Tuesday 6th June:

Repairs to the R1 ...

I continued with the repairs to the R1.  The cast section of the sub frame had broken in two from the impact with the kerb.  This was the main concern as the rest of the damage was mainly cosmetic.  Glyn Jones, a Manx man who has always helped Nigel out, got me sorted.  Unfortunately the man we were after was always at the Ramsey Sprint but he did promise to weld her up first thing in the morning.  I was up really early to make sure I got to the workshop before the roads closed.
R1 Under Repair

125 TT and Singles ...

While I was working on repairs the 125 and Singles competitors were preparing for their race.  The weather was a bit misty with the temperature very low.  Most riders chose slicks but Jason Eston opted for intermediates, a decision he was soon to regret.  On the first lap while trying to keep maximum corner speed up through Ballacraine he lost the back end and slid heavily into the wall.  It looked bad and he was taken straight to Nobels Hospital with major fractures feared.  Thankfully, although he had a broken femur, he was out on crutches the next day and even made it to the pub Thursday night.  It was a great shame though as his qualifying times were right on the pace.  Another Kiwi to come to grief at Ballacraine was Jane Parrot, her 125 decided to call it quits here, very disappointing as she really deserved at least a finishers medal this year.Three Kiwis did make it to the chequered flag though.  Nigel Bish had another exceptional ride, coming home ahead of Paul Williams and Paul Dobbs who are no strangers to the TT course.  The three of them took 17th, 18th and 20th places respectively with Nigel and Williams achieving a bronze rep.

Yer man Joey Dunlop, OBM, King of the Mountain took the win which tragically was to be his last.  He was undoubtedly the best true road racer ever.  His death in Estonia while challenging for first place in the wet on his 125 has really shocked me into the reality that nobody is beyond the grim reaper of road racing.  Here is an extract from an article I wrote for Irish Bike magazine a year ago, which shows the faith I had in him:

     'The guys and gals who compete in them (the Irish road races) are truly fearless, unfortunately the fatalities this season reflect this.  However, the King, Joe Dunlop, his amazing track record proves if you do not ride beyond your limit you can rarely minimise the danger.'      

A lot of people started to believe Joey was immortal, of course nobody is ever that safe, least of all motorcycle road racers.As I mentioned earlier, the Singles TT field was very thin due to many riders not qualifying and reliability problems causing DNF's.  Considering most machines are highly tuned and that pistons have to cope with 60 to 80 thousand revolutions in a four lap race, its not surprising more machines broke down than finished!  The race was dominated by the two AMDM 720 BMW Rotax based machines that were designed by the late Dave Morris who had won the Singles race for the last three years, and the team was managed by his two sons to commemorate their father's death.  John McGuinness won with an astonishing best lap of 111.43 mph.  Jason Griffiths was second and a Ducati Supermono was third, best lap was 108.48 mph.

Junior TT ...

The mist had cleared by the start of the Junior TT.  Ian Lougher was 1st away on his V & M R6, Joey was third (as usual!), Blair Degerholm was eighth and Shaun Harris 14th.  As they pitted after lap two David Jefferies completed a 120.65 mph lap and was leading Joey by 16 seconds.  Lougher, Adrian Archibald and Jim Moodie were all only two seconds apart, Michael Rutter was 6th and Iain Duffus next.  Then came Shaun Harris, lapping at 117.74 mph on his R6 Yamaha, Blair Degerholm not far behind him on the first of the Kawasaki's, John Hepburn riding the wheels off a well-dated CBR 600 was in 23rd position. Warren Turner, who had shipped his R6 over to the TT, was lapping at 110 mph and had moved from his 59th starting position up to 29th. Adrian Archibald was a man on the move and he set the fastest lap of 121.15 mph, but it was not fast enough to catch Jefferies, Lougher was third, then Joey Dunlop 34 seconds behind the winner.  Last years winner, Jim Moodie, would not have been happy with 6th but I'm sure Shaun Harris was pleased with 8th, Blair hung on to his 9th spot - great to see two Kiwi's in the top ten.  Hepo improved by four places up to 19th, easily getting a bronze (awarded for finishing within 110% of the winning time).
Warren Turner struck some bad luck, he was black flagged at Ramsey Hairpin due to an insecure muffler.  He ran down to the nearest servo in search of some fasteners and, finding nothing suitable, he returned to find the marshals had removed his muffler so he could continue.  He finished 42nd, far from being last, and a real shame as Warren had been on course for a bronze replica.  
Ramsey from Guthries Memorial
There were two privately backed TT 600 Triumphs entered.  Unfortunately they both broke down, one with a broken gear linkage and the other with Jason Griffins on board suffered from a broken battery lead on the final lap while running in 12th place.  They apparently handle very well but need another 8 to 10 bhp to be really competitive.The prize giving was packed and the atmosphere was fantastic.  Great to see so many of the Kiwi's getting a chance to have a few words.  Brett Richmond nearly stole the show when he was carried to the stage on a wooden CBR replica along with a large banner saying 400 TT winner on it which was all instigated by his pit crew, it created a few laughs.  But of course the biggest cheer went to Joey Dunlop, his wife and four children joined him on stage.  As the prize giving drew to a close I joined Nigel Bish and his crew for their final round of Sambuca's and then wandered outside to watch the amazing fireworks display.  After that we went off to Toff's nightclub and the Swing Easy Bar for the remainder of the night.