Wednesday 2nd June

Had a few jobs to do before I tipped up in the paddock and some things to pick up, another split link, more motion lotion (petrol) etc etc……… Stuey had changed the gearing to a 17 tooth front sprocket, but we changed it back as that wouldn’t make the bike pick up any quicker, it would be slower if nothing else…… so we changed it back to one tooth down on the rear from standard gearing…… went and asked Lougher’s crew, and that’s what he was running…… and if its good enough for Lucky…… its good enough for moi…… We also changed the rear sag, after talking to Ray Porter, who told me that he had gone down to 4mm of static sag on the rear, where I was running 17mm!!…… so we changed mine to 8mm to try it…… We also swapped the steering damper to an American piece of kit, a GPR Stabilizer……… noticed them on Ryan Farquhar bikes, and the one we had on was borrowed, so it was a good opportunity to try one…… Again the weather wasn’t too bad, there was plenty of cloud about and a fresh breeze blowing, but cool enough and I prefer that anyway, at least the sun doesn’t dazzle you half the way round……

Stuey had me as near to the front as he possibly could but we were still about 30th to 40th away. Funnily enough I started off with Ian ‘Lucky’ Lougher himself on his 125 Honda…… and 10 seconds ahead was last years 125cc winner Chris Palmer……… Got off the line pretty well and that was the last I saw of Ian, and I hit the bottom of Bray Hill flat out in top…… saw the geezer that started with Chris ahead but never nailed him till Snugborough the passed Mr Palmer at the top of the Ballahutchin…… took Glen Vine in 5th gear and felt the arse end of the bike slide a tad…… so far I wasn’t rating the suspension changes and we I hadn’t even got to the bumpy bits…… passed Nigel Beattie at the Hawthorn Pub on his 125 Honda, and right in front of him was Robert Dunlop on his 125…… had to roll the throttle, but thought ‘sod this’ I’m losing all my drive and passed him before GorseLeigh, Nige told me afterwards that I made Robert sit up………oops, sorry Bob…… passed a bit more traffic and never really got a clear run, there were gaggles of it all over the place, and the suspension didn’t feel the best…… the front end was pattering more than it had been and we had only altered the rear…… strange.

The bike was as lively as always at the end of the Cronky Straight, and I pretty much wrestled it most of the way round and already decided I’d be pulling in…… I was trying as much as I usually do, but wasn’t enjoying it at all, as it was more hard work than fun……… at the Nook on the brakes the front started hopping a bit, which was a bit of a worry…… pulled in and was met by the team, informed Stuey straight away that the bike was worse and was confirmed when Chris told me that my time was 19mins 52 secs…… so some 20 seconds slower……… Told him to go back half the amount of preload turns that we had gone forward and I would go out and try that……

Had a drink and then headed off out again…… Flat out down Bray Hill, and had it squirming on the brakes into the QB…… was tempted to stand on the back brake and slide round, but thought better off it…… would look a complete tool if I would have fallen off…… went mega wide on the exit , as I would have lost the temperature from my tyres as I was sat in the pits, but carried on regardless……… Had a bit of a problem with my I.D tag that you have to wear on a necklace, as it was digging into my chest and I had to unzip my leathers on the move to get it out of the way, it was actually the cable tie that I have holding the disc to the chain that was causing the problem, as it was a bit sharp…… Oh yes indeedy, I’m classy me, a cable tie an that……… I was pretty hot into Union Mills, but had to go down the box at Glen Vine when I caught up with some newcomer……… (been round there quicker in me van)…… lost all me drive into Crosby, but picked it back up and was at top speed going into Crosby…… got a good wheelie at the Waggon & Horses again…… tried a different line at Greeba Castle and it worked well, so will be putting that into play, and when I got to Ballacraine the yellow flags were out…… rounded the corner and saw a guy on his feet with a yellow helmet on and a light blue bike up against the hedge…… I thought it was me good mate the Laxey Pole Cat himself, Nigel Beattie, (but it turned out that it wasn’t)…… but I was happy to see whoever it was on his feet anyway……… the Flags were out again at Glen Helen, and there was somebody else off at Sarah’s cottage, but he was up on his feet too, and the bike was cleared from the road…… so well played there too…… The Marshal’s doing a really good job……… The bike still wasn’t handling all that well, and was struggling with it a quite a few places, but it wasn’t too bad up on the Mountain…… Ryan Farquhar passed me as I was passing somebody else on the run down to the Creg Ny Baa Pub, and he braked earlier than I was going to which put me in a bit of fix, because I was closer to him than I wanted to be, so I had to let the anchors go and overshot to miss him…… braked that hard the back wheel was off the deck, had I been running my normal 17mm of rear sag, that might not have occurred…… nearly ended up in the inflatable wall in the car park …… the bloke I just got past, re-passed me and I set after him again…… got him before Hillberry, but Flyin Ryan had pulled a good gap…… Was flagged in on a short lap, and was met by Stuey Wad, and Willy…… told them it still wasn’t good, again, confirmed with a crap lap time…… 19mins 53.4 (113.82mph)……… told Stuey to set it back to what I was originally happy with from last night…… and I would go out in the next session and try that……… Wasn’t long before the next session was ready, so after a few tweaks to the bike, an interview on the radio by Chris Kinley, and a few mug shots from Geoff Cannell, I set off after a change of Helmut with new rip offs, and haired off again down Bray Hill…… Straight away the bike felt more familiar, and more comfortable, was a little concerned that this was the 7th lap on the same set of tyres, but they were just fine, and just got my head down and got on with it…… tried a few different things at some corners, but was still messing up some easy ones, and knew I should have been doing better at them……… Got stuck behind a couple of riders on the run to Ramsey and had to be extra cautious and roll the throttle a lot, but got past them with no problems, only lost a bit of time……………… The flies tonight weren’t the problem they have been in previous days, but there were still a few, and funnily enough the little bastards always seem to commit suicide in the middle of your bloody visor…… Rip one of the visors off and hey presto…… clear vision again…… tried not to rip one off till on the run down the Mountain as I had decided that if the flags weren’t out, I’d be going for a flying lap…… lost a bit of time down the Mountain with slower riders and managed to get them all before Governors Bridge and had a clear run crossing the line……… nicked her in to top and flew down Bray Hill hoisting the front over the bumps and jumps just forra a laugh like…… The bottom of Bray was nice and steady even though it was flat out…… had the line perfect, so it eased it out a bit…… thought that an almighty wheelie was gonna be on the cards so I feathered the back brake to keep it down and it worked out quite nicely…… had it squirming on the brakes into the Quarter Bridge again and had to use the back brake again to scrub more speed off…… not something I usually do, but that worked well too, and I rounded it quite nicely…… this time round I took Ballagarey Corner in top gear and only feathered the throttle and was ‘bob on’ and kept the revs up enough to get down into Crosby at a reasonable enough rate…… had the bike off the rev limiter at Crosby Corner…… pop pop pop pop pop pop……… so had to feather it just a tad to try and stop it…… Was handy enough all the way to Ballacraine when Mark Parrett out braked me on his new R1 Production Bike (on his way to a lap at 120.5mph)…… managed to tail him all through the Glen Helen section and actually gained on him, till he drove away on the Cronky straight…… booooo………… Hit the end absolutely flat out and the bike was all over the place, but kept the wire tight and was pretty hot round the next few corners, saw two riders at the bottom of Begarrow when I was at the top and I tried to out brake them into the 13th Milestone, but wasn’t going to make it, so a fistful off brake to scrub some speed off ensued, and it lifted the back wheel off the deck a fair way and I heard an almighty ‘crack’…… first though was that I must have broken the front mudguard, so stood on the pegs and looked over the front of the bike, but saw that it was still there and in one piece…… got stuck behind two blokes but managed to get one before Douglas Road Corner, then the next bloke up looked to me like Rob Sells…… had to tail him through Kirk Michael, but done him halfway through and had to go around a really slow newcomer by the Petrol Station in Rhencullen……… then got me head down again…… managed to take Alpine Corner in 6th gear, as it was clear all the way through and it was safe enough to try it, and also managed to take the corner before Ballacrye in top and another nice jump and steady landing…… plenty of geezers with camera’s here, so I hope one of them gives me a photo…… ……… Caught up with Welsh Celtic Match Race Team Skipper, Paul Owen at Ginger Hall on his 400, and done him before Glen Duff and was nice and steady away an that all the way to Ramsey…… at Schoolhouse Corner I was trying a different line every time to try and avoid the grids in the road, but they are just a bloody magnet…… its really hard to avoid them…… it unsettles the bike like you wouldn’t believe, and there have been quite a few crashes here over the years and I would bet money its because of these friggin grids…… was braking earlier this lap but getting the power down earlier which made for a smoother ride…… and was trying it at some corners up on the Mountain…… still could go quicker rounding some of the corners, but didn’t want to push my luck…… Jason Griffiths passed me on his R1 after the Bungalow Bridge, so tried to stay with him for a while and managed it till we got to Windy Corner and he drove away, he’s good to watch is Jason…… probably the most stylish road racer that there is…… he makes it seems effortless……… there seemed to be a few spots of rain dropping, and I was really hoping that it would stay away, and thankfully it did, I think a shower of rain will make the track extra slippy with all the good weather we’ve had and all the rubber that has been laid down on the road during the week…… so I’m glad it stayed in the clouds…… there was a few slower riders to get out of the way, and I managed to out brake meself again into Sign Post whilst doing one and then had to sit behind him all the way down through the Nook and Governors and across the line where I pulled in…… Big Smile on Stueys face……… he said I was one second off 117mph, confirmed by me sister Angie, Lynny Lynn and also Chris…… cool…… I reckon I lost a good 7 or 8 seconds getting held up and out braking meself also never helped…… still happy enough with that…… know I can still do better…… Stuey took the bike back to the paddock…… found that the mudguards bolts were loose and one was missing…… so sommat did happen there……

Turned out that I was equal 3rd quickest tonight with Richard Britton at 19mins 22.6 (116.83mph)…… which is a good enough marker and sommat we can go with in the race if we can’t find a better set up…… but with a couple of practises to go, we’ll be trying to……… Its amazing to think that with just a few twists of a screwdriver, I went 30 seconds quicker…… I was riding the same on all the laps, so I know it’s the adjustments that are making the difference…… but I also know that there is better adjustments in there somewhere…… Trying to find it is the hard part. Gonna give the bike a fresh set of tyres, and oil & filter change and a few more tweaks to the suspension, and get out and get on it tomorrow……

So tune in for another very exciting, getting past the 117mph mark on a little proddy bike episode………………………