IOM 2013 - Day 14 - Supertwins and Senior Race

Up early on Friday to get the bikes loaded and up to the paddock to meet Steve and Ian and get them through skrootineering.

Bikes through (with a bit of sweet-talkin' from Steve) ok and set-up in Parc Ferme. All set for the race at 10h15. Then a delay is announced. And another. The weather is overcast and there is fog on the mountain. More delays and finally a race start at 12h30 or something like that. Too much waiting... but I keep focussed and am ready for it when we line up on Glencrutchery Road for the start of the Supertwins race.

 

I only managed to do 2 laps of Qualifying on the little Suzuki. The 'shake-down' first lap of 2013 and a second scrappy lap through heavy traffic. My other two laps didn't count for qualifying. Because we start in qualifying order this year, I wasn't as far forward in the queue as I'd have liked. No worries... 'catch and pass' would be the mantra.

The flag drops and I red-line the little Suzuki all the way down Glencrutchery Road. Flat out down Bray Hill, only off the gas and braking for Quarterbridge. I press on... I almost get Ballagary flat-out. I catch the rider that started 10 seconds ahead of me just before Ballacraine. Good work... keep going.

I'm going faster through sections than I have ever been on the little bike. The personal best laps from earlier in the week have pushed me forward. Flat-out. With a few more rpm due to the shorter gearing, the little bike is working hard, but going well. The lengthening of the wheelbase by 12mm in a effort to make her more stable hasn't worked. The bars continuously flick in my hands as I hit bumps while flat-out mid-corner. It's real hard work... but I can't get off the gas.

Pit crew - Steve and Ian

I get one or two big flicks that almost turn to tank-slappers. I'm riding that little bike to her limit. Just hold on tight and keep that throttle wound up!

I catch and pass another rider just before Ballacrye. Another two as I get into Ramsay. I struggle to get past them as they are on fast Kawasakis. They gap me over the long uphill drag up the mountain. Then they hold me up in the corners. As we get to we plunge into a white wall of fog. The visibility is about 50 yards. Okay in a car doing 30mph... but on a bike, in a race, on a mountain road... a bit disconcerting.

Running into traffic at the Gooseneck

We approach Brandywell - I know I'm strong around there so set him up for an outside pass on the fast kink before. I'm onto the 6 of the next fast Kawasaki and we get through the fog on the run down the Windy Corner. I tuck into his slipstream. A few times I try to pass on the run down from the mountain, but every time I dart out of his slipstream, it's like I hit a wall and he starts pulling away. With only 73bhp, the wee Suzuki doesn't have enough power.

Union Mills - Stephen Ault on No 48 made up this gap and passed me easily less than half a mile up the road.

We need more power Cap'n!

I eventually get past on the brakes into Signpost. Flat-out down Bray Hill and then the long flat-out section to Ballacraine. On the hill up to Ballahutchin, the Kawasaki easily comes past me. Through the turns he's holding me up. Frustrating!

We get to Glen Helen and I see a marshals waving red flags. We are directed off the track at Swiss Cottage. Race stopped. I have a chance to meet the Kawasaki rider. Stephen Ault - a Newcomer. He was going very well... I learn that his Slick Bass tuned motor is making around 97bhp!

Red flag at Swiss Cottage - time for a photo and a chat

The Travelling Marshals pick us up and we cruise back to the Grandstand in convoy. Race was red-flagged due to deteriorating weather. To be rerun at 14h00 as a two lap race. We get the little bike back on tyre warmers, gassed up, battery topped up and I have enough time to visit the Hailwood Centre for a sandwich. Re-focus.

Re-start and I'm on it. As I hammer down Bray Hill, I see rain flags and droplets splatter on my screen. Easy on the brakes into Quarterbridge. Easy on the gas coming out. Into Braddan. Waved yellow flags. Slow down. Stephen Ault started 20 seconds in front of me - the long scrape-marks on the tar lead to his bike in the fences. I get through okay and get the hammer down. Into Snugborough... fast, flat-out left-hander. The rain is streaming across my screen. Track getting wet... will there be enough grip to be cranked over flat-out?

Signpost

Let's try. Nerve-wracking. You push as hard as you dare. Feeling for grip, hoping the tyres find it. It's more in the mind than anything else. Your brain screams that the track is wet and there is no grip and you'll land up in the flint wall at 120mph. You have to push through that. Silence the screams. Focus on what you're doing. Feel what the bike and tyres are doing.

Again, I catch the next rider as we get to Ballacraine. An easy pass using corner-speed on the exit - timed perfectly. On the dry sections I am pashing harder and faster than I have before on the little bike. Flat-out where I used to roll... end of Cronk-y-Voddy... Ballacrye. Man, that feels good!

Back on the mountain and there is rain and more fog to feel one's way through. Back down to Douglas and it's raining as we come through the Grandstand for the second and final lap. I think of the section ahead: flat-out Bray Hill... in the wet! I figure if I get though the St Ninian's jump okay, the rest of Bray Hill will be fine.

Bottoming out through Begarrow

I keep the cables stretched through St Ninians and wince as I go through and hit the jump. She lands perfectly so I keep her pinned all the way to Quarterbridge. More rain patches all the way to Ballacraine. On the dry side of the course I am going faster... but still fighting the bars. I am tiring. Top of my back, neck and shoulders are starting to ache. Down Sulby Straight I have a chance to think of the Senior race scheduled for an hour or so later... I'll be knackered. Crap!

There yet more rain and fog over the mountain... but I press on. This is a race. Everyone is pressing on. Got - to - go - faster.

Back down to Glencrutchery Road and I am relieved to pass the chequered flag. I normally don't mind wet racing conditions... but around here it is wet one mile, bone dry the next, then damp patches and then the fog. Not much fun and mega stressful.

I get back to Parc Ferme to hear that the Senior race has been cancelled and this is the end of Manx GP 2013. I am so knackered from holding onto that flighty little Suzuki that I'm relieved. But, that feeling is soon replaced with disappointment. I was so looking forward to getting out on the Aprilia and bettering Wednesday's fastest lap.

Most vans are packed to the rafters... spot the 3 bikes.

Of course, as soon as the decision to cancel the rest of the meeting was announced, the weather cleared up and we had a beautiful afternoon... the sun even shone. If we had started the Supertwins on time, we would have finished before the crap weather and the Senior would have started after the weather (with maybe a 1 hour delay). There was a 'standby' session scheduled for the evening and one for Saturday morning. Apparently these could not be used because there would not have been enough marshals. They go to the trouble to get extra road closure permission, but cannot organise the marshals. They didn't even make a call for more marshals. Silly.

It's a shame... I think decisions are made with the weight and fear of litigation hanging over them. It's like there is a lawyer who knows nothing about motorcycle racing on the Isle of Man sitting over the shoulder or the clerk of the course. Some hasty and poor decisions. So the whole event just kinda fizzled out. Everyone was feeling quite deflated.

We like prizes!

Oh well... my efforts in the Supertwins race were enough to get 19th place out of 66 entrants... and a coveted replica :-) My overall laptimes were rubbish, but some of the dry sector times were fast :-)
So that's it for another year. Gonna get the van and bikes packed now for my ferry early tomorrow morning. We're going home in my van on the ferry... and that's always a good thing!

Only my third Manx GP replica in 7 campaigns :-)

Racing on the Isle is tough