Superpole - Where's my Oar?

Watched a great Junior Race from the bottom of Bray Hill this morning. My mates Simon Mara, Neil Vicars and Mike Minns all finished and did well (I think they all got replicas). It was dry all the way around the 37.7 miles.

Then the combined Classic race. My mate Mark Herbertson disappointingly retired on the first lap. This was his only race because of the cancellation of the Classic race yesterday. Two and a half weeks of living in the mud to retire on the first lap - racing on the Isle of Man can be cruel.

(Trying to keep my hands dry and warm in Parc Ferme)

The I was up for my 'Superpole' lap to qualify. 15 minutes before the start and it starts raining. We still start so I assumed the rain was local to Douglas and other parts of the circuit would be dry or patchy. How wrong I was...

I poured down the entire lap. Standing water everywhere. By the time I was at Ballacraine I knew there was no hope of getting the 98 mph I needed to qualify. By the time I got to Cronk-y-voddy my boots were filling up with water. It was the longest, most frustrating lap I've ever done of the TT Course. If it were a race... okay - the conditions are the same for everyone, but knowing that I had to do 98 mph to qualify... disappointing.

(Nice road conditions for a 98mph lap... not!)

After the lap I filled in a appeal form for the Clerk of the Course... begging him to to let me race in the Senior race despite not having qualified. We'll see what he says tomorrow. At least I have the Wee Monster to have a race on... if we ever get to race!