Had the Yum Yum Yellow all loaded up on the Saturday afternoon, and headed off for Jurby with nobody riding shotgun at about 8-20am Sunday morning…… thought it best to get up a bit earlier than normal, as the club seem to be running the events a lot slicker these days…… When I got there, Stuey had the Awning nearly up…… he must have been early. Had me mate Willy as chief spanner man today, (as The Wad had pulled a sickie), and he followed me after catching me up in Kirk Michael. The weather was a bit overcast, but dry as a bone, and again for the 4th meeting running, not very windy, which for Jurby, must be a world record…… if Norrie McWhirter hadn’t of died, I’m sure he would’ve been up there…… it looked like the sun might break through as well…… fingers crossed for that. Got the van unloaded, all the jobs done, scrutineered, signed on etc etc…… Then it was time for the bacon & egg butties…… Oh yes.

Decided to take the Team PC Racing R6 Yamaha out for the first two practise sessions to test the new clutch that I had lashed in it in the week, and if there was any problems we would have longer to sort it………… Was soon called, and off we went, steady away an that, and the bike seemed to be pulling strongly…… definitely better anyway…… haired round and missed the first crossover chicane as they had altered the course again, and I wasn’t ready for it…… don’t know why, but the chicanes were definitely tighter, so the lap times were going to be slower…… they also had large cones right on the apex of the kerbs, so when you tipped the bike in, as you were leaned over the actual kerb, they nearly had you off…… Jesus!…… who’s idea was that??…… Followed Nigel Beattie for a bit and he nearly clipped the kerbs whilst trying to avoid these bloody big cones…… well at least it wasn’t just me that was having the problem……The red flags came out as there seemed to be an incident at the Bus Stop Chicane, and we went back to the start…… Pulled over and had a word with the Clerk of the Course, John Quilleish and told him the problem and he went and sorted it…… carried on round for the rest of the session which wasn’t very long, and it was much better…… felt pretty rusty again though…… Went straight out in the next session, after checking the adjustment on the clutch, and was about in the middle of the pack…… passed a load of riders before I got to Stuey, and when I passed him, gave him the fingers…… har har…… saw Nige ahead so set off after him, but the red flags were out again before I could catch him…… it looked like they were going to hold us on the line and continue the session, but I just pulled in…… it didn’t feel like the bike was handling particularly well…… and it also didn’t feel like I had the gearing quite right…… but it was the same as normal, so I couldn’t understand it…… still felt rusty….. best lap on the ol lap timer was a 1’01.05…… Shite.

The next two sessions were on the Bullock Honda CBR600RR Production bike…… passed a few then had a clear track ahead of me…… this bike felt a lot more neutral than the R6, and it seemed a little less effort, maybe because it isn’t as quick…… had a problem with my boot catching on the heel plate on the rearsets, which was a bit of a twat, got jammed more than once, so when the chequered flag came out, went back to the awning to get Willy to whip the bastard off…… then straight back out for the next session…… This time out I only managed three laps…… had a bit of a slide rounding Snuffies when hard on the gas, and the same thing happened the next time around, then again at the Perimeter section, which in the anticlockwise direction, is a pretty fast, well cranked over left hander…… thought that I must have a flat tyre or sommat, so pulled over to take a looksee…… It wasn’t flat, the wheel wasn’t loose, and there was no oil anywhere…… so toured back to the paddock…… the chequered flag was out anyway…… Checked the bike when I got it on the stands, and still couldn’t see owt…… Couldn’t have been cold tyres, as I had been out in the previous session too and they felt pretty hot, maybe the track temperature wasn’t as good as it could be as it was still a bit overcast…… It wasn’t too bad though, because the lap timer had indicated that I had gone quicker with a 1’00.2…… but I put that down to getting more dialled in the more practise I was getting…… Got the bikes ready for the races……

First up was Round 7 of the 1300 Open Centre Championship, 10 laps……… was on the front row with the top 3 in the chmapionship, Kinnish, Hunt and Beattie on their big 1000cc’s…… with me samwiched in between on the little proddy 600…… Got a pretty good start, but down to the first chicane, got out dragged by quite a few, really wish this bike was faster……… was pretty aggressive though and barged me way up the inside to 4th at Nans, behind, surprise surprise…… Kinnish, Hunt and Beattie…… managed to hang on to their tales for the first lap down to the hairpin, but as soon as we hit the start / finish straight, it was bye bye baby, and they just dragged away for fun…… Saw Juan’s spanner man, Darren ‘Muscles’ Murphy signalling for Juan and he did for me too, was holding a steady 4th place which is the best result I could have hoped for in the circumstances, and was the target I had set before the race…… just kept the lap timer in the low 59 second bracket, with Muscles giving me a 3 second gap signal all the way round, so knew I was okay……… had a pretty uneventful time apart from a few more slides rounding Snuffies flat out in 5th gear and took the flag unchallenged in 4th……… which was nice…… handful of points an all…… Happy enough with that.

Next up was the 8 lap Formula 600 Race…… this time using the Team PC Racing R6…… really needed to win this one, with Juan getting second to try to take some points off Nige, so that I could get nearer to him in the championship. Got a pretty good start when the flag dropped and was second behind Sellsy into Nan’s…… was gonna barge me way through, but he had the line…… had a bite at him into the Bus Stop and he put me on the kerbs…… mmmmmm……… tailed him round Snuffies and did him on the anchors into the Perimeter bend to take the lead…… the bike definitely didn’t feel right, it was making me try too hard, it didn’t feel like it was steering as it should…… or maybe it was because the chicanes were tighter and flicking from left to right was harder work…… had another lap in the lead, but decided that I’d rather be the chaser than the chasee…… had a look to see who was behind…… it was Kinnish…… so rolled the throttle just a tad, and when he showed me his front wheel into the first crossover chicane, I let him through…… again, he was getting the power down better than me , but I was reeling him in on the fast corners, but was starting to lose a few yards each lap, and then Nige came past me at the same point that Juan did…… stuck on his tail, but again was losing yards…… was having problems into and out of the Bus Stop Chicane, I reckoned there was too much weight on the front wheel, and it seemed to be working the forks more than it should, thought this may have something to do with the rebound damping coming up too quick and loading the front (normally would have thought the forks needed adjusting, shows that I’m learning sommat)… Something that I would have to rectify. Watched as Nige went underneath Juan at the Perimeter bend to take the lead and I was struggling to hold on to them…… got into the back markers on about the sixth lap, but never had a problem, which is more than I could say for Kinnish…… On the last lap we all piled into Nan’s and there were a couple of back markers which held them up enough for me to catch up…… Nige went up the inside of them while Juan tried around the outside, but Nige made one of them sit up and he clouted Kinnish and knocked him off the track…… handy for me because I nipped into second place…… Beattie had too much of a gap to close and I couldn’t make it up, and I took the flag in 2nd spot, with Juan coming back on to take third…… Had my lap times down to 58.2 but still could go a lot quicker if I could get the handling better…… I also felt that the gearing was too tall, as I was only in 5th down the home straight, so also decided to change that and go up a tooth on the rear sprocket. Got the bike stripped down, changed the gearing, altered the rebound damping and checked the ride height while we were at it…… see if that made it any better for the next one……

Next up was the second 10 lap 1300 Open Centre Championship race of the day, Round 8…… again on the front row with the top three in the championship……… Got a great start on the Bullock Honda and was second into the corner behind Kinnish…… tailed him down the back straight and wasn’t that far behind into the hairpin……… down the straight was expecting to be mugged by Big ‘H’ and Nige on their 1000’s, but no, still held 2nd spot…… couldn’t believe I was actually still in second place starting the third lap…… had a look behind, and there was Big ‘H’……… mugged!…… he shot past before the chicane, with Beattie in hot pursuit…… oh well, down to 4th again…… every lap round the lap timer was in the 58’s or low 59’s which I thought wasn’t bad, but Muscles was giving me the signal that somebody was gaining…… next couple of laps he was giving me the hurry up sign…… then starting the 10th lap young Sean Murphy passed me on the straight…… was right up his chuff and was thinking on doing him on the brakes into the Perimeter section, but he was hot into there, and there was no move on into the hairpin, so had to settle for 5th……… it was a good race though, much more fun when your dicing with somebody…… It took him 3 races to get up to speed though after his big yee-ha at the last round…… but he was back on it now……… Me lap timer had indicated a 58.05 which was pretty good for a standard road bike even if I so say so mesen……

Next up was Round 8 of the 600 Championship, 6 laps this time, again on the Team PC R6…… Got another good start, which had me second into the first corner behind Kinnish…… he had a few yards on me but made them all back into the Perimeter Bend, but as I had changed the gearing, I should have stayed in a gear higher than normal to compensate, cos it completely locked the back wheel up and I slid round the corner sideways…… it was some backing in manoeuvre though…… awesome……… Funnily enough it never scared me one bit…… I left some darkie on the track, must have been 200 yards!…… what it did do though was put me wide, and that meant somebody nipped underneath me…… was pretty surprised to see that it was young Neil Muirhead……… bloody hell where did he come from…… was glad to see him back on it though as he’s a good pilot…… got back in behind him, and slipstreamed him down the start finish straight and passed him before the first crossover chicane…… Kinnish had got away a bit by this time so set about reeling him in, and was actually doing so…… what I didn’t know at the time was that I was dragging young Murphy with me, and on the 4th lap into the hairpin he had a go at me up the inside at the hairpin…… he pushed me wide, and when he got on the power he nearly high sided…… his back wheel came right round and I had to steer towards the grass to get away from it…… when he regained some sort of control he was on an angle and he still nearly clouted me again…… Jesus!!…… all the while I was on the edge of the grass…… he’s had three tries at knocking me off in one corner!…… because he was on my inside, I got better drive onto the start / finish straight…… and tried to stay in his slipstream…… he was pulling away, but I was close enough to do him into the first crossover chicane…… back up to second…… knew I would have to keep him at bay, and I did feel like I had the next few corners ‘bob on’ and must have pulled a couple of bike lengths on him because there was no sign of him into the hairpin…… haired up to the chicane, with Juan not too far ahead, tipped her left, skimming the wooden kerbs then as I tipped it right, somebody had knocked one of the kerbs out and it was straight in front of me…… BOLLOCKS…… stood the bike up but couldn’t avoid hitting it…… the bike took off, and went it landed, it snapped the right hand handle bar…… clean orf!…… had a hellish wobble and went straight on to the grass doing over 100mph…… one handed!…… I don’t usually have much luck on the grass two handed, so wasn’t that optimistic about this little trip……… thought ‘Oh God, this is baaaaad’……… the bike was sliding all over the shop, but by more luck than judgement, I got it under control, whilst dabbing the back brake to try and scrub some speed off…… managed to get it down to walking pace, and toured to the course intersection…… the throttle still worked, though it was hanging down the side of the bike by the cables…… pulled in and the team couldn’t believe it…… funnily enough neither could I …… It also threw my 600 Championship hopes reet oot the windae…… Oh well…… them’s the breaks. I had bought two brand new handle bars for spare only last month (eerie that innit), as the spares I had, Stuey had used, so got Willy to lash them on, even though I wouldn’t be using the bike again today……

Juan buggered off to play footy for Laxey, so was going to miss the last race of the day which was the 6 lap Champion of Champions Race…… So that was now going to be interesting for the outright win…… Could have used the Team PC Racing R6 for this one, which would have given me a better chance, but I opted for the Bullock Honda, as I had used it in all the other rounds. Was placed on the second row for this one, which was a big surprise seeing as how I’m leading the class…… ???……… anyway, the flag dropped, and I was third into the corner, saw that there was two RR Honda’s ahead of me and it was Muirhead leading…… somebody had lit his fuse today, and no mistake…… anyway, managed to get past Sellsy who was in second and set about after young Neil…… took me a lap to reel him in, but did so with Sellsy tail grabbing me…… so the three of us were circulating together, good for those still watching…… had a go up the inside at the first crossover chicane on the third lap…… knew I’d be lucky to make the chicane, as it was a lot tighter than normal, so took the safe option of overshooting and waved Neil through again, and tucked in behind…… if he had been a little bit more over to the left, I would have made it stick, but by being more or less in the middle of the track, it was making it more difficult…… but wasn’t too worried as the lap timer was indicating high 59’s, and I knew I could up the pace……… had another go up the inside at the first crossover chicane and exactly the same thing happened this time and I overshot and waved him through again…… Sellsy then showed me his front wheel into the Perimeter section, so I knew I was gonna have to make a move, as if it came down to a drag to the line, I wouldn’t win it…… so decided to do Young Muirhead around the outside this time, as he was leaving enough room, so managed it with the minimum of fuss and I hit the front…… thought that it was the last lap, but the last lap flag was out crossing the line so kept it smooth and got to the flag a couple of seconds ahead to take the win…… that was pretty good fun…… Sellsy managed to do Neil for second…… Three RR Honda’s on the podium.

So a 1st, 2nd. 4th, 5th and a DNF……… the latter being the best result of the day, could have been proper banjo-ed at that speed on the grass…… stupid things like that can happen as it turns out……… That may be the last track I do this year, as next up is the Jurby South Road race, followed by the TT the following week……… bring em on……

So tune in next time, for another very exciting, hopefully staying on the tarmac episode of………………………………………………………………… Tommy Clucas Racing.