T.T. 2003 Practice Week - 29th May 2003

Thursday Afternoon Practice

Got to the paddock around 10-30am….. Stuey was already there and had the new tyres fitted to the R6 and new brakes pads and new brake fluid in the Suzuki 1000……. Then he bed them in for me…… top man or what…… so that was the major jobs already done, which was all nice and handy an that…. Also we changed the suspension again, trying to see if it would be better or worse…… that way you know which direction to go in with any further adjustments….

Was first out on the Gixer Thou, so hoped to get two laps on that followed by another two on the Pro-Cet Racing R6……… the team had the bike was pretty much near the front of the pack, but as they let them out on the road earlier than normal we lost a few places and were near the middle of the pack…… no matter…. Just more traffic….

Had put a new visor on for this session, and the Arai support team had put a new Fog City in it and added some rip offs, something I usually do myself, but they did it this time……. It was as clear as a bell which convinced me that the fog city in my other visor was scratched to hell….. so gave them that to replace too….The weather was really humid and there was hardly any wind, which is probably the worst combination for flies, so I was wondering if 2 rip offs was going to be enough….. but was thinking of pulling in after the first lap to make some more adjustments to the suspension…. Just to try sommat else…. So there was the chance to put on some more rip offs if need be.

Don't know who I started with this time but he got a pretty good one, but I still managed to go through the traffic lights before him and never saw him again…… The first part of the lap went steady enough, but the bike did feel more 'flighty' this time around and I didn't like it as much, had to tear one of my rip offs, off before the Glen Helen section and the other one went going through Ramsey…… you wouldn't believe the amount of flies that there out…..…. Got blocked quite a bit as there seemed to be a lot of traffic ahead of me, but was managing to get past with the minimum of fuss…… would have liked a bit more room once or twice, and no doubt that the people who are getting passed were getting a bit of a fright…… passed another local, Mike Crellin who I recognized at Ramsey Hairpin….. I made a mess of the next few corners by losing a bit of concentration and was already tired and really hot…. Sweating cobs in fact….. more flies landed on my visor which made the decision for me to pull in after the first lap, to put a new one on with more rip offs on it…. Also gave me the excuse of stretching my arms and getting a drink……. After negotiating Governors Bridge the red flags were being waved……… Oh Oh…… that's not good…. Can't remember the last time they red flagged a race never mind a practise…… so we all had to pull in…….. Waited around for ages till they decided what to do…..

Turned out that they cancelled the rest of the Solo sessions, so it was only one lap for nearly everybody…….. Turns out that there had been a huge crash on the fast left hander into Crosby…. There was a lot of speculation circulating the paddock, but the word was that it was one of the Top Boys who had come off…… and word on the manor was that it was DJ himself……. The absolute Top Boy….. I don't think anyone could believe it, but it was confirmed later on that David Jefferies had in fact been killed……. Unbelievable……. And another Top Boy Jim Moodie had been caught in the telephone wires that DJ had brought down…. And his condition was not good….. but in fact, it was later said that his injuries were only minor… thankfully…… Speaking to one of two of the other lads, it seems that DJ's back wheel may have locked up which would have given him no chance while banked over at about 170mph…… I think it must have been mechanical error rather than rider error, cos DJ knew what he was doing and had been round that corner hundreds of times before….. RIP DJ

It wasn't long after that, that someone pointed out that I've got an ex Jefferies Suzuki and an ex Moodie Yamaha….. Didn't make me feel any better, that's for sure……. As you can imagine, there was a sombre mood in the air……

Tune in next time ……………….