Tuesday 8th June

Watched the re-scheduled Production 1000 race from the bottom of the pits, which turned out to be a cracker, lap records gone again, this time to Anstey, who took the win from McGuinness and Jason Griffiths who rode a great race. The weather was pretty good again, overcast at the Grandstand, but nice and warm, the sun not being out was a blessing in disguise for me sunburnt arms and legs

The practise was only scheduled for one lap, which was a bit of a pisser, could have done with more really………… The only things we had changed for this one was the fork seals again, and again they were pattern ones, (the Original Honda ones were due today) and the ride height, which we increased by 10mm, to see if it would steer better on the fast sections…… We weren’t near the front for this one, which put us at a disadvantage as we would be stuck in a bit of traffic…… started with Alex Donaldson on his Formula One bike, but off the line it was the last I saw of him……… flat out down Bray and all the way to the QB……… caught one of the blokes that started ahead into Braddan, but never got past him till Snugborough…… then tailed another bloke on his Junior 600 up the Ballahutchin…… his bike was faster than my Bullock Production Honda, which wasn’t a surprise, but I went underneath him into the Ballascarey traffic lights…… kept the bike nailed all the way through Crosby, and was catching somebody into Greeba Castle…… managed to do him around the outside before we got to the bottom of the dip, and kept me head down…… had a clear road till I got to the Black Dub where I got stuck behind a newcomer in an orange bib…… slower than I’ve been round Glen Helen all week and drove around his outside…… lost some drive there……… Flat out at the end of the Cronky straight where the bike was pretty lively again……… and it was again at the top of Begarrow, wasn’t really happy with the way the bike was handling, didn’t really feel that the bike was steering that much quicker, but I did feel like it was pushing the front tyre more than it had been……… which was not that confidence inspiring, missed a gear through Kirk Michael, which was packed with people……… oops…… steady enough through both Rhencullen 1 & 2, and started to get a bit tired on the run to Ballaugh…… took the bridge in 2nd gear instead of the usual first and short shifted through the village, got a nice leap at Ballacrye, and Quarry Bends was the section that I was interested in seeing if the bike steered any better, as changing direction here had been a lot of effort……… it actually did feel slightly better, but that might be because I wasn’t going as fast as I have been through it, but the front did feel a tad different and was probably one of the reasons for being slower…… Caught somebody on another Junior Bike rounding the Ginger Hall, and managed to get him just after the jump at Kerromoar…… had a clear run all the way to Ramsey, and was slower at some corners that I had been, wasn’t really enjoying it all that much, had to rip the first of me tear offs off here, as it was pretty humid and there were quite a few flies about, really warm too…… Took May Hill in a higher gear than normal to keep the front settled, but was pretty slow through it, and wobbled round the hairpin like an ol woman, and again through the waterworks section………… not much better at the gooseneck either…… felt like I was either trying too hard, or I was going backwards…… probably both!…… never actually felt really comfortable on the bike for the whole lap……… caught up with another Junior bike on the Mountain Mile and he slightly dragged away from me, but by the time we got to the Mountain Box, I was braking to avoid him…… was stuck behind till the Bungalow Bridge, where I backed off a bit, then I got the power down earlier than him and out dragged him to the Bungalow…… had a couple more to contend with, but pretty much a clear run, till I got to Brandish and saw somebody at Hillberry, but knew I would catch him till the end, so it was pretty much a clear run to the finish, rounding Cronk Ny Mona, felt the front end pushing again, which wasn’t nice, then wobbled round the next few corners and was flagged in on a short lap……… knew it had been a crap one, confirmed with the time of 19mins 49 secs…… (114.2mph)…… me arms were pumped up to hell, which is sommat that always pisses me off…… didn’t do any exercise before I went out, but will be doing tomorrow to see if it makes any difference.

We’re gonna go out tomorrow in the last practise with the settings that I set my fastest lap on…… it might be a tad harder to steer, but we’ve got to have something I’m familiar with to go to the race with, and as I set my fastest time with them, its what I’m going to have to use…………

Fettled the bike with the new the Honda fork seals, and the rear standard number plate plastic bracket that we had to buy to use in the actual race (which will NEVER be used again), why oh why we have to run these things that make no difference to the bike’s performance is beyond me………

Had put an application in for a number change, and had word from the race office that my application had not been successful……… bollocks…… No disrespect meant to any other riders, but there are a lot of slower riders ahead of me, which might, and probably will make a difference to my result, and they also have newcomers from last years Manx Grand Prix starting at 20 places or more ahead…… starting Davy Morgan at No 38 & No 45 in both production races is a f*cking joke too……… especially when he finished 11th last year………… you wonder where they picked the start numbers from……… obviously out of a hat.

Tune in for another very exciting, hopefully more enjoyable, getting back on track episode……………………………………………………………………………………