Had the day off today and tipped up in the paddock, pretty much the same time as the boys…… Graham was already sorting out Flyin Ryan who was borrowing this and that off us……

The forecast again was rather sketchy, as Chris had informed us after he had phoned Ronaldsway, anyway, we took the intermediates off the Bullock 600 Honda and I swapped the tyres on the spare rims to newer supercorsa’s than what had been on and fitted them to the bike………… Just as we did that, it started to rain………… bloody typical…… left the paddock a couple of times and had a look at the track…… and decided to put full wets on the bike…… was wondering if I had made the right choice, but when the rain started to get heavier, it put my mind at rest…… Ryan came over again, and asked could he borrow a set of wets off me, so I lent him a set and asked the boys would they help him to fit them, time was a-pressing…… damn decent of us I reckoned…… should have brokered a deal on percentage of any prize money……!!

We were soon called to the dummy grid and I had qualified 4th …… Ryan Farquhar, Guy Martin. Wee Bob Grant on the front row, then me, Martin Finnegan and Darren Lindsay on the second…… so in good company there, no doubt about it…… had the warm up lap and the track was piss wet through, followed the pace car round and then settled on the grid…… The lights changed to green and we were offski’s again…… Guy Martin, bogged down off the line and we all had to filter past him, I got passed by a couple, but made them back up into the first corner and was about 4th…… down to the Iron Gate, saw that it was Wee Bob leading, with Ryan up his chuff then Lindsay then me……… Ryan went up the inside at Ballabeg to take the lead…… the bike was still bogging down out of the hairpins which is a right pain in the arse, but at least it wasn’t spinning up the rear end whilst banked over, so at least there was some sort of benefit…… was getting held up by the two blokes in front after Ballawhetstone, which is probably my strongest part of the circuit…… had to get past and managed to do Lindsay on the brakes into Cross Four Ways…… set about after Wee Bob, his bike was picking up out of the corners a lot better than mine and the thing was amazingly fast…… he must have had a warp speed button on it…… mind you it was last years ‘Gerrit Ten Kate’ CBR600 Honda, (Michael Laverty rode in last years British Supersport Championship), which are renowned for being the fastest bikes out there…… he pulled a bit on the start finish straight, and I watched as he ‘backed it in’ in the wet into Ballakeighan…… pretty impressive to watch………… the benefit of having a slipper clutch fitted………I was thinking at the time though, that the little bugger races at Knockhill and it always pisses it down there…… but into Ballabeg hairpin I managed to out brake him and go up the inside whilst trying a blocking tactic, so when my bike bogged down he wouldn’t shoot straight past……… slipped the clutch to get some drive and off I shot again…… got to Ballawhetstone and knew he wouldn’t be passing me anywhere round the back section…… had the rear tyre spinning up all over the place, but felt in control enough to keep the throttle open…… and had the bike sliding on the brakes into Cross Four Ways…… On the Start/Finish straight could see Ryan about 5 seconds ahead and was flat out passing the holding area, and Wee Bob passed me like I was going the other way!…… Christ almighty! That thing is quick…………… tailed him again and managed to get past him again and get my head down…… Chris was swinging out my pit board and it was saying +0, and down to Iron gate for the third time, Guy Martin passed me…… that Honda of his is quick too…… they were making mine look slow and it isn’t…… but Guy’s bike is the same spec as British Supersport Champion, Karl Harris’s factory CBR600 Honda…… well, he works for the bloke who builds them, so it should be…… followed him till Cross Four Ways and he just threw the bike over and powered away…… he seemed to be getting more grip than me, he was also using more of the road than I was, so had a go at that, but as it was a line I wasn’t used to it wasn’t suiting me too well, neither was the spray and shite he was kicking up, I could hardly see a thing…… crossing the line, Flag Man, Gordon Clague gave me a big gap sign which was handy, Chris had +0 on my board, but that was from the previous lap…… Guy started to disappear and he I could see he was catching Ryan, I could have pushed harder but didn’t want to scare myself or worse, jump off the bastard…………… was still looking at the bigger picture (MGP), so settled down and was running at a pace I was happy with…… and if anyone caught me, well fair play to them…… next time round Chris had +3 and it kept going up after that, so knew my pace was going to be good enough…… on about lap 5 heading down to the Iron gate again, saw that Guy was right up Ryan’s chuff, and I was half hoping that come the last lap they would either have held each other up enough for me to catch up……or it would be interesting if they were still together into the last corner, knowing that neither of them would back off, and they might knock each other off the track, leaving me to pick up the pieces…… which would be bad for them, but good for me…… I was still holding a comfortable third place, tried a few different lines here and there trying to find the non slippiest line, but wasn’t having much joy, and two laps running caught a back marker up into Ballakeighan Corner…… bollocks…… just at the wrong time…… had to be extra cautious, but got past okay…… lost a second or so there though, just hoped that the same would happen to those behind…… The bike was still spinning up the rear tyre especially from Ballawhetstone to Billown Dip, but I just kept my head down till the end and was well pleased to take the chequered flag in 3rd spot…… yeeessssss……… Same result as last year, and funnily enough similar conditions…… Got interviewed on the Radio and the Telly and then went on the podium with the other two nutcases…… Guy went on to win, and was flying for sure…… but at least we had gained a good result to make up for the disappointment in the previous two races…… felt a bit better after that…………

After a discussion with Martin and Juan, we decided it would be a good idea to go out on the 600 in the 12 Lap Championship Race, which is by invitation only…… this time I was 11th on the grid (middle of the 4th row), which I thought was not bad, because I was the first 600 on the grid, and I hadn’t qualified (grid positions determined by the other two races that I hadn’t finished)…… So the team got the bike fettled ready for the race which was the last of the day……

In the holding area, every one bar us were changing wheels to Intermediates…… Juan rang me to tell me to go and look at the track, so I did, and it was drying up loads, helped by the fact that the sidecars were creating a dry line…… Rang my mate Scotty who was the duty Copper, this time at Ballabeg, and he said that it was till damp, but a dry line, then he gave his phone to the travelling Marshal who had stopped there and he reckoned intermediates would be the best option…… went back to the holding area and said to the boys ‘ F*ck it, keep the wets on’…………… so we stood there while everyone was in a flat spin changing wheels…… told Juan, that I ran full wets in drying conditions last year and they held out fine, as the 600 wouldn’t rip them up as much as a 1000 would…… and if it rained, well, it would be happy days……could get a right proper result…… Then the heavens opened again, and everyone changed wheels back again…… including Stuey, who changed twice as well, even after I told him not to bother……

Lined up on the grid and after the lights changed to green, we were off down to the first corner…… the spray from all the bikes in front was ridiculous, went around the outside of a few so that I could have the inside line at Ballakeighan, made up a couple of places and then the bunching ensued…… then I was passed by a few down to the Iron Gate, saw that Parrett and Beattie were two of them, but got them back on the brakes into the Iron Gate…… was behind Chris Palmer and Paul Cranston all the way to Cross Four Ways, could have gone quicker but there was no way past the two of them, nearly got Chris on the brakes into the corner, but there was no room…… up to Church Bends there were yellow flags out and Marshal’s in the road…… slowed down loads and it was Guy Martin who had come off, it looked like he had lost the front end and gone into the bales…… there were a few bales in the track, and what was left of a bloody wooden pallet!…… tip toed round and carried on again…… the big bikes leaving me on the fast bits…… but was gaining some on the corners and loads on the brakes…… for the next few laps, saw my board saying +0…… so decided to have a look who’s board was getting swung out at the same time as mine, and it said ‘Mark’…… knew then that it must be Marky Mark Parrett, got to Ballakeighan and after the corner, had a look and he was only a few yards behind, next time round he passed me at the end of the start finish straight on his 1000 Yamaha, and a lap after that two 600 Honda’s passed me…… think one of them was Kevin Mawdsley, and the other was definitely Wee Bob…… Bollocks, lost two places, felt that I had slowed a tad, but didn’t know for sure as my lap timer wasn’t picking up a signal, (me sis must have had the beacon still in her pocket)…… set about after Wee Bob and nearly overshot Ballakeighan and gave him a couple of hundred yards on me…… double bollocks!……… got my head down after this and started to catch him back up…… probably the kick up the arse that I needed…… still had the rear wheel spinning up out round the back of the circuit, and managed to reel Bob back in and tailed him for the next lap…… and after Billown Dip, I thought he had a problem he was going that steady and I passed him around the outside (he told me later that he had a couple of mega slides so he knocked it off), handy for me though cos that was him out of the way…… into Great Meadow, saw that Chris Palmer was touring…… great another place for me…… didn’t know it at the time, but apparently he had clouted the wall at Ballawhetstone and it had damaged his gear lever foot peg and engine casing and he was dropping oil on the already wet circuit…… not a good idea that, and no mistake…… when I got to Ballawhestone for the ninth time there were oil flags out all over the place…… trouble was, I could hardly see out of my visor anyway, so just went extra steady, but tried to keep a decent speed going, must have been doing okay, because the last time into Cross Four Ways, saw Mawdsley ahead…… right ya bugger, I’m having you…… managed to go around his outside at Stadium Corner and held him off till the finish line……… nice one…… finished 7th overall, and first 600 home…… only just though…… thought that I had gone slower in this race than I had in the previous S&S Motors 600 Race, but had gone two seconds quicker…… funny that innit…… didn’t feel like I had as much grip this time out…… still, not a bad end to the day……

Cleaned the bike and we fettled it ready for the Jurby South Road Races that is on Saturday (17th)…… hope that the weather is better and I go well down there…… see if I can get the 600 lap record back off Big H…… I’ll be trying that’s for sure…… bring it on……

Went to the presentation, where I collected my 3rd place trophy for the 600 race and a nice little cheque for £250 (that’ll pay for the tyres anyway)…… and also another £200 for my 7th place in the Championship Race along with the Alan Hampton Cup for the first 600 and cheque for £75 (first 600 prize money) and a tankard for best local finisher in the Championship Race……… not too shabby…… made a better end to what started out as a disappointing week.

So tune in next time, for another very exciting, drier, trophy winning, cash collecting episode of………………………………………… Tommy Clucas Racing