ManxGP 2010 - Second Practice - The BAMF is Back!

The rain stopped yesterday at 14h00. Sun came out and the course was drying out nicely... then 45 minutes before the start of practice it started raining again. :-(

This year they have shortened the scroot time from 14h00 - 18h00 to 16h00 - 18h00. For the proper teams with mechanics to get the bikes through scrootineering this is no problem... but puts it puts a lot of pressure on us one-man-shows to get two bikes through scrootineering and ready for practice. If something that takes more than 10 minutes is needed doing as a result of scrootineering, with a team it's no problem because the mechanics can have an extra hour or so while the riders gets ready and goes out in the first session on the other bike. With a one-man-show, you're fucked!

Rear view of the BAMF... I'm hoping to show this to most competitors...

Got the BAMF through scrootineering no problemo. Took the SV up... as I rolled up to the bay, the rear brake didn't feel right. I checked it out. The brake line had cought the bucking swing-arm (something that wouldn't happen on short-circuits) and been kinked. It was leaking. Shit! To source an new brake line (from the brilliant race shops in the paddock) and fit it shouldn't take more than an hour for a spanner-numpty like me. But in 30 minutes the Senior practice would start and I still had to top the BAMF up with gas to make 2 laps... and get kitted up. So... yesterday... I got fucked.

I wheeled the SV back down to the van... and gave it a kick. I was angry... but channeled that energy into the next two laps.

Poorly positioned brake line for the rigors of the TT Mountain Course - if a bike has a weakness, the TT Mountain Course will find it! This is what practice week is for...

Out on the BAMF. By the time I was crossing St Ninian's (200 yards from the start) I knew the radical geometry changes I'd made on Sunday were working. I went steady, steady till Union Mills (cold tyres - tyres warmers are just more hassle and things for me to do before practice...) then opened her up. Yeeeeeeeha! Fuck me! She's got grunt!

By the time we were at Glen Helen, the roads were wet. easy, easy... just feeling my way around. You gotta be soooo gentle with the quick -action throttle with so much torque and horse-power.

First lap at Greeba Bridge - knicked the pic from Dave Kneen... fear not... I will be buying them without the banners...

As I went around, the voice of Mike Dawson was in my head: "Catch and pass". Once I'd caught a rider, I gave myself just 1 corner to get past them. None of this following bullshit of previous years. Pull moves... show them you're determined to get past them... and around here they will normally get you get past. I did a lot of catching and passing :-)

Failing to qualify on the BAMF because of the weather last year was on my mind... so I gave her some beans. Getting quite a few slides on there too... and either the clutch is going or she was spinning up a lot (I've got another clutch arriving tomorrow- just in case!).

Second Lap on the BAMF

On the second lap, at the wet Gooseneck, I caught a rider... tried to outbrake him, but he was having none of it and slammed the door shut on me short-circuit style, forcing me to pick the bike up... bastard! Go I gave the throttle just a wee bit more than before comming out of the slow right-hander and the back slid around... big-time! I eased off, the tyre gripped and I got catapulted out of the seat. I landed with the bike pointing straight up the hill so opened her up again... wheelspinning all the way up the hill... past the rider I had just caught! The spectators hanging off the wall 8 feet away must have loved it... I certainly did!

Forlorn SV and happy BAMF in the day paddock which has moved for this year... as far as possible down the steep hill from scrootineering - thanks guys! It's the same field that I was swimming in in 2006.

My lap speeds were 89.9 and 92.5 mph. Not great... but in those conditions it was good enough to be 27th fastest in the combined Junior & Senior (out of 94). Yeah baby! The BAMF is back in business!