bigger capacity machine has taken precedent in order to find the optimum set-up for the multitude of bumps and jumps around the course.
His third machine, the 650cc Chinese WK Moto machine, has proved the most problematical and he's yet to complete a lap having been forced to stop at the 33rd Milestone during Thursday evening's session.
The 27 year old Gloucestershire rider said: "It's been one of those weeks where all of the competitors have been struggling to get laps in on the bikes due to a variety of reasons. Laps are paramount around the TT course in order get your bikes set up and having lost a number of sessions, as well as experiencing a few silly, little problems, we're all still chasing our tails a bit. The 600cc bike is the one I'm most used to as it's the one I ride in the British Supersport Championship and although my fastest lap isn't anywhere near where it needs to be, I'm still fine-tuning the set-up, particularly the front end and I've yet to get a clear lap on it. The big bike is different to the Honda I've ridden the last few years and it's a fair bit faster, which is obviously a positive, and it feels really good although, again, I've only managed two laps on it so far. I'm yet to manage a flying lap on it yet so the fact I've done a 121mph plus lap is very encouraging and I'm fairly confident although I am still very much learning my way with it. With the lack of track time, the Lightweight bike is the one that's been out the least and I stopped up on the Mountain when I did take it out and it was quite fresh up there at 9.30pm in the evening! We just need some good, clear laps and we'll be in a lot better position."
2014 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy
Saturday 31st May11:00 hrs Superbike TT Race 6 laps 14:00 hrs Sidecar TT Race 1 3 laps
Monday 2nd June 10:45 hrs Supersport TT Race 1 4 laps14:00 hrs Superstock TT Race 4 laps
Wednesday 4th June 10:45 hrs TT Zero Challenge 1 lap12:00 hrs TT Supersport Race 2 4 laps14:30 hrs TT Sidecar Race 2 3 laps
Friday 6th June 10:15 hrs Lightweight TT Race 3 laps13:00 hrs Senior TT Race 6 laps
Qualifying Periods*
Saturday 31st May16:40 hrs - 17:40 hrs Supersport/Lightweight17:45 hrs - 18:30 hrs TT Zero Challenge
Monday 2nd June12:30 hrs - 13:00 hrs Sidecars16:00 hrs - 16:30 hrs TT Zero Challenge
Wednesday 4th June15:50 hrs - 16:15 hrs Senior TT 16:20 hrs - 16:45 hrs Lightweight
*Please note: all times and dates are subject to confirmation and may be changed at very short notice.
