Senior TT faces major delay, cannot be run on Sunday
New schedule for Saturday at Isle of Man TT
Saturday’s main race at the Isle of Man TT has been hit with a major delay and lap reduction due to poor weather.
The Senior TT was due at 10.45am but was initially pushed back by two hours at least to allow conditions to improve following overnight rain and forecasted further showers.
Another two-hour delay was implemented, pushing the Senior race back to a provisional 2:45pm start.
But the course remains in an unraceable condition, with organisers now pushing the race back to a 7pm local time start.
The race has also been reduced from six laps to four.
Organisers have also confirmed that a poor weather forecast for Sunday as well as limited road closure options available to them means the race cannot be delayed beyond Saturday.
A statement read: "The Clerk of the Course has announced an further delay to today’s schedule, with the latest timings as per the attached.
"For further information, the weather forecast for tomorrow is poor and - as it is Sunday - the road closure periods available to the Race Organiser are limited.
"Therefore, it is the intention of the Clerk of the Course to run the Senior TT today once conditions allow, and the Senior TT will therefore not be held tomorrow."
Roads will now close from 4pm local time on Saturday, while organisers have until 9:30pm this evening before they must be re-opened.
Friday's action on the Mountain Course was also pushed back due to rain but fortunately the racing still went ahead.
Honda's Dean Harrison dominated the second Superstock TT when conditions allowed racing to start on Friday.
The Crowe brothers cruised to another Sidecar TT victory.
Before Michael Dunlop won in the Supertwin class.
But Saturday's Senior TT is the blue riband race of the whole event.
It is the race which will go down in the history books.
Last year, Davey Todd sealed his place in TT history by winning the Senior TT.
Todd, Dunlop and Harrison are among the favourites when weather permits the Senior TT to go ahead on Saturday.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
