M.G.P. 2003 Senior Race - Friday, 29th August 2003

Tipped up in the paddock at about 9-30am, the bike had already gone through scrutineering, courtesy of Stuey, and the Team PC supporters were already there…… Stuey informed me that there was a bit of clutch slip with the bike, and disappeared when it got hot, but it was running fine otherwise…… We had changed and checked everything that we could think of from Wednesday but could still find no real reason why the bike just suddenly lost power…… We had it on Slick’s dyno and it ran like a bag of shite, but as soon as we connected a booster to the battery it was running fine, so it was more an electrical problem than a fuel one. What was more puzzling was that there still seemed to be plenty of volts in the battery, so we thought that there must have been something draining the amps out of it. We therefore decided to disconnect the tilt switch and temperature gauge and just leave the rev counter working…… We also planned on changing the battery to a fully charged one after warm up, and ‘bump’ start the bike instead of hitting the starter button to save even more power…… We also changed the petrol tank cap to one that had a key, so it had to be shut when the key was removed…… Hadn’t thought about it on Wednesday, but the bike could have burst in to flames if the petrol had reached the exhaust…… sommat that I don’t even want to think about. Was interviewed again by Chris Kinley live on Manx Radio, and he wished me all the best. Watched the Lightweight Race to kill a bit of time and it was soon my turn. Felt that my luck might turn when me ol mate Keith MacKay turned up, shook my hand and wished me all the best, and not to go too fast because he had worked out what time he reckoned he needed for a replica…… I hadn’t seen him on Wednesday, but thought that today might just be my day…… also wasn’t running the onboard camera, so one less thing to hex me.

Lined up for the 1-15pm start and seconds before the off it was delayed, because of some friggin cocker spaniel named ‘Barney’ roaming around in Kirk Michael, and also heard that there were sheep on the road up on the mountain…… Hung around on the start line for ages, got photographed by John Watterson of Island Newspapers a couple of times, one where I was standing in the bus shelter with Quinn and MaCrea…… then again when I was sitting on a wall and Maria Costello joined me, with an umbrella, which was handy as it was pretty hot……… Then Quinny did, and a few more of the Irish contingent joined us, sitting on the wall and lying on the grass, and it was an hour and fifteen minutes later when they called the start………… Thank Christ for that…… lets get it on……

Was up for winning this one, and also was thinking about the lap record, which I now knew I was capable of getting near as I had managed a 19min 11.4 sec lap on Wednesday whilst trying to shut the fuel cap most of the way round, saw the onboard video I was carrying and I pretty much toured from Ballaugh Bridge to the Sulby Straight trying in vain to snap it shut.……… so it was 18mins 59.1 secs to beat (119.24mph)…… Bell and Atkinson were the first two away again, and waited till it was my turn, noticed that there was nobody starting at numbers 5 & 6, so not as much traffic to try and pass…… Got the flag, and set off with Kenny McCrea, but that was the last I seen of him as I got the better start and thundered off down Bray Hill for the first time……… was pretty steady away at the QB and Braddan, where I got a few waves from the crowd, but all I was thinking was that I could have done better at both corners, the clutch slipped a little bit, but not much and not for as long as I was expecting…… saw the two that started ahead of me going up the Ballahutchin, but was cursing my mistake at Ballagarey Corner, when the bike wobbled a bit as I tipped her in and I throttled off to straighten it, losing drive at the same time…… Bollocks…… lost a second there then…… kept my head down and couldn’t have gone any faster than I was going, although was wishing that the bike had more speed, but that was just me getting used to it…… was pretty much okay through the Greeba section, but never took Greeba Bridge as fast as I did on Wednesday, but was flat out all the way to Ballacraine……… saw a bike tipping in as I approached…… so I had made some seconds up on the guys in front but not as much as I had hoped, but then again, a few of the blokes that started in front were on bigger bikes this time round, and from the Grandstand to Ballacraine, is a fast part of the course, and big bike territory…… got through the Glen Helen section okay, and on the Cronk-Y-Voddy straight saw three bikes ahead of me…… cool…… took the end flat out in top and felt pretty quick en route to Kirk Michael when I saw them all again…… knew I was catching them, and could make out it was Quinn on the Team Racing 750 Suzuki, Dean Silvester on the big 996 Ducati and Pattinson on the Bullock 600 Suzuki…… great, reeled them in…… had a bit of a wobble on over Rhencullen 2, when I leaned forward to keep the front down, instead of using the back brake, but just kept it lit…… was gaining on them leaps and bounds through to Ballaugh, and on the brakes into the bridge I was only about a hundred yards behind…… took the bridge and did my customary two wheeled landing and when I cracked the throttle open the bike went………… Baaaaaaaarrrrrrrr………… BASTARD!!!………… I had lost power again……… watched as the three in front disappeared into the distance, was hoping that the bike would chime back in, but it never, so just had to cruise around and get back to the Grandstand…… was absolutely gutted!…… Saw Beller parked on the pavement just before Quarry Bends, he’s had as much bad luck as me…… and got my first pit board at Sulby Bridge, but that was already out of date as I had been touring from Ballaugh…… cruised around not believing my bad luck, but as I had time to think about it I thought ‘Hang on’……… the bike has cut out three times and each time its been after landing from a jump…… Ballacrye twice, where it cut out at Quarry Bends and Ballaugh Bridge………… this made me start thinking that it must be a loose wire or the like, confirmed by the fact that the bike chimed back in on the approach to Joey’s 26th Milestone, and then promptly went Baaaaarrrrrrrrr…… again ten seconds later…… was thinking of actually cruising round at the speed I was going and see if I could qualify for a replica, as I was still taking the corners at a reasonable speed, but that wasn’t for me, I’d just be getting in the way…… was amazed that nobody passed me till my starting partner McCrea did going down to Brandish……… Jesus! Where had he been?…… cruised around to the finish with the bike sounding like a diesel, and pulled into the stop box, then to my pit and retired…… Got interviewed by Chris Kinley again, and must have sounded a bit down…… Was informed by my team that I was 0.14 seconds down on the leader, Paul Duckett at Glen Helen, which I was not that surprised about, but by Ballaugh I was leading by about 3.5 seconds…… and I’ll guarantee you that by Ramsey Hairpin, it would have been more, because I felt like I had settled down and I was up for it……… but it’s all ifs, buts and maybes now…… Listened to the race on the radio, and it was a close thing between Ducky and Wednesday’s winner, Phil Gilder, but the latter man retired, leaving Ducky to win the race from Pattinson (2nd) and Quinn (3rd) and also set a new lap record, by 0.1 second…… It doesn’t matter the margin, he did it…… He’s been on it since Jurby Road and it's good to see him back up there……

Was going to leave the packing up till the Saturday, but decided to do it there and then and with all the hands it didn’t take too long…… Went to the beer tent for a quick one, spoke to a few people, but didn’t feel like answering the same question a million times, and none of the team seemed up for going to the presentation…… they all said that there was nowt to celebrate……… That wasn’t really the point…… Had good intentions of going, but when I got home and sat down, I couldn’t be arsed getting up again……… It's been a long two weeks……… feels even longer when things haven’t gone right.

A lot of people have told me not to pack it in, including The Milky Bar Kid, and I said I could say the same to him, but he made me feel better by saying everyone knows I can win it, and come back next year and do it…… Didn’t actually think that I could win a Manx Grand Prix, that’s why the Newcomers Race was so important to me last year, but deep down, now I know I can, and I’m also confident on a good day, on the right bike, I’m capable of breaking the 120mph barrier, could probably do it on me own bike, and would love to do so…… cos Jim Moodie and DJ both won TT’s on a V&M R6 Yamaha with 120mph laps……… that would be an achievement and a half. What I’ve learnt is to never say never, so who knows…… Just a damn shame things turned out the way they did…… Upped my personal best lap to 117.96mph though, from a standing start, and with one hand holding the petrol cap down, which is mighty impressive in my book…… Har Har. If you don’t think so, you go and try it.

Whatever that gremlin is in the bike, it's going to be found and remedied, and I bet it's something simple like a 10p connector, then both the Team PC Racing bikes are going back to their original trim and are getting flogged, as I have no plans for the rest of the year…… or next…… though I must confess I could be tempted.

So tune in to see if there is another episode of ………………………… …………………………… ……… ………………………………… Tommy Clucas Racing.