Celtic Match Races - 10th - 12th October 2003

Thought that my season was long over, but had to put my 'semi retirement' on hold to compete in the Celtic Match Races for the Isle of Man team....... Had originally been asked to join it, but had to decline, as my bikes weren't ready....... had a few other reasons as well, the main one being that I don't particularly like the Pembrey track........ a real scratcher's circuit which doesn't really suit my non knee down style......... had still planned on going to help Stuey out and just go for the craic, like.......... But had to alter my plans after bumping into Paul 'Big H' Hunt on a Saturday night out in Douglas and he gave me a bollocking and he said if I didn't get meself a bike sorted, he would not only kill me........ he would shag me up the arse as well......... and as anyone that knows Big 'H'........ will indeed imagine, that that, would be a fate worse than death..... So it was straight out of the pub to find a phone box............

After having mainly concentrated on racing on the roads this season, the last track that I competed on was at Jurby at the Easter meeting, which wasn't too successful either......... so I was hoping that I wouldn't disgrace myself and be somewhere near the pace....... It would also be a slightly different racing in a pack again, as at the TT and the MGP, you pretty much race on your own......

Local sponsor, Martin Bullock, kindly agreed to lend me a bike, and it was the bike Phil Gilder used at the Manx Grand Prix, albeit his spare mount and not the one he actually used in the race...... a Supersport GSXR600 Suzuki...... thought that it would do me fine...... arranged to pick it up and lashed it in me van..... and mighty pretty it looked too...... loaded it straight from my van into Stuey's as I would be travelling down to Wales with him and his Dad... We decided to change our ferry ticket so that we could go on the Thursday night instead of the Friday morning, so that we could travel down through the early hours and get there in time for the track day which was scheduled for 1pm - 5pm........ Was dead handy that Stuey's Dad, John, was going to be doing all the driving....... fantastic.

Caught the Ferry and joined a few of the other Match Racers in the main lounge, Nige Beattie and his crew and Big H as well........ and told tales of how fast we were going to be...... the others were going to be doing a bit of driving and then parking up and staying in a hotel somewhere halfway down, while we decided to get it all out of the way in one go, and John played a blinder by getting us there safe and sound about 6 hours later....... hadn't managed much kip on the way down, but did drop off forra bit when we stopped............ till we decided to fall out of the truck at about 9-30am....... Erected the Awning and went and signed on for the track day....... The weather forecast for the weekend had been great, but it looked like they had it wrong again when it started to lash it down with rain........ bollocks..... It was a good job I had brought spare tyres with me, although I didn't have as many sets of wheel that I would have liked to make my life a bit easier...... Had to also change the gearing and suspension settings as the only races this bike had ever done had been on the roads and not on the tracks, and I didn't have any data to use, so Nige let me copy the settings on his bike when he arrived a couple of hours later....... It would at least give me a base setting, which I could alter, but Nige being as good as he is, I thought that if it was good enough for him, it would be pretty near for me.......

It was damn handy that the track day was an open session, and we could be out for as long as we liked in the 4 hour session and not the usual 20 minutes per hour, this gave us time to make loads of alterations, but they way the weather was and a soaking wet track, I didn't think that I was going to learn all that much or be able to 'feel' any changes....... so we all decided to sit tight to see if it would dry up.......... some bloke from the Irish team turned up and crashed at the first corner on the first lap and broke his collarbone.......... muppet!......... so our decision seemed to be the right one....... at one stage, there was a bloke out on the track who had it all to himself....... but we waited....... Stuey was itching to get out, and as we had sat out nearly the first two hours, it wasn't looking like it was going to clear up all that much, so he changed to his intermediate tyres and went for it...... followed by Nige, then 20 minutes later by me........

Had to get my head round which way the track went and being as wet as it was, helped keep me steady..... and I wobbled round for a couple of laps with Stuey in tow, then started to get a little quicker and Stuey dropped off a bit, managed to get 22 laps in before the chequered flag came out and my lap timer indicated that I had managed a load of laps in the 1min 09 sec bracket, which was not bad considering I had only second hand intermediates fitted and the track was piss wet...... had to dodge a massive puddle on the back straight every lap...... although it was as slippy as it was, I pretty much enjoyed it...... first time that I had sat on a bike since I pulled in after the first lap since the Senior Manx Grand Prix.....

For the next session the track had a few dry patches, but not too many, and this session out I managed 21 laps...... got the lap times down into the 1min 04's which I thought wasn't bad and was lapping faster than the other two........ But for the last session when there was a dry line, I completed 16 laps this time out, Nige ended up squeezing into the 1'02 sec bracket when I had only managed a 1'03........... still, had to be happy with that...... and with intermediate Pirelli tyres that had done 6 laps of the TT and 59 laps round here.......... and they still looked and felt okay......... bargain!

Decided on leaving the gearing as it was, and just fettled the bike ready for tomorrows races, lashed the worn Supercorsa's back on as I had planned on using these for practise, and delay putting new ones on till the races..... I had entered 7 races over the weekend, 2 x 600 races, 2 x Celtic Match Races, 2 x 1300 Open Races and the Prince Of Pembrey Final spread over the two days (Saturday & Sunday)....... wasn't planning on doing them all, but entered them just in case I changed my mind.... Hoped the weather would change to the sunshine that was forecast, but we'd have to wait till tomorrow to see on that one.....

I set myself a target of 35 points for the two Celtic Match Races........ I think the way they have the scoring, is sommat like...... assuming that there is 35 in the race..... 7 from each of the 5 teams....... the winner gets 35 points, 2nd gets 34 points, 3rd - 33points and so on ........... down to last place which gets 1 point......... so sommat like a 17th & 18th place would give me my target of 35 point which would be the equivalent of a Win and a DNF (Did Not Finish)........ This track is all about the start, and I didn't expect to be allocated the best of the grid positions..... and had to be realistic..... wasn't expecting to win owt.

Saturday 11th October

Was up early enough and had all the minor jobs done to the bike, and hung around waiting for the IOM Team Manager, Terry Holmes to tip up...... but no sign..... he had in his possession all the scrutineering cards and passes etc...... and as time was a-pressing, went to the Race Admin Office and got spares for those who didn't have them...... because I'm so organised, this bloody annoyed me, as we should have had everything before we had left....... and it created more hassle than it should have been..... we never even had our race numbers....... Eventually got the nod from one of our boys saying that I would be No 21...... so made some numbers out of blue fablon and stuck them on the bike...... all this had to be done before scrutineering........ The Manx Celtic Match Race Team seemed to be numbered 15 to 21, so Stuey had a bit of a shock to be allocated No 65........ didn't sound like he was racing in the Match Races, which he was well annoyed and quite understandably upset about ...... It looked like the team was going to be No 15 - Mike Crellin, No 16 - Big 'H', No 17 - Sean Murphy, No 18 - Conor Cummins, No 19 - Nigel Beattie, No 20 - Paul Duckett, and me at No 21....... So it looked like No 65 - Stuey, and No 66 - Derran Slous were down as the reserves...... also had Big H's youngfellermelad, Gavin, riding his 125cc Honda...... so there was a few of us about......... No wonder all the sheep had a worried look on their faces...... worried me when Derran said he spotted a couple of good looking ones..........

First practise was dry but the track temperature wasn't too great, I went out and chased Nige Beattie all the way round for 9 laps and was having a good laugh, but was disappointed when I pulled in to see that I had lapped slower than yesterday when it was damp............mmmmmmmmmmm. Decided on chucking a new rear tyre in the bike for the extra grip as it really is a track that has the bike on its side most of the time, and because I never got chance to put the tyre warmers on it, it was stone cold so went out to warm it up for a few laps.... was passed by loads doing this, and there was definitely some fast lads here..... upped my pace and felt the front lose its grip on the ripples in the tarmac coming on to the start/finish straight........ good job it gripped again....... only got one flying lap in before the chequered flag came out...... bugger...... still slower than yesterday with times in the 1'04's.... still not too worried, I never usually set the world alight in practise.....

Decided on putting a new front tyre on as well after I nearly lost the front the previous session, don't want to be having any of that........ so got ready for the last practise session, which was exclusively for the Match Race Teams............... I was soon out and was being dragged along by a couple of the Scottish lads, 'Wee Bob' Grant and Les Shand...... These two boys had been doing the British Supersport Championship all year and were well on it, confirmed by the fact that Wee Bob had won two races at Knockhill the previous week..... Manged to circulate with them okay and Wee Bob was awesome backing his Suzuki in at the Hatchet's Hairpin... He totally had it on opposite lock with smoke coming off the rear tyre.... Had my knee down everywhere, which always has me slightly worried about how much grip is left, as it would be so far over that there wouldn't be much....... and no mistake.... Managed another 9 laps and lapped quicker than previously, with a lot of them in the low 1'03's...... so getting better.

My first race was going to be the 8 lap 600 Supersport Race and was allocated a 6th row grid position..... bit of a shitter that was, and was further hampered by an awful start...... the bloody thing just wouldn't get off the line......... managed to get my head down and started to pass a few people and noticed the lap timer showing 1'02 sec laps which is close to what the pace needs to be on a 600, though had I been nearer the front and not getting blocked by slower riders, I'm in no doubt I would have gone quicker......... was having a bite at a few people and then backing off, which is something I shouldn't have been doing, having had more track time this year, I'm sure I wouldn't have thought twice about diving up the inside, but went for the safest option everytime...... was losing time being extra cautious........... anyway, caught up with one of our lads, young Sean Murphy, who is the IOM Restricted Licence Holder Champion and he was going well, but managed to get him into Hatchet's Hairpin........ this Suzuki of mine didn't seem to like to stop much and it felt like the back end was skipping all over t'shop....... and again into Brooklands Hairpin where I was backing it in, but not deliberately.......... reeled in Nige with Sean tailgrabbing me and on the last lap into Woodlands Bend on the back straight taken in 6th gear, there was some numpty on a 250 Aprilia lapping about 20 seconds slower than the rest of us.......... Nige sat up and had to avoid him, having the two of them in front of me didn't give me anywhere to go so I had to throttle off, sit up and brake, young Murphy still had his head down and arse up and he came thundering past....... he told me later that he never even saw the guy on the 250..... anyway I lost a place and only had one corner to get it back, and rounding the last corner (Honda Curve) before the Start/Finish Straight, got better drive, but he nipped me on the line....... twat!....... another 100 yards and I would have got him back..... finished 13th....... good enough effort, but know I can do a lot better...... but jumping off somebody else's bike at the end of the season had might a tad worried, so was trying my best not to.... Still, was happy at the pace we were going at, and although the front had been pushing a bit, had a few slides and had the back end sliding about, I felt happy enough...... would have like to have had more control when heavy on the ol anchors though... Spotted Wee Bob Grant and he stopped for a chat, and I confessed to being impressed with his 'speedway style' into the Hairpin.... I said I was doing it unintentionally, and the back end was hopping all over the place....... he then explained how he was doing it, using a combination of the clutch and the back brake...... so I said, I'll give it a try to see if it helps me any.......

Next race up was the first of the two 15 lap Celtic Match Races...... Stuey had stepped in, while Ducky had stepped down..... we all had a team member on each of the rows on the grid, so it was Big H on the first row, Conor on the 2nd, then me on the 3rd, then Nigel (on H's 600 Honda as his Suzuki was overheating), Murph, Stuey and Mike at the back....... Must confess the grid looked a little crowded with 5 on each row and we weren't spaced that much apart....... Had two warm up laps and settled for the start, got a below average one again, the bike just didn't seem to want to go and it was well crowded when everyone bottle necked for the first corner........ had to all take position and wobble round........ young Murph had other idea's though and showed his inexperience when he shot past me and into the pack...... I thought 'bloody hell where's he off to!'........ he obviously couldn't stop and crashed into quite a few riders and brought a few of them down with him........ disaster!..... there was bodies and bikes all over the place and I could make out one of them was Wee Bob........ thought that they had to Red Flag it, because in a few of the previous races they had for next to nothing...... so wobbled round expecting the red flags to come out.... even after most of the first lap I was still expecting them to come out, but they never....... bollocks!!!!...... got to the hairpin and saw that they had it all cleared up....... they must have done well there then....... anyway.... it was head back down again and I made up a few places, but not many as it was hard to pass, but managed it in three places...... both hairpins and Dibeni Bends which are the only left handers on the course..... and I love left handers... looked at the lap timer and I was back doing 1'02 laps and caught up with bike No 1 which just happened to be a bloke called Jay Beller Smith..... I've read about him in Bikesport News and it seems he's been having a good year, but he was holding me up.... he was pretty hard to pass, but I must have done it at least 6 times, only for him to come back past me on the brakes at both hairpins, the proceeded to 'wipe my nose'.......... it was mighty close once or twice...... it wouldn't have happened if I was a bit less out of shape when on the brakes........ my lap timer was indicating laps one and a half seconds a lap slower, but couldn't make this move stick, so was stuck behind till the end and took the flag in 19th.......... pretty wank. H had finished 4th, which was good, Conor 13th, me 19th, Nige 23rd, Stuey and Mike 25th & 26th and there was 9 who never finished...... the points accumulated, put us in 3rd place...... Didn't bother doing the Open Race, so went to watch and Stuey managed to jump off coming onto the start finish straight..... he was pretty lucky as its a fast corner and was even luckier still when his bike skated down the concrete on its crash protector mushrooms and not on the grass...... so apart from the fairing, bar, mushroom, screen, peg etc.... his bike was okay..... he wore through his leathers though and got a hole in his elbow and had to go Hossy to get it cleaned out........ bummer. Fettled the bike ready for tomorrow and we all helped fettle Stuey's bike and got that ready to go again..... after a shower (which was crap... I piss more powerfully) watched the Wales game on TV then retired to my wanking chariot.... rider perfectly ok........ ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Sunday 12th October

No need to go through scrutineering today, unless you had fallen off, so it was all pretty lax, which made a nice change, the weather was still dry, but still no sign of the bloody sun that was supposed to be shining...... I only went out for one practise session and again was behind Wee Bob, who managed to get his bike fixed too, Young Murph had sheared the foot peg hangers clean off Wee Bob's frame when he hit him, and he had to leave the paddock to find somebody to weld them back on...... anyway.... tailed Bob and he was backing it in again all over the place, and he was quicker than me so never held on to him for long and after 9 laps the session ended.... noticed that the clutch was slipping a bit, but thought it was because the bike wasn't as warm as it should be with the cold air........ hoped it would be ok come the first race.......... watched the second session as I wanted to save me tyres, and noticed how much Stuey had slowed........ yesterday's crash had definitely knocked his confidence....

First race was the 8 lap 600 race again and I was on the 2nd row for this one..... young Murph was on the front just ahead of me and at the start the clutch slipped like hell and I lost loads of places....... made a few back up and on the 2nd lap had a bite at Nige at Dibeni Bends and he put me on the inside rumble strip, hit that with a thump and landed off it with a wobble... the front could have washed, but surprisingly it never bothered me at all..... this enabled Young Conor to get past me and I tail grabbed him and Nigel all the way round and stayed in the formation that we were in and I took the flag in 9th place........... nearly made the 1'01 second bracket this time round with a 1'02.03....... so better luck next time...... Found that the clutch cable wasn't located in the adjuster properly and that was most probably why I had been suffering from clutch slip, so a few twiddles with the spanners had the problem solved. Murph had managed to get on the podium with 3rd place which was a good result, but said that he hadn't ridden any harder than he had been doing all weekend, it was all about getting away with the leaders at the start.

Decided that the second 15 lap Match Race would be my last race today....... after all, it was the only reason I was racing here, and with no other races planned this year, there was not really much point in extra practise....... and there would also be more chance of returning the bike in one piece...... Lashed a new set of rubber boots on the bike for the extra grip, I calculated that the rear had done 58 laps and the front 53...... so it was time for newy's....

This time I was on the 5th row, behind H, Conor, Nige, Murph........ got a better start this time but was blocked by the sheer volume of bikes at the hairpin, and surprisingly everyone got round okay..... approaching the Esses, saw that somebody had come off and took somebody else with him....... I ran over something on the track, which gave me a bit of a fright...... carried on, till the red flags came out at the next corner...... somebody fell off coming onto the start/finish straight AFTER the red flags had come out..... nobber!....... toured over the finish line and then all the way round the track back to the grid..... saw a marshall pick up somebody's drive chain, which is what I had managed to run over, this mean't the poor bloke that lost it would have gone into the corner with no engine braking and couldn't stop, which is probably how he took someone else out...... silly things like that can ruin your whole day..... whilst settling back on the grid, saw the state of the other bloke's bike that had crashed coming onto the straight, and it was an absolute mess, it had abviously cartwheeled....... a lot.......... Stayed on the grid for a while until we were ready for the restart........ similiar start in this one , lost a few places but made a few back up.......managed to pass a few, mostly at Dibeni Bends again, and was blocked by a local lad called Williams on an R6 Yamaha, and just ahead of him were Nige and Murph....... passed this Williams bloke a couple of times but lost it again on the brakes...... had the three of them in my sights all the way round and it was like a procession..... had a few slides in this one and left a few darkies till the flag and took it in 18th place...... again all the laps in the 1'02's...... would have been confident of 1'01's had I had a clear track........ I think that my 18th & 19th places got me 33 points which was pretty close to the target I had set before we started, and the bike was still in one piece...... cooool.

Watched the last 600 race and both Murph and Nige slid off at the same corner.......... oops...... Nige got away with it completely, whilst Murph's bike hit the air fence at a fair rate of knots........ he was as keen as mustard to get it fixed for the Prince of Pembrey race, but he had no chance, but he still tried like hell to make it.......... Packed all the gear up, then went into the clubhouse for the presentation and a few half lager shandies..... we had slipped to 4th place in the final results, which was a bit disappointing, but were ahead of Wales, who surprisingly came last...... how about that then boyo..

Anyway, got our glad rags on and hit the one horse town that is Llanelli for the night, with the rest of the team with Big H leading the way........ and met up with all the Irish Lads and a good night was had by all......... the trip back up to Heysham was a struggle early the next morning, that was for sure!

So, tune in next time when there probably will be, if everything goes to plan, another very exciting episode of..................... Tommy Clucas Racing.