Red flag incident halts Senior Isle of Man TT race
Article excerpt
A serious crash on lap two of the Senior Isle of Man TT race forced officials to halt the event Friday, with organisers determining there wasn't sufficient time to restart before the day's end. The incident, marked by a red flag, stopped what is traditionally one of motorcycle racing's most prestigious and dangerous events. Officials did not immediately announce plans to resume the race, leaving competitors and fans uncertain about rescheduling on the tight calendar of the Isle of Man's famous two-week racing festival.
The Senior TT race was red flagged after an incident on lap two [BBC]
Racing at at the Isle of Man TT has been halted by a red flag incident.
Organisers said the rider involved, who has not been named, was "reported as conscious and talking" and had been taken to the island's Noble's Hospital via Airmed for "further assessment and treatment".
The crash happened at 11th Milestone, near Cronk Y Voddy, shortly before 18:55 BST on the second lap of the Senior TT race. The clerk of the course said there was not enough time to restart the race before roads were due to reopen at 21:30.
Friday's earlier races were delayed due to morning road closures being pushed back and a non-racing matter in the afternoon.
Racing was initially pushed back by an hour following a crash on the A18 prior to scheduled road closures.
The crash occurred before 08:00, on the Mountain section of the 37.7-mile (60km) course. The Isle of Man Constabulary said the crash at Brandywell was "not too serious", but work was needed to clear the area before racing began.
As a result the road did not reopen before a formal closure for the TT came into force at 10:00, with the lower section of the course closing at 11:00.
A revised three-race programme was scheduled for the day including the Senior TT, which has been brought forward from Saturday owing to the weather forecast.
A "non-racing operational matter" following the first race of the day subsequently pushed the remainder of the schedule back further than the initial delay of one hour, organisers said.
Road closures around the Mountain Course were pushed back in the morning [ISLE OF MAN TT]
Michael Dunlop won both of the races that were completed earlier - Supersport race two and Sportbike race one - taking his tally of TT wins to 36.
The Senior race is set to re-run on Saturday, followed by the Sportbike race two, but the Supersport race two has been cancelled.
Organisers confirmed Sunday's contingency session will not now be used due to a change in the weekend's weather forecast.
This year's race schedule has been severely disrupted by rain, with the opening day of racing on 30 May postponed.
Several other planned sessions have also been called off or shortened owing to the inclement conditions.
Sidecar racing was removed from the schedule last week on safety grounds, following an incident during qualifying.
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