Took the day off work today as I was absolutely beat from yesterday and had too much to do anyway........ turned out that I had even more to do when my van wouldn't start............ Jesus!!, I'm lucky me....... so after I got it towed from a mate to get it started, it was off to Douggie to get a new battery, then it was off to the paddock to fit it.......

There was only one timed practise tonight and then the Senior Solo Founders Race (Race 1), which would be split into two classes...... I could have opted for using the 1000 Bullock Suzuki, but I was going to run the Bullock 600 Honda. Didn't know what the weather was going to do, so we put both the 600's through scrutineering, one with the wet tyres on and one with the Supercorsa's (Dry's) and the spare wheels had the intermediates fitted to them, so that we had every eventuality covered......

The weather was still completely dry, though a tad overcast, and it wasn't long before I went out in the timed practise session, in between all the big bikes........ I was determined to get into the 2 min 28 sec bracket, the ball park I wanted to be in last night..... knew I could do it, and I needed to be as far up the grid as possible anyway, because I knew I'd get slaughtered at the start of the race, and all the way down to the Iron Gate, where it is definitely big bike territory....... anyway, off we popped and I managed to get out in the first dozen, and as suspected, got passed by a few big bikes on the run down to the Iron Gate..... got past a couple and settled in behind Chris Palmer on his 1000 Suzuki..... thought that I must be doing okay as I held on to him for a couple of laps, and he was only leaving me on the straights, but managed to catch him back up from Ballawhetstone to Cross Four Ways and was right up his hoop coming out of Church Bends......... was well pleased to see my on board lap timer indicate 2'28.8...... good, done it...... settled down after that and felt that I had slowed quite a lot, for one reason and another, but only by a second according to the lap timer...... then the chequered flag was out next time around and that was that...... still, a 2'28 would do me. Target hit.

It turned out that I was the fastest 600 with an official time of 2'28.9 then next up came Wee Bob Grant and Tim Poole who had both circulated in the 2 min 30's, so that was handy, Wee Bob telling me that he had recorded his first ever lap in the 2 min 30's, so a PB for him. Told the team that I was aiming for the class win, laps & race records, (Class lap record held by Darren Lindsay at 2min 30.0) so I was well on for it, my only concern however was that I would have to get past as many big bikes as I could from the Iron Gate to Ballawhetstone, because there were going to be a few of them that would pass me on the run down to the Iron Gate, and then they would hold me up out round the back section, so had to get past and pull away before we got to Church Bends or they would just blast back past me and I would have to do it all over again........... It wasn't going to be easy.

Waited for nearly an hour before the race was called and would you believe it...... there was rain in the air...... it was only the odd drop, but it looked like the clouds were full of it....... Got interviewed by Chris Kinley on Manx Radio and then it was off to the dummy grid in the holding area........ I was allocated 9th spot on the grid (3rd row), which was pretty good seeing as how I was only on the 600, and I had Parrett and Palmer on their 1000cc bikes alongside me...... We had the warm up lap behind the pace car, and the spits of rain started to get heavier and then it started to get pretty bad when we formed on the grid........ all the boys on the Superbikes had slick tyres on and as the rain was coming down, Farquhar called for a stoppage, he was waving his arms to tell them to delay it....... and they did..... Well, he's the current Champion and his input should be heeded and it was...... So it was all back to the holding area to change tyres..... Was interviewed again, and told them I was still undecided on what to do, so they left me to it..... Martin Bullock came to see me and told me that I was under no pressure from him to compete if I didn't want to, and if things weren't right, just to pull in........ good of him to say it, but I was going to do what suited me anyway......

The boys lashed the intermediates onto the Honda, and the other one I had just 'run in' last night was sitting there with the wets already on it........ had a bit of a discussion with Juan and as it stopped raining, and the track from where we could see it was only damp, we reckoned that it was 'Inters all day long'...... most of the others were on full wets, so it was a gamble and I was still pretty much undecided till I was told by one of the officials that it was only damp with no standing water all the way round.... If it stayed dry we thought that there would be a dry line appearing and Inters would still be the way to go, so I jumped on that bike and went to the dummy grid in the holding area......... had a looksee at what everyone else was running and they were all on full wets apart from Farquhar who was on a wet front and a 'cut' Intermediate rear...... (he had on what I had, but with loads of extra grooves cut into it)...... first time I had seen one of those. We soon took off behind the pace car again, and into the first corner I decided that it would not be a good idea to be out on these tyres..... thought that it would be a really bad idea to be thundering into here on the first lap with no grip............ most of the way round the road looked like glass it was that wet, what happened to the ';no standing water anywhere'........ there were puddles alt over t'shop........ and I had a slide at about 30-40mph at Williams Bend....... wobbled round Cross Four Ways like I was in a shopping trolley...... then my hopes were raised for a second after rounding Church Bends where it was only patchy, but as it was raining again, thought that it wouldn't be long before it was soaked...... passing Team PC Racing Manager, Chris at Castletown Corner with my pit board, I indicated that I would be pulling in....... but still felt reluctant to do so, so took my place on the 3rd row of the grid........ as it assembled, I pulled out and headed for the paddock........

Pulled in and put the bike up against a wall and went to watch the race........... was met by the team, including Martin and told them that I had made the wrong choice.... We had to look at the bigger picture as well, with the MGP round the corner, its more about competing in that event, than racing around here in the wet on the wrong tyres...... was a bit disappointed, but what can you do......... save it for another day........

So, tune in next time for hopefully, another very exciting episode........................................................