M.G.P. 2003 Practice Week - Friday Evening, 22nd August 2003

After we had the afternoon off, and went home instead of staying in the paddock, arranged to meet Stuey on Friday morning after 11am…… so that we could fettle the bike. I got there about 11-30am with a load of supplies and Stuey had been there since 9am, and fitted the new chain, battery, new brake fluid and cleaned the carbs…… well that made my life easier…… top man.

Greenlight TV tipped up early afternoon, and fitted the onboard camera, this was their new Carlos Fandango one they use in formula one racing cars…… Team Boss Chris, was worried in case it ‘hexed’ me…… sommat seems to happen to most who run one…… hope it wouldn’t to me…… It was mounted in the middle of the screen and they said if it got in my way they would take it off. Said that I’d give it a go…… they would like me to run it in Wednesday’s Junior Race.

The queue for scrutineering started 3 hours before opening…… keen or what!…… and after we went through it, the official Stuey’s got to know waved us nearer the front…… handy that. Spoke to Davy Wood in the holding area, and asked how Ray Porter was…… he said he was absolutely gutted, sick as a parrott, and confirmed that he wouldn’t be riding…… I said I was gutted for him, because I wanted to race him, and Davy said he knew I was, and Raymond wanted to race me too…… Davy then said he hoped I’d go and win it …… wouldn’t that would be nice……… but it ain’t going to be easy, plenty of fast lads here and who knows who’s sandbagging… Also spoke to Alan ‘Flip’ Phillips and he looked as fit as a fiddle after his serious crash up at Jurby Airfield and he wished me a safe run…… looked out for Keith McKay and spotted him not far behind, and as I’ve wished him all the best all week and he has to me, I’m getting superstitious about it, and I’m not going to stop doing it now……

Lined up ready to go out about 14 or so from the front…… the bike had been warmed up well beforehand to see if it would get rid of the clutch slip we encountered off the start and all the way to Glen Vine yesterday…… saw that Craig Atkinson was in the second pair away, so got Stuey to tap him on the shoulder and tell him I would be coming…… he turned round and I gave him a little wave…… Har Har. Also saw that Phil Gilder who hadn’t really showed his hand all week was first away, and he was on the Martin Bullock Suzuki that Mick Skene won on last year…… so it was a clear road for him.

Noticed that Liam Quinn who’s fastest in the Senior Practise was two ahead of me…… we had timed that well, give him 20 seconds and then I’ll go and see if I could catch him…… slipped the clutch off the line to get good drive and then thundered down Bray Hill…… caught up with a few pretty quickly and had to go down a gear at Ballagarey and drove past a couple down through Glen Vine thought that the bike ‘bogged’ a bit at about 13000rpm and hoped that it wouldn’t die on me, but it picked up again…… was pretty close to the pavement passing one in particular, will probably look hairy on the onboard camera…… passed a few more and then had to slow loads at Westwood, which is just before the 13th milestone as there were plenty of oil flags out…… not the place to come off and that’s for sure…… wobbled round and never saw anything apart from the tiniest bit of cement dust, thought that I must have missed it, and would have a better look next time around. Going through Bishops Court, caught up with 2 riders and the fluorescent leathers on the first one told me that it was Irish rider James McCullough and ahead of him it was Quinn……… Cooool…… caught him already. Jumped Ballaugh Bridge and couldn’t get past him…… had to roll the throttle down the straight bit as he pulled over in front of me when I was pulling alongside, and go down a gear when we all jumped over Ballacrye………… was stuck behind till we got on the Sulby Straight and pulled out of McCullough’s slipstream and passed him before we got to Sulby Bridge……… Tailgrabbed Quinn through the Milntown section and there was no way past…… but managed to out brake him into Parliament Square in Ramsey…… Carried on going, there were oil flags out at May Hill and Whitegates, so had to be cautious and have a look where it was, and had to roll it again up on the Mountain when coming across other bikes from the previous session. Up on the Mountain Mile, Quinn came past me using the superior power of the 750…… that thing is bloody fast…… and we both passed somebody on the mile about 70mph faster than they were going and on the onboard tape it was amazing…… it was like he was stopped, bloody dangerous when you come across people going as slow as that. Quinn was edging away a tad and I was wondering whether I should bother trying to keep up, but decided that I did, and by the time we got to the Bungalow Bridge, I had reeled him back in…… Caught up with a Marshal at Brandywell, so had to slow, then a classic at the 32nd and had to wobble round him as well…… into Windy Corner, knew that I had a couple of mates watching so gave them the thumbs up on the way past and tried to keep in Quinn’s slipstream…… was thinking that all this video is going to show is Liam Quinn’s arse! Followed him over the rest of the Mountain, he was slower than me in a few area’s and I had to brake when I didn’t want to which upset the bike more than I would have liked…… out braked him into the Creg-Ny-Baa pub and into the corner another bloody classic tipped over right in front of us…… squeezed the lever hard to avoid him, and noticed that the lever was coming back further that it was, and we had just changed the brake fluid as well…… down towards Brandish, Quinn came past me on the power again, so sat in behind…… again. Into Hillberry had to go down to 4th, to scrub off more speed, so I was obviously faster round here, so still stuck in behind…… was going to have a bite at him into Signpost Corner, but glad that I never because I probably would have overshot, he was good into here…… followed him for the rest of the lap, and thundered off again down Bray Hill for another go…… So started tail grabbing him for another lap and wasn’t very far away from him all the way to Kirk Michael, and managed to out brake him into Westwood before the 13th Milestone. Got my head down and said thank Christ for that, and at this point realised how tired I was getting………… With all the concentrating and braking hard and fighting the bike because it was safer taking different lines than him in case he braked earlier than me, it had tired me out and I was sweating cobs again…… carried on though and wanted to get the lap over with……… again, rolled the throttle in a couple of places I shouldn’t, but have been managing to take Alpine Corner in 6th gear, although feathering it, but come the race I’ll be having a go at taking it faster. The sun was pretty low and was getting in my eyes and I could hardly see for the flies, so tried to take a rip off visor off and I never had one…… Bollocks! It must have come off with the first one I had ripped off…… Down the Sulby Straight, I could see the shadow off my bike on the road, and I couldn’t tell if there was another one behind it…… I assumed if it was a shadow, it would be Quinn again, and he was following me round…… was surprised he hadn’t passed me again, but he obviously couldn’t have been close enough……… The sun was pretty bad up on the Mountain, and on the Mile, Quinn came past me again…… we swapped places a couple of times, and I couldn’t really get a flowing lap in because of it, but was ahead of him again into Windy Corner…… screamed the nuts off the bike for the rest of the Mountain section and into Hilberry approached another slower rider so had to slow…… loads, then Quinn pulled alongside and blocked me……… had to wobble round this bloke and then into Cronk-Y-Mona, we both passed Phil Gilder who looked like he wasn’t going that fast…… Wobbled round the rest of the lap, know that I could have gone quicker, but that was that, Didn’t get the drive out of Governor’s Dip that Quinn did, and that’s no surprise, crossed the line and pulled in……… Managed 116.29mph on my second lap, and 115.80mph on my first one, but the important thing was that it was over 116mph average for the two laps…… which is somewhere near what we need to be doing to be up there. Quinn had managed a 116.30mph, which was nearly the exact same time as me…… but Phil Gilder had topped the leaderboard with 116.39mph, exactly one second quicker that I had gone…… so not much in it. Only three riders topping 116mph this week, with me the only one averaging it for more than one lap. Hope I can get that up, and I will if my ‘boy arms’ will let me.

Spoke to Chris Kinley, but got interviewed for Manx Radio by Tim Glover, and waffled on for a bit…… and at the end he asked would I try to curtail my language this year…… and although I really wanted to say ‘F*ck That!’…… I said I’d try me best.

Don’t think I’ll bother going out on the Team PC Racing R6 for Saturday nights practise, if I do go out, it will be on Stuey’s Silverback Racing R6……… which is the same bike I rode to second place in last years Newcomers A Race. Going get the bike fettled ready for Wednesday and have a bit of a rest.

So tune in next time for another very exciting, videoing, tail grabbing episode ………………………… Tommy Clucas Racing.