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Testing the repaired R1 ...
I awoke with one thing on my mind, to test ride my R1 to see if it was straight. The first thing I noticed was that my forks were twisted but loosening the pinch bolts and yanking on the clip-on's soon cured that.Nigel Healey also wanted a run on his R1. I had given him the Pirelli rear I had used in practice and he had brought a Metzeler front and some HH EBC brake pads so he had to bed them in and scrub in the tyre.The road was closed through the Glen Helen section while a steam cleaner was cleaning up a large slick of diesel which had been spilt all over the track. I'd heard rumours that the locals had sabotaged the track so our only option was to head in reverse direction up the mountain, a move which should be avoided if possible as bikers often get carried away and cross the white line. We turned around at the Bungalow and carefully sped back down.My bike felt sweet and my only concern now was the reduced fuel capacity due to the rather large dent. During the F1 race I had been travelling up to nine miles with the fuel light on and with the throttle on the stop for most of that distance there was very little left at the pits - that's about NZ$ 45 per tank for two laps. Nigel was ecstatic, his bike had transformed, it now stopped on a dime and was steady down the straights. Finally something was going right for him, so now all we needed was a clear dry day. Wishful thinking!
Friday 8th June:
Production Race ...
The race was due to start at 10.45 am and I woke to a cloudy day and, although the mountain was clear showers were forecast. Wets are not allowed and riders had to make a decision on what tyres to use, I had no choice but knew my Pirelli EVO's were superb in the wet. At 10 am the first delay was announced due to mud on the circuit from a campground entrance. Then the rain came down causing another five delays until about 4.30 pm when they decided to let us go. The rain had stopped but the track was very wet so the race was shortened from three to two laps.
| I headed off down Bray Hill with caution. A wee spill at Pukekohe aboard Hamilton Motorcycle Centre's ZX9 was a harsh reminder of how evil 140 bhp can be in the wet and I was in no hurry to find the limit of my tyres. My main concern was the constantly changing road surface, I expected a bit of carnage but not what was about to unfold. |
Hard under brakes
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The first incident was seven miles from the start at Greeba Castle, not too surprising as the slippery off camber on the exit has caught many people out in the past. A couple of miles later as I left Ballacraine and headed into the notorious Glen Helen section I had to slow almost to a stop and had to weave between the wreckage of the second accident. The scene was horrific, the bike and rider had obviously hit the stone wall. I expected the worst but was thankful to hear later that the rider survived, minus one leg though. Any temptations I may have had to push the limits were well and truly gone!
One of the many unforgiving stone walls
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As I approached Ballaugh there were even more yellow flags being waved. Leslie Williams, a local Manx man had tragically grabbed too big a handful of front brake at the approach to Ballaugh bridge, he hit the deck and kept on going over the famous jump for the last time to be killed on impact. His bike left a huge slick down the road and all over the bridge. I blocked out what I had seen and concentrated on riding smoothly and reading the road. I was glad to reach Ramsey Hairpin and head up the relatively smooth and consistent seal of the mountain. At the completion of my first lap I had built up a lot of confidence in my tyres so I upped the pace for the final lap and in doing so I improved my lap time by five mph to 87.3, and gained nine positions to finish in 25 th place. |
David Jefferies first lap was the fastest at 99 mph and he kept that pace up to take the win from a local rider, Richard Quayle on an SP1. Michael Rutter was 3rd on an R1 and Shaun Harris finished an excellent seventh place on the GSXR, the first 750 home. However, it was a shame that the course was wet as Shaun had qualified third and was looking sure to take a podium place. Blair Degerholm retired after one lap and John Hepburn had opted to ride the Senior instead as he had earned a No 15 start position (the rules specify that you cannot ride the same machine in both races). Nigel Healy finished 30th (best lap 86 mph) and Mark Robinson was 44th from 49 finishers.Due to the six hour delay they postponed the Senior TT to the next morning. As Nigel and I headed back through the pits, Mark pointed out that the three of us could now enter our production bikes in the Senior, Excellent! So we set about cleaning and checking the bikes and changing our numbers. Next task was to arrange another pit crew, which required a trip to the pub. Fortunately Craig Sheriffs and Phil came to my rescue and by midnight I was sorted so Nigel and I headed back to our tent to get some shuteye.
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