M.G.P. 2003 Junior Race - Wednesday, 27th August 2003

Stuey had the bike through scrutineering well before I tipped up at 9-30am, had picked my mate ‘The Wad’ up on route as he was just back off his annuals and was in my pit today, along with Stuey, and Juan ‘The Fastest Boy In The East’ Kinnish. There was a lot of hanging around, so wiped the flies off my leathers and got my visors ready, etc……

Gaz from Greenlight TV had fitted the onboard camera to the bike last night after I decided that we should run it, and after Iain ‘Hutchy’ Hutchinson had won the Newcomers Race with one on, so it never did him any harm…… thought that it would be a nice memento if nowt else…… My Team of supporters started to turn up and if they didn’t have a Team PC Racing T-Shirt, they had a hat on, which was fab. My targets for the day was to try and do as well as possible obviously, a podium at least, and get under the 19minute 20 second bracket, which would give me a quicker time that my mate Nigel Beattie managed to do in this years TT. So had sommat to aim for.

The Junior Classic race was out first so we had to wait till 1-15pm…… Was feeling a little lethargic if the truth beknown, and just wanted to get on with it, and didn’t go up to the bike till about 10 minutes from the start, when the bikes were already lined up on the Glencrutchery Road…… A couple of the lads who were in the same Newcomers Race as me last year, were starting numbers 1 & 2 (David Bell & Craig Atkinson) so went and wished them all the best, Craig had asked where my pit boards where so that if he saw them being swung out, he knew that I would be behind and move over and let me past…… good lad. Before I got to Beller, I was interviewed live on the radio by Chris Kinley, where I waffled a load of shite, then, I was pulled by Steve Hodgson who works at Padgett’s Motorcycles, who said he had somebody who wanted to meet me, and he introduced me to Robbie Rolfo, who rides in the Grand Prix 250 World Championships, he seemed like a good bloke but I never really had time to say much, although I would like to have done, told him I’d see him in the beer tent…… had to get ready for the start, then I was interviewed on TV, mentioned sommat about the Martin Bullock Team, and hoped that there weren’t going to be any team orders…… as I had Gilder starting 10 seconds behind me, Corrin starting with me and Pattinson 10 seconds ahead…… mmmmmmmmmmm …… was wondering if I had time to get my gear on, but needn’t have when they called a 15 minute delay…… Jeeeezzzus. Wished Beller, Iain (Pattinson), Paul (Corrin) and a few others good luck. Because of the delay, and as we’ve had problems before, Stuey opened the petrol tank cap to let it ‘breathe’ ………… last year because of the heat the fuel expanded and pissed off down the overflow pipe…… so I thought that this was good thinking. The first two were away and before Phil Gilder jumped on his bike he wished me the best and I did to him…… Noticed that the temperature gauge was over 90C which is not ideal, and the bike bogged a bit from the start…… Paul got a flier and for the first time ever I was stuck behind somebody down Bray Hill…… he was flying though, but I knew I just had to get past, had a bite after the second bump at the bottom of Bray, but did manage to get him on the brakes into the QB, was a little wide coming out as I was at Braddan Bridge, but got my head down thinking that I had already lost a couple of seconds, was pretty fast into Union Mills but held a gear longer than I should have and haired off up the Ballahutchin…… took Ballagarey in 6th gear, which I hoped that the others didn’t and I couldn’t have gone any faster into Crosby and was also a bit hot into Greeba Bridge and had my knee down all the way round……… oops! had to throttle off a bit as the pavement was approaching, which made me lose a bit of drive, was flat out all the way to Ballacraine…… It was here that I first noticed something was wrong…… when I braked, my visor and screen got covered in something, and I couldn’t tell what it was or where it came from…… my first thought that it was brake fluid, but as I was still standing on the brakes and they were still working thought that couldn’t be it………… this is where I encountered my first scare of the whole fortnight…… because I was looking at the bike and not at the road, it put me into the corner deeper than I should have been, it was either sit up and overshoot or have a go at making it…… couldn’t afford to overshoot, so peeled her in…… knee flat on the deck with the bike sliding…… If anybody has gone round there quicker than that, I’ll eat my friggin hat…… Had to rip off the first of my tear off visors because I couldn’t see where I was going…… bollocks……… ripped it off and it was fine again…… Had my second scare in as many miles approaching the fast right hander before Laurel Bank, when I was still trying to figure out what was wrong and where this fluid was coming from, which put me too deep again, and I was that close to the wall it was terrifying…… if I was less experienced I’m in no doubt I’d have hit it……… your natural instinct is to stand on the brakes, which is what I did, but that sends the bike straight, which is something that I decided was not, a good plan……… so let go of them and threw the bike on her side…… knee down again……… Jesus! I’ve had me knee down more in the last three miles than I have in the last three years! Bollocked myself to settle down or I wouldn’t be making it, and tried to do so…… caught up with No 8 Bike, Dean Silvester, at Glen Helen, and had to sit behind all the way up to the Cronky Straight…… slipstreamed him and passed him with the minimum of fuss and hit the end absolutely flat out in top, was thinking of taking the 11th milestone in 5th, but told myself to be wary after the two moments I’d already had, and I wasn’t best pleased about, so knocked it down to 4th…… had a smile on my face when I saw three bikes tipping into Handley’s, and by the time they had got to the top of Begarrow I was on their arse…… saw that one of them was one of the pre-race favourites, Iain Pattinson…… yee harr…… caught him already…… one of the others was definitely Liam Quinn riding No 5 bike and I think the other must have been Ken Davis riding No 6…… hit the bottom of Begarrow and got good enough drive to go up the inside of Quinn and around the outside of Davis…… that was a sweet move. Then into the 13th, I was up Iain’s chuff……… wondered if his sponsor, Martin Bullock would be holding the pit board like he was last year on the exit of the 13th and sure enough there he was, but I never got chance to see what was on his board…… followed him all the way to Ballaugh and was thinking I could sit here all day, but on the approach to Ballaugh Bridge, on the brakes, I was covered in fluid again…… this time it was everywhere, and it sploshed on the inside of the screen and all over my face again, first I thought that a radiator hose had gone, but there was no steam……… but this time though, I could smell it and it was petrol!……… AAAArrrghhh…… the petrol cap was still open…… Had my mate Geller signalling for me but I couldn’t look as I was trying to close the petrol cap…… this one doesn’t have a key, you use a screwdriver, but unfortunately I never had one on me…… the cap itself won’t snap shut, you have to hold it down and use a screwdriver to turn the lock…… I just had to get this bastard shut, but I couldn’t manage it with my left hand and with my glove on…… I was even thinking of stopping, and I toured all the way through Ballaugh and all the way to Ballacrye whilst trying to close it……… no matter what I did the friggin thing wouldn't click shut, so had to lie on it and keep it closed with my chest, which made riding a bit awkward. I must have lost at least 8-10 seconds by my book and another tear off visor which was my last one…… so I had a lap and a half to try and keep the cap shut with no rip offs…… this was turning out to be a nightmare…… I couldn’t believe something as simple as this was ruining my whole race…… Tried like hell to shut it down the Sulby straight, and was actually punching it, and all the while I was losing valuable seconds…… Just had to keep my head down and get on with it and convinced myself that it wouldn’t be as bad come the second lap when I would have used up half the tank and it wouldn’t be coming out as much…… Halfway up the Mountain a wasp or the like splattered off the left hand side of my visor and I couldn’t see out of that side of it…… tried as best as I could under the circumstances and managed to reel a few bikes in at the 33rd Milestone, passed my Board Man, Josser on the way there and clocked the first of my pit boards, and he swung out P1 +3…… I couldn’t believe it…… I was leading by three seconds and after all the problems I had been having, any thoughts of pulling in after the first lap disappeared…… caught the three bikes that were ahead and saw that they were No4, Paul Duckett, No3, Kenny McCrae and No7, Iain ‘Pixie’ Pattinson again……… great…… I’d caught him back up…… Passed Ducky coming out of the Greg Ny Baa pub and had to sit behind McCrae till I out braked him into the Nook…… then sat on Pixie’s tail as we crossed the line, shaking my head on the way by to let the boys know sommat was wrong……… was getting splattered by flies all the while, which was a disaster for me, as it was getting harder and harder to see where I was going…… pulled an almighty wheelie at the bottom of Bray on the second bump and was thinking of passing Pattinson and try to clear off after the QB, but decided on using my head…… and had a few reasons for this…… first one was that I didn’t know how much fuel I had lost, and as the fuel situation has been desperately close, I decided that if I could ‘draught’ him by sitting in his slipstream, I could save fuel…… was quite chuffed with myself for thinking this, and it was a good idea…… the other reasons were that as I was having major problems seeing where I was going, and the best thing I could see was Pixie, I thought if I follow him, he could take me round, and I’ll tip in when he does…… this meant that I was placing an awful lot of Pattinson’s riding ability, and after following him for so long, knew he was good enough…… can’t describe how hard it was trying to see through my fly splattered visor……… and going round at this pace would conserve my energy, although the bike was bucking a bit, it has to be said. I must admit it’s a lot less effort to follow somebody…… passed me mate Craig Atkinson going down past the Highlander and was pretty close to him, Iain went one side and I went the other…… Got another pit board from Stuey’s dad John at Ballacraine, and it said P1 +5……… great…… I was extending the lead and I was only just sitting behind…… could have passed him on numerous occasions as I was a lot faster into some corners than him, confirmed by the fact that I nearly had him for a front end on more than one occasion, but my plan was to stay behind and that is what I did …… got to the petrol station near the Black Dub and there were Marshal’s in the road and yellow flags being waved everywhere…… saw that there was a bike lying in the grass, and for the short time I looked at it, it looked to me as if it was one of the Jackson brother’s RR Honda’s, didn’t look like a good place to jump off that’s for sure didn’t see if he was there or not. Toured through here and at Glen Helen we caught Dave Bell riding with the No 1 plate…… watched Iain go past him on the Cronk Y Voddy Straight and stuck his hand behind his back and give him a wave, I was going to do the same but never bothered, and I passed him as well, before the end…… still sat there and bided my time…… passing the 13th Milestone again, I clocked his board and I think it said P3 –3…… was trying to work out, that if I was ten seconds up on him, and he was 3 seconds down, that meant I had 7 seconds on Gilder…… all the while I just wanted to get to the pits and get a new visor and this bloody cap shut…… saw my pit board at Ballaugh and it was P1 +9 and Geller this time had put ‘11’ on it which told me that it was definitely Gilder in 2nd place, so as he started 10 seconds behind me, that would mean he was 19 seconds behind in total, which was a good cushion and it meant he wouldn’t be able to see me…… At Sulby Bridge, Iain had a look behind and saw me tail grabbing his arse, and he stuck his hand behind him and gave me a little wave, cheeky twat…… still, I’ll be doing the same to him after the pit stop. Got to Ramsey Hairpin and Iain went a tad wide and I thought he was inviting me to pass so I went up his inside, but he was popping the bike off the rev limiter whilst slipping the clutch, so he wasn’t trying to let me in front then…… across the Mountain section…… he had a few looks behind an' I’m positive he slowed, and was thinking at the time, ‘he’s slowed up’…… and knowing now what I know I should have nailed him earlier than I did, but must confess I was wondering and waiting for the bike to start running out of go go juice………… tried to keep my head, and decided that even if I went into the pit stop level on time with Gilder, thought that would be okay.……… out braked Iain into the Creg Ny Baa and tried to pull a couple of seconds before the pit stop…… Now I was leading on the road and was first into the Stop Box……… Foot down and straight into my pit, which handily enough was the first one…… Told them about the fuel cap, and they did everything I needed, but when I tried to pull out, Duckett was blocking me…………… Bollocks, we had mentioned before that if this happened, Stuey would drag my front wheel sideways so that I could get out, but he never, so, I had to back up…… twice…… then managed to squeeze past…… seconds lost there on the way out, saw that Pattinson had got out ahead of me and that Gilder was just leaving………… Where the hell did he come from!!!!????? Was puzzled to say the least…… how long was I in the pits for???…… I was 9 seconds up at Ramsey and here I was leaving the pits 10 seconds down……… for Christ’s sake…… now there was three of us dicing on the road, and I was down to 2nd place…… the only consolation I had was that I could now see where I was going…… thought that I would have to get past Iain and try and pull a gap…… was slipstreaming him up the Ballahutchin, but he was slightly pulling away, and then Gilder shot past me…… Bollocks! That bike is faaaaaast. Thought right ya bastard I’m having you back and went underneath him just before Ballagarey Traffic Lights and tucked in behind Pattinson again…… It must have been good for the spectators, the three of us in formation, and at the Crosby Corner I carried slightly more speed and was pulling along side Pattinson, but couldn’t make it past…… had to be wary into Greeba Castle as I know I’m quicker here and still nearly ran into the back of him……… still had to sit behind…… had another bite at him into Greeba Bridge and he completely wiped my nose and had to stand on the brakes, that was close, I just had to get past so, it was going to come down to an anchors jobby at Ballacraine……… and I managed it pretty nicely thank you very much…… Didn’t know it at the time, but I managed to pull out 2.5 seconds on them both to Glen Helen, and just kept going…… knew I could have done better on a few corners, and lost a bit of time, probably trying to hard and knowing that they weren’t far behind and Gilder out braked me into the 13th Milestone…… sat behind him and followed…… it was at this point I realised how tired I was getting, and tried hard to keep in his tow…… wasn’t doing too badly, but going through Quarry Bends the bike just lost power…… BASTARD!…… exactly the same thing that had happened on Wednesday night………… and because of this I knew it wasn’t a valve…… was shaking the bike from side to side just in case there was something blocking the fuel, but it wasn’t having any of it…… just at that moment Pattinson whizzed past…… I was gutted…… I carried on hoping it would clear whilst watching Iain disappear into the distance…… trundled to Ramsey and was going to pull in but thought bollocks to it, I just want to get back to the pits…… pretty much toured over the Mountain and stuck my leg out to indicate to a few who were catching me to let them past…… when I clocked my pitboard at Windy I was still P3 +33, but no doubt I’d be going backwards now……… the bike just didn’t want to rev and it was as flat as a witch’s tit…… was shaking my head in disbelief all the way round and had time to see that there was quite a good crowd watching……… and managed to pull into the stop box then stopped at my pit…… the whole team was gutted…… Chris Kinley interviewed me on the radio and asked me to try not to swear, and I don’t think I did, I was just really depressed…… Saw My Team Boss, Chris, and he had wanted it as much as me…… he told me that I did 117.96mph (19mins 11.4secs) from a standing start, which was impressive seeing as I spent half the lap holding the bloody cap down, and after all the mistakes I’d made and touring through Ballaugh etc…… and 117.04mph on the second lap…… was wondering how close I would have been to Mick Skene’s absolute lap record on my standing start lap, had I not encountered the problems I had…… to tell you the truth I never thought that I would have got anywhere near it beforehand…… but knowing what I know now…… I’m convinced that I can beat it…… if everything goes perfectly of course……… but when does that happen!……… especially for me!

Got Slick Bass to come and check the bike and we changed everything we could on the fuel side…… filters, pump, pipes, cap, cleaned the carbs, fuel tank etc etc…… Took the bike to Slicks and ran it on the Dyno and it still wasn’t running right, but he put a booster charger on the battery and it was putting out its expected Gee Gee’s at the back hoop, and running sweet…… and now we think it could all boil down to the battery charger I’ve been usuing not putting sufficient power in the battery, or too much of it……… Well I have had it for years…… its amazing how tiny things can fuck everything up for you.

Gonna get the bike fettled in Senior trim ready for the race tomorrow, needs the yellow number plates sticking on, new Oil & Filter and new tyres again etc etc…… Hope for better luck this time…… fingers crossed.

So, tune in next time for another very exciting, mind numbing, hopefully at the pointy end episode of …………………………………… Tommy Clucas Racing.