Had one of the bikes lined up at scrutineering at about 1-30pm……………… again there was already a queue forming………… decided on changing the gearing on the supersport bike to something in between what we have tried and what we were running, just to see if it would pull it, and disaster struck when the front sprocket bolt snapped off in situ……… bastard!………… luckily enough, managed to get it out okay and get another bolt cut down to fit…… pure fluke that I had one the same thread………… its well handy having a ‘gash’ box……

Juan was the only one of the team to tip up early enough to get the bike through scrutineering, so he lashed that through…………… there was no rush to get that one through, till later, so we did that too after it was fettled. Bought some new Alpinestars Boots, tried a couple of pairs on, but these were definitely the most comfortable, they were also the most expensive, but you get what you pay for as they say…… they feel like slippers compared to any others that I’ve tried…… when you think about it…… even crap boots cost over a hundred quid…… I looked a right Dandy in these bobby dazzlers!

The Race bike (No1 Bike) was lined up about 10th or so away, again, somehow, with my team mate , Ian Pattinson……… Got the nod to go and flew off like a scalded cat…… passed the first of the two blokes that had started in front of me down into Union Mills by the Railway Pub, had to throttle off to avoid running in the back of him, then I passed Andy Jackson going up the Ballahutchin, and managed to take Ballagarey in 6th gear, but probably would have been better off in 5th to keep the revs up…… passed a couple more on the run to Ballacraine, and managed to take the Glen Helen section okay, probably the best I’d done it so far this week…… mind you, I hadn’t had many laps in to date……… had the old knee scraping at Glen Helen, just for a second, then headed off up to the Cronky straight…… not taking the end as well as I know I can, but will concentrate on doing that more as the laps build up…… caught up with somebody else at Handleys, and had to be cautious getting past as it’s a bit tight from there to the top of Begarrow, then caught up with John Burrows on his 750 Suzuki at Westwood……… had to sit behind him till I wheelied alongside him at Rhencullen 2, and nipped into the bend before him, saw him alter his line when he saw my front wheel…… knew then that he would be tailing me…… looked like I was now first on the road, and had a steady run to Ramsey…… nice having a clear run…… tried taking a few corners in a gear higher to see if it steadied the bike more, but it was losing me drive more than anything else…… It feels like I need another half tooth on the back sprocket…… pulled in at Ramsey to adjust my steering damper, and sat there outside the Chuck wagon chippy…… saw Burrows come past, then Pattinson, then somebody else………… the Marshal let me rejoin, and I got past the bloke in front into Ramsey Hairpin, then took off after Pixie…… Managed to drag on to his tail up on the Mountain, and sat behind him…… he had a look behind, but I just sat there………… followed him around the Verandah, and he had a nice line, and really closed up into the Bungalow……… we seemed to be reeling in Burrows, and I decided to make my move on the brakes into the Creg Ny Baa…… took off down towards Brandish and by the time we had rounded Cronk Ny Mona I was on his tail, and went past him again down towards the Nook…… found a nicer line into Governors than I have been taking, and tip toed under the damp trees, it was well slippy here…… then I throttled off on the Glencrutchery road……… Just wanted the boys to come back past me…… only Burrows did, so I went for a flier down Bray Hill……… it wasn’t much of a flier though and he really throttled off towards the bottom, which made me have to as well…… thought that he’d be a lot quicker here…… just shows you how much time you can make up in other places on a 750 machine…… wish I had one of those buggers…… I passed him again on the way down to the QB and then set off for a quick (ish) one…… had a pretty clear road again this time, with only the odd bit of traffic here and there, and still trying, without too much success to dodge the grids in the road at Schoolhouse Corner…… then up on the Mountain, at Joey’s caught sight of Scotty Stewart…… got better drive than him onto the Mountain Mile, and gave him the fingers on the way past……… Har Har…… kept it smooth till the Creg Ny Baa, the throttled off and waited for Scotty to appear again…… went over to the right hand side of the track and kept looking behind till he appeared…… let him come back past me, and as he did he was punching the air, followed him round Cronk Ny Mona, then passed him again round the outside at Bedstead…… got to Governors and pulled really wide so he could come past me again, as he did he punched the air again…… eeeeeeeeeee……… it were a reet larf…… then we both pulled in after crossing the line……

Had a drink and a chat with the team, changed helmets, then went out on the Supersport bike…… took off and when I pulled my visor down it was all smeared and I couldn’t see…… so I ripped the first rip off away, then the next…… aarrgh…… disaster…… it was all over the inside of the visor…… couldn’t believe it!!……… never been so slow down Bray Hill, not even in me car!…… decided on heading back to the grandstand, but could really do with trying the gearing change on this bike, so I pulled in at the QB…… me old mate Bill Clague was marshalling, and asked what was up, then got a hanky out when I told him…… took me helmet off and then me visor, and he cleaned it for me……… top man, cheers Bill…… saw me workmate Skilly, who just would be at that particular spot, then carried on again…… ah well, this ones gonna be a slow one…… reckoned on losing about 2 minutes there……… the bike didn’t feel as neutral as the No 1 bike, and it was squirming more on the brakes, Juan had gone two clicks up on the compression damping on the front forks and I think this may have altered it a tad too much…… it also felt like the back wheel was loose…… but I put that down to cold tyres and they were more worn than the set on the other bike…… so it could have been that too…… was a bit hot into Ballacraine, didn’t think I was to be honest, but when the bike squirmed it upset my line a tad…… anyhoo, I banked it over and must have hit sommat in the road, because the arse end came round…… I thought that I’d just ran sommat over or a huge chunk has just come off the tyre…… so I pulled in at Ballig Bridge and got off and had a look……… there was nowt wrong with the tyre so I carried on…… still wary that there was something not quite right…… the lap was well fooked anyway so I just carried on and tried to enjoy it the best I could…… had a steady run to the end with the odd bike here and there to pass, and pulled in and told the team what had happened…… nobody could understand how my visor got dirty, but we’ll have to watch out for that next time…… must have had some petrol spilt on it somehow…… looked like I was 4th fastest on the 600’s with 114.71mph………… one of my team mates, Seamus Greene was fastest with 115.99mph……… so will be keeping me eye on him……… but all the usual suspects will be getting quicker too……… Was funny that my last lap was 99.02mph……… probably the slowest lap I have ever done.

Got both bikes fettled with new rubber, for the first time this week, which should improve matters, brakes checked and cleaned and the bikes checked over thoroughly, ready for tomorrow afternoons session……

So, tune in next time for another very exciting episode…………………………………………………