Jurby South Road Race - 17th May 2003

Headed up to Jurby on me Bugsy Malone as I had none other than the Fastest Boy In The East (aka Juan 'Faster than Fast' Kinnish) spannering for me today, and he was meeting me up there. The Wad couldn't make it for this one as he had another one of these fishing comps on, and it was a biggie…… the equivalent of his TT he called it…… Was again sharing the Awning of Stu Bainborough, and tipped up in the Paddock at about 9-30 am, with the bacon and eggs, and met Stu and his Dad, John, and helped set it up……… like most Awnings, a pain the arse to put up, but once you've had one, you wouldn't be without it. And at least we had it up before it started to rain…… The forecast was not good, and it had given heavy rain for the afternoon, but it felt like it could be one of those days when it dried then rained, then dried again…… I much prefer it to be one way or the other…… cos all this changing wheels malarkey is another pain in the arse…

I had entered 3 races today, both the 1300 Open Centre Championship and the 600cc Race. Stuey only had the one race which was the all new Clubman's race, for Clubman License holder's only, the Andreas Club had done a sterling job of convincing the ACU to allow this to happen…… I've always thought it was a bad idea that the first real road racing experience that newcomer's have is flying down Bray Hill at the Manx Grand Prix. Had both bikes scrutinneered, fuelled and all the other little jobs done before Juan tipped up……(Slaxey Boy)…… Then took Stephen 'Cargo' Carr (complete with fluorescent red hair and green beard) who was making his Jurby road debut from Ireland, for a couple of laps of the course in Keith MacKay's Jalopy…… eerr, I mean Racing Vauxhall Cavalier…… showed him what I thought was the best lines and 'traps' were anyway……

Had another problem with lack of Marshall's, which wasn't a surprise as it was a crap day, it had started to rain and looked a bit bleak, also the depth of the field was a surprise as I thought that there would have been a few more, especially for the Clubman's event as there was only seven rider's entered, and only four in the 400/125 class…… couldn't understand it…… the thought of being let loose on an closed road would certainly appeal to me, as it does, but I think a few of them must have looked out of the window and saw the rain and went back to bed again……

Discussed the tyre issue with both Juan and Stu, and as Stu was out first, and it was still spitting with rain, decided to change tyres to Intermediates, so while Stuey got ready for his 3 lap Newcomer's tour behind the travelling Marshall, me and Joo changed his wheels, then changed them on my 600……… and as I don't have enough spare wheels for the Suzuki GSXR1000, changed the wheels on that to full wets, would really have preferred Intermediates, but too late now…… and the 'no choice' helped decide the issue……

Went out on my 600 Yamaha for my first practise and was first out behind the Travelling Marshall who was on one of the brand new Honda CBR600's and very nice it looked too……… it was pissing down, and he was going pretty quickly…… he had the back end stepping out over the Pillbox Section, and when I took a look behind there was starting to be a bit of a gap opening up…… I reckon he should have joined in the racing! After a lap and a half the Marshal pulled in and let us loose and I hit the front, I had dropped the ride height a huge amount to make it more stable and it was evident that it was too much because the bike steered really slow on all the tight corners, was hounded all the way round by Paul 'Big H' Hunt, so after about 3 laps, waved him through to follow him for a change, but he started to pull away from me…… mad bastard. Pulled in and Juan set about raising the ride height back up another 5mm.

Had been thinking of not using the Suzuki and was only going to if it was either piss wet through or completely dry, and if it was the other scenario of 'pretty dodgy' I would use the 600 with its intermediate tyres fitted. But as I had just been out and it was 'piss wet' I took the big Gixer Thou out forra few laps in my second (and last) practise. Noticed straight away that the gamble I had taken on the gearing was way out as it was revving out in top only half way down the huge straight, so I had to roll the throttle, not good, I would lose loads of time doing this come the race…… it had 186mph indicated on the clock, but as the gearing wasn't right it would have read higher than it was actually doing. Still, it was going fast enough for the rain. Pulled in after about 5 laps and the tyres weren't even marked, I was half expecting them to rip up a bit, but thankfully, no…… they still looked brand new, which was a bonus. Pulled into the Awning and had to change the gearing both front and back, which takes longer than the 10 minutes we had before the first race was called…… by changing the gearing the chain was nearly too long and we ran out of adjustment on the back, and more by luck than judgement it was just enough, made the bike more stable by making the wheel base longer, so that would help rather than hinder……… I hoped……… I got ready while Juan and Pete 'Hound Dog' Hounsell fettled the bike for me, and made it to the holding area…… couldn't find neutral when I got there and it was a bit of a worry…… Robbie Black from Nigel Beattie's team came over with a bunch of tools to help me out and discovered that the other Laxey Boy, Kinnish, had put the gear selector on the wrong way round and the gears were now back to front…… God Knows how I got to the holding area in 6th gear! Robbie fixed it pretty quickly (Cheers mate) and got me out, albeit last, but made my way round to the start line to take my position up on the front row, was cursing to myself because my visor started to steam up, and we hadn't even bloody started! Lined up alongside Big 'H', Gary Carswell and Nigel Beattie……… The flag dropped and we were offski…… got myself into second place behind Carswell, his bike kicked up that much spray it was terrible…… but must have been worse for those behind…… Big H came alongside me on the brakes into Jurby West Corner on the coast road, let him by because he was on a mission and he wasn't half banking it over considering the conditions…… crackers. Was having major problems seeing where I was going, I was forever wiping the outside of my visor and lifting it up at every opportunity to let air in to demist it, and was honestly thinking of pulling in, but after I had a look behind and couldn't see anyone, and could still see the two ahead, thought that pulling in would not be a good plan…… apparently it started to rain again, I could hardly tell because I couldn't see it!…… went past my Team Manager Chris who was swinging out the pit board, wanted this just to tell me what kind of gap I had, because then I could settle down and not be stupid…… Said + 8 seconds on the second lap, so knew that I was pulling away from those behind…… which was nice…… wanted to go at a steady enough pace and didn't want to have an incident or scare meself this close to the TT Races, although I had a couple of back end slides on the new painted white lines at Killane and on a shiny bit of tarmac coming out of the Ballavarran Corner up towards the Pill Box…… at this corner, noticed photographer Nick Carroll of Ncphoto.co.uk in the hedge…… hope he got one of my rear wheel steerings, was thinking now that I knew where he was, was going to pop a few wheelies next time round…… always good for the mantlepiece……The gearbox on this bike has always been really slick and smooth, but after we had messed with the gearing it was a lot clunkier and I missed a couple of gears once or twice, and I could feel the dreaded blister rearing up on the big toe on my gear change foot…… I must have delicate tootsies, me…… I started gaining on Carswell, not because I was going any quicker, but because he had slowed, he only had Inters on and I passed him on the brakes into Cronk Corner, just before the start line……… Was still really struggling with my visor, but was not pulling in now that I was up to second, pulled away from him and on the last lap passing Chris, my pit board said +1……… bloody hell Carswell had caught me back up…… so got my head down and went a bit harder than I really wanted to and defended my line at most corners and got to the line in 2nd spot…… had a look behind and there was no-one there…… was expecting to see Gary, but no…… no sign…… I was hoping he hadn't fallen off…… but saw him on the cool down lap, so panic over…… I got back to the paddock and asked Chris what was the +1 about, and he told me he had taken it from the previous lap, as you do, and I had not long passed him……… oops, School boy error by me…… forgot about that, actually had pulled out about 13 seconds on him with Big 'H' finishing 12 secs ahead of me…… was happy enough with that. The bike was absolutely covered in shite, looked like I'd been moto-crossing on it, and it still didn't feel like it handled like you would expect, although in these conditions it was hard to tell exactly, but hopefully during TT week, I can get it handling somewhere near to being completely comfortable on it…… felt a little 'loose' if you know what I mean. Had managed to do a 2' 33.2 sec lap which was pretty close to the fastest lap set by 'H' at 2' 31.9…… so it wasn't all bad.

Was thinking of not going out in the 600 race, as the was no points or owt up for grabs, so couldn't really see the point in doing it, and I wouldn't be using this particular bike in the TT……… so concentrating on the Gixer only, would be another good plan…… but Juan, Pete and co talked me into it.

Never had time to watch Stuey in the Clubman's race, which was his first ever road race, and the first race he's ever had in the wet…… and he took a start to finish victory……… I was made up for him…… I've been out with him on the open road and he can certainly ride a bike, I think I've got more faith in him than he has himself, but that should do his confidence the world of good…… a good ol boy, and no mistake…… He had the most impressive ride of the day for me……… as it went relatively unnoticed that his race time from his race would have bagged him 4th in the first Championship Race………… I rest my case.

Went out in the 600 race and toured round to the start line, it was still damp in most places, but there was a few areas that were completely dry, so Inters was the way to go…… again on the front row for this one, and didn't get a very good start, but was soon up to third, behind Big 'H' and Mike Crellin who got a flier…… H got past him into Ballavarran Corner and I had to sit and wait, but managed to pass him on the anchors into Jurby West Corner……… Didn't see H till I got to the huge straight, and he had already pulled a good 10 second lead, so I wasn't going to catch him, so settled down in my second spot and did my own thing…… got a signal at Ballavarran the next lap round by the Marshal, indicating that I had a huge gap on the guys behind…… so that was handy as Chris wasn't swinging out my pit board this time…… Coming out of Jurby West saw none other than Geoff Cannell with his new sooper dooper camera, decided on having a few laughs in this one, and hung off the bike and gave him a big thumbs up……… next lap round I knew he'd be ready for me, and he was, so did it again…… was enjoying myself in this one, I wasn't even going to go out, but I'm glad I did…… the adjustments we made to the ride height had definitely improved it and it felt more familiar than the big Suzuki, and as I was riding round I was talking myself into riding this one in the last Open 1300 Race…… Could feel the blister getting bigger and tried to change gear without using my toes, which is a bit of a distraction and doesn't help your concentration, but soldiered on all the same…… On the last lap into Jurby West decided on popping a big wheelie for Geoff, and did so…… he caught it and showed me it later, and it was quite impressive, I have to say…. Har Har. Got to the line a very comfortable second, but way down on Big H who was 30 odd seconds ahead. Was pleased in this one because I had no moments, slides or owt and I could have ridden around all day at that pace…… and surprisingly enough, hadn't had an arm pump problem so far……… groovy.

Last race of the day was the second 1300 Open Championship event, and decided on using the 600 again…… on hindsight though, it was dry enough for Super Corsa's and on the warm up lap, thought that I should be on the Suzuki, which would have given me more of a chance to run right at the pointy end…… but I was gonna ride me own race…… Got my worst start of the day in this one and was behind, Carswell who was leading…… Big H, Nige, Derran Slous who got a good start on Tim Sharpe's 900 Kawasaki and a couple of others, but made my way up to fourth on the brakes into Ballavarran…… Tailed Nige Beattie up through the Pill Box on his R1 and got past him when he bogged it down at Jurby West Corner and that was pretty much the last I saw of anybody…… although I caught sight of H and Gary on the long Straight, but we were at either ends of it, so settled down and had a nice and steady ride to 3rd place…… no moments again in this one and as it was drying the lap times were coming down and I had a best of 2' 26…… Gary had set the fastest lap at 2' 21.4, Big H had done sommat like a 2' 21 as well which is around the 600 lap record and the conditions were far from ideal, got to say the big bugger rode extremely well…… so hats off to him…… would have stayed with them for sure had I been on the Gixer 1000, but I was happy enough with 3rd…… nice and steady rides to set me up for the TT…… although I'll have to go considerably faster than I had today…… roll the throttle in the TT, and somebody will be coming past me.

So not too shabby……… two 2nd's and a 3rd…… 22 points to add to my Centre Championship total, makes up a little for the bad start I've had this year…

Next up for me is the TT next week, where I'll be riding the Ex TAS Suzuki in the 1000 Production event, and in the 600 Production, I'm riding a 2003 Yamaha R6 for Andy Wright at Pro Set Racing…… so that should keep me busy enough…… I'm No 33 in both events, so give me a wave…… I'm looking to beat my Personal Best, which officially is 113.69mph, but unofficially it should have been more like the 116mph mark, so beat that and I'll be happy…… but the big target is 118mph…… which I think I could manage if everything is right for me, so fingers crossed. Got to get the Suzuki back to Production spec, by taking the exhaust off etc and putting the standard stuff back on…… its gonna sound shite with all these quiet bikes whispering around, but it should be a larf none the same……… Wish I'd ordered some dukes of hazard type air horns now……… Har Har.

So tune in next time for another very exciting, hopefully dry, wheelie popping, I'm a TT rider, me, episode of…………………………… Tommy Clucas Racing.