Jurby Airfield, 2nd June 2001

Saturday - Clockwise

Decided on getting to Jurby earlier than normal because after getting a poor spot in the paddock last time, wanted to make sure that this time we would get a goodie. The paddock had been moved further away from the track than normal to accommodate all the gear, marquees, etc, etc that Duke Track Days had brought up.

Arrived just before nine with my mate Seany Sean, again doing the honours of being my chief pit crew man. Was first up there so got the best spot in the paddock, had the awning up, signed on, scrutineered….the lot….. done by ten o'clock. So we had plenty of time to tinker about and get our shit together. The sun had started to shine, but again, as normal, there was a stiff breeze blowing, but dry, so good enough conditions for all concerned.

Had two practice sessions without incident and managed 8 laps in the first and six laps in the second. I had the same tyres on as I had from the last meeting, as this time we were going in the clockwise direction, so as I had hardly used that side of the tyre I thought that they would last okay. I dropped the pressure in the rear a couple of psi to see if it would improve the grip, but now that I know what happened I'll be raising it back up again, as it seemed too wallow and slide a tad more than usual.

There was a full entry list for this special TT Jurby meeting and had a couple of well known Irish riders entered, namely, Ryan Farquhar and Seamus Greene, who both won a Manx Grand Prix last year, and all the usual suspects from the last meeting, with a few more locals, who had been out injured having a go…….Paul Duckett, Chris Dowling and Paul Corrin to name but a few…………so getting a result today was going to be no easy feat. I had entered six races this time (2 legs of each) 1300 Open Solos, 1300 Open Solos Restricted and the Formula 600.

Things seemed to be running nearly on time and by around 12 o'clock a huge crowd was gathering……and there was loads up to cheer me on, probably heard that I had the barbeque up again…...and it wasn't long before we were called to go out for our first race. The holding area was chokka full of 40 bikes and there was some nice pieces of kit, especially Farquhar's McAdoo R1 Yamaha and Greene's Investasure GSXR1000, It looked like quite a few quid had been thrown at them…….and no mistake, and they had slick tyres on, the only runners without them were the Formula 600 and 400's as the rules state that you're not allowed to. Was allocated a place on the front row, and after two warm up laps was ready for the off…………The flag went down and I got a shit start again……..bugger……loads zoomed past……Greene got a flyer….noticed this cos he nearly hit me on the way past…..…from the front row I was about fourteenth into the corner and had to filter through the first crossover chicane, made up a couple of places on the brakes, and nailed it up the back straight, was held up going through Snuffies and got to the Bus Stop Chicane to see Gary Carswell come off his R1 and bounce down the track onto the grass………I knew they would red flag the race and they did straight away….. so it was back to the start for another go. Waited on the grid till they cleared the track and Gary walked past me, he seemed okay………I was determined to get a better start on the restart…..but same again happened and I was about fifteenth into the corner, but made some places up, had a couple of laps and came up behind Paul Duckett on his ZXR750, the only time I've been out on the track with him was in my first race in the dry at Jurby last Easter, and I remember it because he went by me like I was stopped, so I took note of his number and went and found out who it was……….this time though I was right behind and tailed him over the start/finish line and out braked him into the first crossover chicane, what a difference a year makes, started to get my head down, got past Black and Pattinson around the Perimeter section and headed up to Snuffies, on the next lap round saw that both Black and Pattinson were on the grass and the race was red flagged again………..so, back to the start. The race was reduced to 6 laps……and I hoped for third time lucky, but no, three starts, three bad ones…….got to the Perimeter section to see Nige Beattie with his hand in the air and smoke pouring from his ZXR750…..kept my head down, was getting hit by a few flying stones and one went straight through my screen and another hit me on the finger……ouch…….but carried on regardless and made up a few places passed Dave Madsen Mygdal to got 5th with a lap to go, but went wide after the Long Runway section and he got back past me on the last lap, couldn't get him back and finished a couple of yards behind him in ……6th . Not too bad, but would love to have a sorted 1000cc Suzuki or Yamaha to see how I would go on that, not the standard shite I had last year. The race was won by Big H with Farquhar second and Greene third. Good efforts on the first time at Jurby. My sister Angie said I was Lapping in the 1'01's which was not bad considering it was pretty windy. Taped up the hole in the screen with some duct tape as I'm still waiting for a spare.

Had to stay on the track as I was in the next race, the 1300 Restricted… I was absolutely gasping for a drink and there was no sign of anyone of my crew, was nearly asking some people in the crowd to get me a drink, till Seany Sean sorted me with one…. …was on the front row again……no Bruce in this one as he was busy fettling his bike…got a better start than the last one and was up to fourth at the first corner, went second by the Perimeter section and headed off after Phil Bell-Scott…….caught him by Snuffies and was thinking of taking him on the anchors into Nans, but bided my time and out braked him into the first crossover chicane……started to pull a bit of a lead and then settled down got caught up with quite a few back markers which made me lose some time, so had a few looks behind to make sure no one was sneaking up on me and got to the line ……..1st……..nice one…….found out later that I had nabbed both the club lap and race records……nice one again….there was also £75 for a win today £50 for second and £25 for third……….so that was a bonus. Rob was 2nd and Phil got 3rd…..only just beating Dave Kinrade on the bike that Juan rode last year, he's definitely upped his pace. Going to have to stop looking behind and keep my head down till the end, because its definitely making me lose concentration, but have to admit its easier having someone to chase than leading.

As soon as I was back in the awning with the old tyre warmers on, I was called out for the F600…..Bloody Hell, it was running like clockwork today. In the holding area got a dig in the back, turned round and it was Darren 'Archie' Murphy….he asked me what the hell was going wrong with my starts, so told him what I was doing and he suggested I try something…….For this race I was on the second row alongside Farquhar and I got quite a good start, Archie's suggestion seemed to work, was fifth into the first corner and by the end of the second was up to third behind Paul Dedman and Nige Beattie…….slipstreamed Nige down the back straight and was going to go up the inside of him into Snuffies, but he kept a really tight line so I followed him through, he was skimming the cones as he apexed the corner and the wind was really pushing the bike when you tipped over, especially through here……stayed behind and they were dragging me along. Nige was having a few bites at Dedman but seemed to be having trouble getting past, but all I was thinking was this was looking good for me, had a quick peek behind and saw that the three of us had pulled a gap…. Was really enjoying it until the race was red flagged again on lap three………..shite, my best start on a 600 ever….for nowt. The race was reduced to 4 laps and at the restart got a better one than normal but not as good as the previous one…..was about fifth at the end of the first crossover point this time both Carswell and Farquhar were ahead, going up to Snuffies made up my mind to dive up the inside of Gary, but forgetting that he is double ex IOM Champion he was pretty quick through there himself, and he left no room, but I had to go for it otherwise I would have ran into the back of him and I barged my way through and into 4th…….was a pretty risky manoeuvre and it must have put the wind up him……. Snuffies would be the worst place on the track to jump off, couldn't make up the ground on the front three and had to settle for ……4th, but found that it was an aggregate time taken over the two parts and was joint 3rd……with Farquhar (and when Nige Beattie was taken out of the equation because he was in a different race class it turned out to be joint 2nd) Had to split the prize money and trophies with Farquhar………he got the 2nd place trophy and I got the 3rd but I got the extra £5 prize money…..Ha Ha…..so I was quite happy about that result. Went to see Gary to apologise for that hairy move on him and he was okay about it…..said it put him off for next three laps (it was only a four lap race!), he also said that he was sure he was off again as he headed for the grass but managed to stay on the track.

Decided on missing the next 1300 Open Race as it was a pain in the arse having to do two on the bounce and having to carry enough fuel for two races. So on the front row again for the next Restricted race and was fourth into the first corner behind Bell-Scott, Black (got his bike fixed) and Sells……. out braked Rob to go third at the end of the Long Runway section and watched the front two dicing with each other up to Snuffies….. Bruce got the better of Phil, so I knew that I'd have to get past Phil as soon as possible as Bruce would definitely start pulling away……out braked Phil into Nans and chased off after Bruce, I got better drive out of the chicane onto the start/finish straight but he pulled a few yards on me when his big Yam got into its stride, but I was close enough to get him on the brakes by the time we got to the other crossover point…. Started to pull away and again was looking behind more than I should, had about a hundred or so yard lead and was quite enjoying it and on about the sixth lap started to mingle with the back markers……..knew it made me lose time again so had another look behind me and when I did my visor lifted up…….shite……could easily have ripped itself off with the wind blast…..had to wait till the back straight to have another look as I didn't manage to see anything that time, so looked again and thought I saw Rob and no Bruce……….thought I'd better take another look……..sure enough it was Rob in second………….Next lap was the last one and down the back straight had another look to see if I was clear, and I had about 50 yards, thought that would be enough and short shifted through the gears on the last half lap to the finish…….and on the line I got fright cos as soon as I sat up Rob was alongside me……..another 10 yards and he probably would have won it…..he nearly caught me napping again!…….that's definitely the last time……so another win…..just.

My last race was the second F600 race and was on the second row……….didn't get the best of starts as the front wheel came up a bit but made up a couple of places at the first corner……..passed two going into Snuffies and made my way up 3rd ……….was about four seconds off the front two and was trying to make that up, but reckoned with two laps to go it wasn't going to happen and got passed myself into the first crossover Chicane…….the first time that had happened to me all day at that part of the track………by one of the English blokes who had come over…..wasn't having any of that……so chased him around Perimeter and up to Snuffies, had a bite at him there but didn't get past, then pulled alongside on the brakes into the Bus Stop Chicane, realised he was having none of it either and he closed the door on me and forced me onto the edge of the grass………twat……..lost about 100 yards on him after that and got to the line ……..4th……..(which was 3rd when Beattie was again taken out of the equasion) so in the prize money again.

Was pretty pleased about the day's racing……….stayed on, got two 1sts , a joint 2nd, a 3rd and a 6th. picked up £215 prize money which will nearly pay for a set of tyres, which were knackered after the day, and was voted………. 'Rider Of The Meeting' which I was well surprised and well chuffed about…….got a lovely crystal trophy for it…………….ace.

Packed up soon after, there was quite a few people helping so it was done in next to no time, thanks to all who came up, helped out, cheered me on and ate all Lynn's burnt Barby offerings…………….only joking Lynn, and a special mention for Lynn's dad, Bob, who is over from Edinburgh with his "special" hat (besides his drinking hat...). I think the Andreas Racing Club should stage a meeting every TT week on a non-race day…..it certainly went down a storm. Next up for me could be Aintree on the 16th June followed by Jurby again the week after, where I need one more win to wrap up the 1300 Clubman's Centre Championship……….

So, tune in next time for another very exciting episode of ……..Tommy Clucas Racing.