Manx Grand Prix - Senior Race: Saturday 31st August 2002

Senior Race

The organizers had postponed the race from the previous day (Friday) because of the expected weather forecast on Thursday night…… A brave move I thought, because the weather forecast is not something you would put your money on, and it was a really nice day Thursday, and an even better night…… so I suspect that they had their hearts in their mouths waiting for Friday morning.

As it turned out, they had made the right decision…… Friday was terrible, it pissed down all day and it was at least a Force 6 gale blowing…… and even if they had decided to run it, I probably wouldn't have bothered, far too dodgy, getting round the first two corners on the course, The Quarterbridge and Braddan Bridge in the wet would be an achievement in itself…… slippy buggers in the dry…… and no mistake.

The presentation was still held at Summerland, but it was only half as full as it had been on the Monday night, as I suspect many of the troops had gone home on that nights sailing expecting the racing to be already over…… two of them being the lads that had stayed with me, Ian and Simon…… also my mate Sammo had disappeared, so most of my pit crew had gone…… at the moment I just had The Wad lined up for my pit stop.

Picked the Wad up just before 8-00am and headed off for the paddock, had decided on going with my No 1 bike today to give it a run, it had a brand new motor in it, but for the fortnight it has been plagued with oil leaks, and I'm thinking of christening it…… 'The Torrey Canyon' ……Had the bike already fettled from the Thursday, and it was looking all Shipshape and Bristol Fashion…… just had to do the tyre pressures and it was offski to scrutineering……Had pondered the thought of using No 2 bike, as it hadn't let me down, but I felt that I could go quicker on the No 1 machine…… last chance to try it, so fingers crossed.

After that I went to shout my case about my No 2 bike that I had finished 2nd on in Monday's Newcomers Race…… The Scrutineers had sealed the engine and wanted it taken to pieces today for measuring…… this was something I still couldn't get my head round, but they weren't having it…… I said 'Even if it was a 680cc it would still be within the 750cc limit'…… Then they said, 'Yes, but you entered it as a 600cc'……… then I said ' No, I entered the Senior Race, not the 600 Race, but had to write down on the form that it was a 600cc……because it f*cking is one……' So they wanted me to split the engine in the Scrutineering Bay after the race because it's in the regs…… Well as far as I'm concerned these regs are antiquated and should be re-addressed, because they are f*cking ridiculous…… It annoyed me even more when I said that after I had stripped it and they had checked it, they would just go…… 'Ok, that's fine'…… They said 'Probably!'…… I had to phone Slick and ask if he would come down and help us do it, because the two mechanically minded lads that I had, Ian and Sammo, had gone, and I had never stripped a bike engine before, so even though he was busy, Slick agreed to come down after the race…… good man. There is so much Red Tape with this racing lark it makes you not want to bother…… With technology these days its possible to accurately measure an engine down the spark plug cap with a laser, but no, that's not traditional…… and who would pay for it…… well I'll tell you who…… the friggin Manx Motorcycle Club, or charge the riders who finish in the top 3 £50 to avoid them all having to take their engines out…… I'll bet you a million quid, each and every one of us would pay it…… then there's your money……… As far as I'm concerned you can shove that tradition up your arse…… This was all hassle that I didn't need on a race day. Made me think that if there was the scenario of me being in the top 3 today, I'd throttle off and finish fourth to avoid having my No 1 bike stripped as well.

I wasn't out till 1-15pm, so I watched the Lightweight race and was pleased to see my good mate, the Pole Cat from Laxey himself, Nigel Beattie win…… I was dead chuffed for him. Wasn't long after that I was getting ready to go out myself.

Lined up on the Glencrutchery Road just after 1-00pm, starting at No 25, Tom and Ian Hickey(much better than the No 70 I was originally)…… with my mostly new pit crew, The Wad, My mate Terry, and fellow road racer Monica Flooding from the Andreas Club who agreed to help me…… cool, one thing less to worry about. Dean Harrison, came up to see me and asked did he hold me up in Wednesday's Junior Race, confessed that he had, but said not to worry about it, as it was up to me to get past, you can't really race round here looking over your shoulder all the time…… so no problemo. Had a few stretches as I've had a problem with my back for ages, pulled it at football training, and getting thrown all over the place when your on the bike doesn't do me any favours…… was hoping it wasn't going to hinder me.

I was really hoping that, firstly, the bike would last and wouldn't leak any oil, and I would finish in the top 10, but the way I had been going, I reckoned a Top 6 finish was a definite possibility…… so was just concentrating on getting started…… got to the start line with No 26 bike, and when the flag dropped got a poor start, the bike bogged down, the bloke on No 26 bike was off, but soon got into my stride and went underneath him at St.Ninians traffic lights, ballsy move, but there was no way I was going to get stuck behind someone…… took the bottom of Bray Hill flat out and got to the QB to see the two that had started in front of me tipping into the corner, chased off after them and was on their tail by Snugborough, managed to pass them both through Union Mills and then passed another one in Crosby, caught a bloke on a big twin into Greeba Castle and he held me up all the way through there and didn't get past him till the Hawthorn Pub, when I got better drive and drove up his inside…… flew into Ballacraine and saw a rider ahead, nodded to my pit board man John Bainborough, who gave me a big thumbs up and headed off for the bloke that I had spotted ahead…… caught him by Glen Helen, but he held me up till I went up his inside at Lambfell, can't afford to mess about, got to get some fast clean passes in…… starting to get the hang of the corner at the end of the Cronk-y-Voddy straight, although the bike still jumps about a bit on the exit followed by a big wheelie, I reckon I must be quite interesting to watch here, because the bike definitely moves around a lot flat out in top…… found that the bike wasn't handling the way I would have liked it and it was pretty hard work, especially changing direction on the run to Ballaugh…… caught sight of two riders on the run down to Ballaugh Bridge and gained on them all the way till I was right on their arse by Sulby Bridge……… Into Ginger Hall and one of them had a look behind and saw me, recognised him as Ian Forristal…… was hoping that as he'd seen me and he'd realized I'd already pulled back 20 seconds on him he'd move over and let me through, but no such luck, but I got by him pretty quick all the same, then I was stuck behind a bloke who was on, I think, a TL1000, he was a right twat to pass, had loads more grunt than my bike by went around his outside at Leyzare the bend before the big tree with a 'K' on it…… got through Ramsey ok and headed up the Mountain after the Commentary point at the Hairpin, was wondering if they would mention my position, as I hadn't had a board yet to tell me how I was doing…… caught sight of somebody else going up the Mountain mile, and was on his tail by the Verandah, saw that it was No 15, Keith Willaims, only took note of that, cos he nearly put me on the grass when I tried to pass him…… at the time I thought, 'Twat!'…… he was using the whole road and I had to throttle off a couple of time I was that close to him, but made up my mind to take him after the tram lines at the Bungalow, which I did…… going up Hailwood Rise, got Nigel Beatties' board from, I suspect another Laxey Boy saying 'P7'……… that was not bad, as I knew that I could improve on that…… Josser gave me a big wave at Windy Corner and I had a lonely ride down the Mountain to the Creg-ny-Baa…… It was here that I noticed that my right foot didn't feel as secure as my left on the peg, so all the way down the straight I was looking for the dreaded oil…… went gingerly round Brandish, still looking at my right boot all the way down to Hillberry…… Didn't fancy tipping in to Hillberry with oil on the back tyre, but I still couldn't see for sure if there was…… by this time I was pretty much touring, and by sign post noticed that there was oil on the right hand side…… BOLLOCKS!…… wobbled round the next few corners and headed for the pits, just as I got there Forristal zoomed past to start his second lap, but I never even stopped in the Stop Box, as I knew the day was over for me…… As my Team Manager had said before, he never saw an oil leak that got better…… missed my pit as I wasn't really looking, and stopped just after it and gave the boys the bike…… Dave Moore from Manx Radio was just about to interview me, live on the radio, but he said he'd better not after I kicked the rear wheel on the bike and called it a piece of shit. The truth be told the way things had gone with it the whole fortnight, I was half expecting it, and kicking the bike was probably more for show than anything else, the stand was full and were maybe wondering why I pulled in and by doing that they would then know that it wasn't my fault…… Found that I had done a 113mph lap from a standing start, which was really good considering I got held up and toured in from practically The Creg…… so I was probably on for a 115mph+ lap from a standing start…… would have been my fastest lap of the whole fortnight…… Had to be upbeat about it, its been a bitter sweet Manx for me (cheers for the phrase Paddy M). Chris reckoned I took it well, he said he'd probably have taken a hammer to it, but as I would have had to fix it, wasn't looking for more jobs to do…… Was pretty pleased to have come away from it all unscathed, road well within my limits the whole time, and remarkably hadn't been passed by a single rider the whole fortnight!… nearly had hit my targets, knew I could do 110mph+, but missed out in the Newcomers Race, which was my biggest disappointment. Getting a top 6 in the Senior, would have been the icing on the cake, especially as a newcomer, but after looking at the results, 5th had been a definite possibility…… but it wasn't to be. Mark Parrett went on to win the race on the Wilson and Collins 750 Kawasaki and I was chuffed for him cos he's a good bloke…… he'll be smiling for a long while after I'll bet.

Slick turned up and we all helped strip the bike down to its bare bones, then the scrutineer measured it, and surprise, surprise said it was okay. Have to give it back to Slick to build back up soon…… but for the time being everything was loaded up into the van and we went to the beer tent for a shandy.

Was asked by quite a few people what I am going to do next, and after the Celtic Match Races at Jurby on the 14th & 15th September, I honestly don't know…… will be selling the No 2 bike to Stuey Bainborough which will help pay the bills that will be thudding on the door mat pretty soon…… if you see any dodgy geezers with suits and sunglasses on……… tell em you haven't seen me……… (and that's not Slick if anyone was wondering… Ho Ho Ho)

So, tune in next time for another very exciting, expensive, Christ! 4 laps is a long way, episode of………………… Tommy Clucas Racing.