TT Practice Week Roundup
TT practice hasn’t gone smoothly for Steve who had problems with set up on the AIM Yamaha Superbike during Monday evening’s session. While adjustments were made he went out on the AIM Yamaha R6 Supersport machine to post sixth place and then took his own Superstock Yamaha out to record the 18th fastest time in that class.
The weather was against Steve on Tuesday evening and with mist on the mountain and damp patches around the 37.73-mile mountain he decided there was nothing to be gained by risking the difficult conditions and along with the majority of the solo riders gave the session a miss.
Unfortunately the weather was even worse on Wednesday leaving race officials no option but to cancel the evening’s practice. This left Steve with just two sessions to get all three bikes fully prepared for racing and he took advantage of the sunny conditions to post some quick times.
 He completed one lap on the Superbike in Thursday’s session before returning to the pits to give the feedback to the team that the settings were still wrong.
“We had gone the wrong way with the settings so they need further adjustment,” said Steve who then took the Supersport machine for a two-lap ride around the course. He was well on the pace and recorded the third fastest time of the evening at 121.847mph.
 Friday’s final session saw Steve out on the Superbike but he returned to the paddock after a lap to make further adjustments to the front suspension. He returned to the course but only got as far as Glen Helen before being told by the marshals that the bike was omitting smoke. He stopped to make adjustments and carried on but was stopped again at Kirk Michael and made his way back to the paddock via the back roads.
He made it back with 15 minutes of the session remaining and jumped on board the Nitro Helmets sponsored Yamaha R1 Superstock machine to make a final circuit of the course recording a speed of 120.787mph.
 “I am very happy with the Supersport and Superstock bikes,” said Steve. “They are both going well. But the Superbike has been giving us a lot of problems all week. I am going to use Saturday’s race as a test and as long as the bike is friendly and rideable over the six laps then it’s not an issue.
“As I said earlier, I am not here to win the race but to try and better my times from last year. This is only my second year of competing on the Island and you don’t win races with so little experience.”
Saturday’s opening race is the six-lap Dainese Superbike TT, which is set to get underway at noon.
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