M.G.P. 2003 Practice Week - 16th August 2003

It seems hardly like a year since we were last at this event, it hasn’t half come round quick, but here we were again…… all ‘Semi Factory’ in the paddock. Had to go to the signing on, briefing, kit checking etc etc… on the Friday afternoon, and was glad to get that out of the way……… decided on leaving the tyres on that I had used at Jurby South Road as I reckon I can get more out of them than I am…… and as the motor in the ol R6 is nearly due for a rebuild, I went down a tooth on the rear sprocket so that it wouldn’t rev as much so as to save the motor as much as possible……… well, gotta try these things seeing as how its practise an that…… Had the loan of a road bike for a few laps again this year from local motorcycle dealers, Road & Track Motorcycles, and a huge thank you to Alan Lund for that…… just to help me with being on a bike to get some miles in, although with trying to get the bike ready, I didn’t get in as many laps as I had wanted to…… and don’t start me on those bloody tin boxes that keep getting in the way…… that’s another story…… Met Cargo coming out of the race office so said a quick ‘Hiya Yissa’ as you do…… and met up with fellow newcomer from last year, Craig Atkinson, who is starting at No 2 this year…… arranged to go out on the lash after practise on the Saturday Night with him and his crew…… should be a larf that…… oh yes indeedy…… Also met David Bell for the first time since last year, and I reckon he’ll be one to watch out for, along with Porter, Pattinson and Gilder…… with the Jackson brothers in there as well…… but for me I think Gilder will take the most stopping…… and that bugger is starting 10 seconds behind me……

Saturday 16th August – First Practise

Tipped up in the paddock early afternoon and the sun was breaking the pavements…… just hoped it would stay that way, but as there was no wind either, I imagined that the flies would be out in force tonight, so got the rip offs on my visor at the ready…… had all the usual jobs done, and then Stuey put the bike through scrutineering and we got pulled, because there was ‘play’ in the rear wheel…… they reckoned it was the rear wheel bearings as this was something that there were actually looking for on R6’s…… never argued, (that’s a first) just rang Lundy at Road and Track motorcycles, to see if he had some, and when he did I popped down on the scoot to pick em up…… I reckon it’s not going to make any difference, it will more likely be play in the cush drives than the bearings, but for safety sake they reckoned I should change them, so will do come Sunday……

The Newcomers were out first, so went to watch them for a bit, but the start was delayed by about 20 minutes because some numpty had left their car on the road at Bishop’s Court…… Unbelievable…… Stuey managed to get our bike somewhere near the front in our group…… I went and got changed and couldn’t find my gloves, so had to go for the spare pair I always bring, but leave bloody black dye all over your hands…… bollocks…… don’t normally use these because of this and there’s less ‘feel’ with them…… My sister Angie asked what I was hoping for this first session, and I said it would be nice to do over 110mph from a standing start and end up topping the leader board…… had a few texts telling me to go easy etc etc, first practise an all that, but I just wanted to do it for me……

Lined up for our session and in front of me were both Craig (Atkinson) and me ol mate Keith McKay…… went and wished him all the best and a safe practise, and he said he’d give me a big wave when I came past…… he would have done as well…… but Stuey managed to barge his way through and a couple of others let me in ahead of them, which was nice…… one of them being Craig, I think his arse popped went when I told him I was going to dive up his inside somewhere just for the fun of it…… Har Har…… was about 8th or so out onto the road…… got the signal to start and it was off down to the traffic lights at the top of Bray…… hit the bottom pretty much flat out in top, and saw me mate Juan Kinnish and his girlfriend Bubba (Dawnio) hanging of the wall in Ros’s garden, planned on giving them a wave next time round……

Caught the two that started in front of me at the QB and passed them before Braddan Bridge, then passed another two around the outside at the Union Mills Post Office…… took Ballagarey Corner in 5th and decided after here that my gearing was too long…… and planned to change it back, but wanted to get two laps in no matter what…… Took the corner into Crosby where DJ got killed, absolutely flat out in top, (makes me think about him every time I go past here)…… It usually takes me a few laps to build up to it, but I know I can do it so just went for it…… the drive through here ate the gap on the bloke in front and had to roll the throttle and dab the anchors into Greeba Castle to avoid running in the back of him, saw which line he was taking then passed him around the outside, caught somebody else into Gorse Leigh and passed him before Ballacraine…… there were Marshal’s in the road here with the oil flag, tip toed round the corner, there was tons of it down…… all the way up through Ballaspur and beyond…… Jesus!…… couldn’t he have stopped earlier?…… got my head down after here and just got on with it, it looked like I was now leading on the road and was well pleased to have it all to myself…… yeee haaarr…… I was a little more ragged than I would have liked, but I was getting the power down pretty early which I was happy about, and I was moving myself about the bike a bit which made changing direction easier and I was throwing it onto its side more than usual…… wobbled round Glen Helen the first time round when my foot slipped off the peg…… oops!…… and used all of the road here, and rounding Sarah’s Cottage was probably the sweetest I’d ever done it…… powered up through Lambfell and then it was the Cronk y Voddy straight……… even before I get on it all I’m thinking about is the end of it… took that flat out in top, and again I reckon it must have been ‘interesting’ to watch…… the bike jumped all over the place…… but I just carried on regardless…… had a pretty steady time to Ballaugh and rolled the throttle more than I should have been doing, but as it was only the first lap of practise I wasn’t telling myself off too much, also had to drop down a gear once or twice to get the bike to pick back up, so my theory of trying to save the motor wasn’t really working, I reckon I was 1500-2000 revs down on what I should have been doing. Was more airborne than I would have liked at Ballacrye, and felt the bike start to drift whilst in the air, confirmed with a big wobble on landing…… and to think I used to like that bit! I was pretty shit through Milntown, but again wasn’t too worried, tried sommat different through here and I must admit it helped…… There was oil flags and Marshal’s in the road again at May Hill in Ramsey, so went really cautious through here and really slowed…… it was awash with cement dust, thought at the time that these classics were blowing up a lot or the newcomers were jumping off for fun. Saw a gap in the cement dust so aimed for that and got through it with nowt on me tyres…… there was plenty of flies out for sure and I wasn’t wanting to tear one of my rip offs off till halfway up the mountain, but it was getting difficult to see, going up the Mountain Mile, passed a couple of classic bikes and a whole gaggle of them into the Verandah…… looks like I caught the first session up then…… tried to give them all as much room as possible, was pretty cautious approaching them as they were taking all sorts of weird lines an shit, and there were a few newcomers who were obviously trying to learn the course……… Had to take Hilberry in 4th gear instead of 5th because of the gearing and caught a 400cc machine into Signpost Corner, went around his (or her) outside and he/she pulled right over in front of me and had me in the gutter, good job I was half expecting it…… got stuck behind a classic at the Nook and all the way around Governors, then got the chequered flag and had to pull in to the holding area…… made my way past all the people that were there and then stopped and just waited…… there were none of my team to be seen, was thinking to myself that they must have ended the practise prematurely because of the earlier delay and we were only going to get 1 lap in, so looked for Stuey to take the bike…… then I saw somebody on a 600 Junior bike go up the ramp and out onto the road…… shouted to the Official ‘Whats the script, like?’ and he said ‘Oh do you want to go back out?’……… I think I just might, so I wobbled my way up the ramp and back out onto the road…… Took off again and hit the bottom of bray with a huge wheelie whilst hanging off the bike in front of Juan & Bubba, he told me afterwards that somebody got a picture of it…………… Coooool. Had the road pretty much to myself again which was handy, and this time round I was better at Ballagarey, felt like the bike was really cranked over, and on the bump on the exit, pulled another huge wheelie whilst still banked over…… fantastic. Caught the bloke that had started ahead of me through here and blew the doors off him down into Glen Vine…… Same deal at Ballacraine, the Marshal was still holding the flag in the air, and all I was thinking was ‘Christ, his arm must be sore!’……… tip toed through it again, and then went hell for leather after the mess…… but still can take it a lot faster…… had a pretty uneventful lap, and on my way round noticed quite a few bikes parked up against the hedges etc and had never seen so much oil all over the course…… thought that I had taken a few corners pretty sweetly and my arms weren’t that knackered although I was absolutely gasping for a drink…… had my knee touch the kerb at Sulby Bridge, oops…… we’ll have less of that…… didn’t have much traffic at all, but passed a few people in Ramsey and up on the Mountain…… The sun was pretty bright in a few places and saw the signals that were put out because of it, but was still just going steady…… got to Signpost and there were Marshal’s on the road and flags waving everywhere…… I stuck my hand in the air and slowed loads and nodded as well, just to let them know I had seen it …… saw that Junior bike No 88 was up against the hedge and a few people tending to him…… fingers crossed he was alright, again there was oil everywhere…… wobbled round the last few corners and thought I would be pulling into the holding area, but saw the flag on the finish line so had to speed up again to go through it……… Doh!

Saw my Team Manager, Chris when I pulled in…… he didn’t realise that I had pulled in after the first lap, and he had me down for about 113mph for my second circuit…… not too shabby that for the first night. Was told by the team that they had me down for 19’ 53 which was nearly 114mph, which was even better, but later it was officially 112.79mph which did in fact make me quickest of the night, which was my target beforehand…… I don’t know how they work these times because Peter Cain came to see me afterwards, to tell me that they knew I was first on the road, but hadn’t realised that they had pulled me in…… and when he saw me in the holding area on my way back out, he radioed for them to put the chequered flag away……… I also heard that the had me down for sommat like 114mph on the computer in the Hailwood Centre, so it makes you wonder where they got 112.79mph from…… they had me down for 108mph for my second lap, which was a load of bollocks an all…… you would think that the time I had spent in the holding area would be accredited to my first lap and not the second…… because when I pulled out to have another go, it would be a brand new lap, with no stoppages……… My team had me down for two sub 20 minute laps, so that’ll do me……

One of Craig’s team, Roly came over to tell us that Craig had come off at Sarah’s Cottage and was airlifted to Hospital…… Disaster!!!!……… It turned out he was in fact okay, and taken by ambulance, with minor cuts and bruises…… bloody nobber…… he said he tipped in too early, which is easily done, and clipped the bales on the exit…… but his bike faired really well, with minor damage to that…… so sommat to tell his grand kids about……

Next up is practise on Monday Morning at 5-00am, will be sleeping in me van, and if its raining, like its been forecast, I’ll be rolling over and going back to sleep in my zed bed…… well me sisters’ actually……

So, tune in next time for another very exciting, leaderboard topping episode of ………………… Tommy Clucas Racing.