Mallory Park, 18th March 2001

Saturday

Left the Island on the 0700hrs Seacat 'Rapide' to Liverpool (more like a friggin Skoda Rapide.........basic model........What a tub the Steam Packet have hired, never ceases to amaze me, somebody's getting a backhander somewhere)...... Had my mate Graham Gell with me this time, I was going on my own till Geller jumped in at the eleventh hour......

There was supposed to be a few Manx boys going to this meeting, but it was only us on the boat, so we assumed that they must be on the Heysham Ferry at 0900hrs.....so to kill a few hours, we had a walk around the shops in Liverpool, had to hire Securicor to look after the van (Ha, Ha)..... then headed off down the motorway to Kirkby Mallory.

Arrived at Mallory at about 4 o'clock, to get to the paddock area you have to drive on the course from the Hairpin to the Esses, as we were driving down to it there was still snow at the side of the track, which wasn't surprising, because it was bloody freezing..........again! Had a quick skeet around to see if anybody else from the Island had arrived, but we appeared to be the first ones. Juan and Dawnio arrived in their big truck about an hour later with Dawn at the wheel, I could tell that she was driving cos she had a Yorkie Bar hanging out of her mouth.......

First thing we did was set the Awning up, and it was bloody cold doing it, but we were rather upbeat, because it had said on the local radio station that Sunday would be bright with sunny spells. (the forecaster obviously didn't know his arse from a hole in the ground).

Put my bike and kit in the Awning, Juan left his in the truck to try and keep the cold off it a bit. For this trip I had changed my gearing to a 14 tooth front sprocket and a 49 tooth rear, changed the front brake pads from EBC kevlar greens to EBC race pads as last time I had some brake fade, and changed the brake fluid, which was a right twat to bleed, but got it done eventually. Also wired up the choke pegs on Carbs 1 and 4 to help start the thing.......my theory was that if I flood two, the other two might chime in, and sure enough when I tested it, she fired up first time.........you beauty.

Had a Shower then a bite to eat in Juan's truck (its got a heater, living area, cooker, microwave, telly etc..) then there was a knock on the door a while later, turned out to be another Manx crew, Rob, Dave and Carolyn Sells with Phil Bell-Scott as well. Rob and Phil put there bikes in my Awning, ready for a quick dash in the morning to scrutineering, Phil still had his number plate on, thats probably where they got the phrase....'Run what you Brung'... then they walked the course in the dark....???....the rest of us went to the pub.....Darren 'Archie' Murphy arrived as we got there. The pub was chocca, had a good laugh, we were all crammed in one little corner, the thing I remember most was Dave asking, 'Whatever happened to white dogshit'........Definately something you don't see these days as we all agreed.

Retired soon after, preparing ourselves for another cold night, not something I'm too keen on, Geller and me slept in my van, and I think Phil slept in the tent he brought....I don't think it was as cold as last time, but it was cold enough......and no mistake.

Sunday

Woke up a few times in the night, then was wide awake when Juan put his Genny on at six in the morning, but didn't drag myself out of the van till gone eight o'clock....it had rained overnight and was cold again, so much for sunny spells, it was well overcast, and it looked like more rain was imminent..........got up to find that Phil had already gone to scrutineering...............Keen or what. Had a look to see what the temperature was on my bike...............2C....oops, but better than minus 3 the previous time.....so pulled on the two bits of wire I had linked to the carbs, hoped for the best, then hit the starter button..............she burbled into life first time.........you beauty again!

Richard Hocking from Bikes'n'Stuff in Peterborough arrived again, only earlier this time to give me a hand, and he and Geller put my bike through Scrutineering, that was the first time that I hadn't been there......it makes a hell of a difference when you've got mates to help you. I donned my leathers etc and got those scrutineered, then signed on. None of the other Manx Boys that were supposed to be here seemed to be....that was a shame, the more the merrier, thats what I reckon.

What I was hoping for today was a top half finish......or at best a top 10, so that I could obtain my FINAL (Hurrah!) signature....not bad going, 20 meetings, 20 signatures........and no passes. Got back to the Awning......and it started snowing!!!.........That didn't look good.......the only bonus was that it wasn't sticking, wet snow as I call it, but it was coming down pretty heavily, and with the breeze that was blowing.....I wasn't looking forward to it one little bit.

Juan had already changed to a front wet tyre....I didn't really know what to do as I've never had the choice before, then Juan and Archie changed the rear as well. Decided to go for full wets as well, although I've never ridden on these before and they were already second hand when I got them with the bike, got Archie to check them over and he said....'They'll be alright'....what I wanted to hear was 'Yeah......they're great..they look like they've never been used....'. what I should have done was buy new ones before the event then I'd know for sure that they would be...'Bob On'. Anyway Rich, Geller and myself had the wets in in no time, a job that takes ten times longer when you have to do it on your own, like I said its great when your mates give you a hand, then we softened off the suspension a tad.....the Awning was a godsend again, a great investment, now that I've had one I wouldn't want to be without it, and its a decent enough size to comfortably fit two bikes, all our kit and quite a few people.......how things have changed from last year. Ian MacRae from EPS turned up again to cheer me on, but it wasn't a good day for watching although there was a few people there.........probably hoping for some carnage in the slippy conditions.

Went out in practice session three, tyres felt really unfamiliar...this was the first time that I've had a go on wets....but got my head down and had a steady lap then upped my pace a bit and still felt pretty good.....started to pass people mainly around Gerrards and even lapped some in the seven laps I was out, felt confident of a top half finish after practice as nobody passed me.....although was wary that some people might not have been trying very hard.....not many points up for grabs in practice. .

Only had two races today, 12 laps this time, instead of the 6 or 7 that I'm used to.....Juan was out in race one and ten, me and Rob in race two and eleven as there were two 600cc divisions, and Phil was out in races six, fifteen and eighteen. Racing was underway at 10.50am and Juan took off from the second row of the grid into the lead in race one, but was ousted by double New ERA Champion Peter Baker and ended up second, he was flying....as was Jason Litchfield who got 4th.......Kevin Atkins went over the start/finish line and his bike was popping and banging then he pulled in, I went and asked him if it was the bike or his arse!...........

Me and Rob lined up for race two, I was on the seventh row, Rob on the eighth. Had an average start, the rear wheel was spinning for the first few yards and I got blocked a lot before the first corner, had to wait for a gap before I made my move, then got fed up waiting and rode around the outside of loads going around Gerrards, out braked some more into the Esses and again into the Hairpin, going round Devils Elbow the rear end was sliding all over the place, and my visor was steaming up going down the start/finish straight, passed some more round Gerrards and the field was starting to string out a bit, started to lap people on about the seventh lap, the rear end sliding every lap at Devils Elbow and to be cautious was losing a few yards through there but making it up everywhere else. On about the tenth lap was behind two blokes approaching the right hander into Gerrards saw a bike in front of the three of us lose the front then slide off the track, as soon as it hit the gravel trap, it dug in and cart wheeled up in the air and bounced a couple of times, looked to me that the bike might come down and hit the rider, but it missed.........decided I should be watching where I was going and dove up the inside of the two geezers in front of me and headed off for the next one.....caught and passed somebody else before the finish and was well chuffed to find that I had grabbed 6th place!......groovy!......When I got off the bike, my fingers were that cold I couldn't get my gloves off, they were so cold it hurt like hell.....The acrobat that slid off the track turned out to be Rob, there were three others off at roughly the same place....his bike was a bit bent, but more importantly he was okay, although at the time (I know, its happened to me)....that is scant consolation as your gutted and mad at the same time, although if Rob was mad he wasn't showing it (I probably would have been), sometimes you wonder how you escaped unscathed when your bike has taken a hammering....but got to take my hat off to him, he took it well...but looking on the bright side, it could have been a lot worse, we were all gutted for him as his day's racing was over....I offered him my spare fairings, but his right hand fork was bent............bugger.

The weather wasn't getting any better, so I bought a Fog City for the inside of my visor to stop it steaming up, but made a right hash of putting it on and ended up ruining it, was in too much of a rush.......I'll take my time next time......nobber.

Phil finished 23rd in race six, this year he had a new rear shock, stiffer fork springs and a fancy paint job, but still had shit road tyres on it, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't like the wet.......but who does......the only thing that is any good about it is that its a great leveller, but he got the signature he went for............Juan finished second again in race ten, then it was my turn in race eleven.......was on the second row this time, hoping to get a flyer, but on the sighting lap, noticed that my gears were getting harder to select and on the warm up lap couldn't get first at all, was starting to get a little worried wondering why.........then as we sat on the grid couldn't get second either....the flag dropped and I must have got the world's worst start......off the line in third gear!..........all the other bikes flew by and I was nearly at the back into Gerrards but rode around the outside and passed quite a few, it was interesting at the Hairpin in third gear and had to slip the clutch a bit to get round, was still sliding around Devil's Elbow every lap and lost time again, but made it up eveywhere else, this race had been reduced to eight laps, which was unfortunate as I was still making up places till the finish and at the flag, I was 6th again........you belter!........I'm beginning to thing Big H was right when he said I was a wet weather man............he's usually wrong about everything! (Ha, Ha).

So, I've got to be happy about that, my time in race 11 would have got me 4th in race 10, but what the hell, I was well pleased. Rich sussed the problem I had, Juan was ready to have the gearbox out, but it turned out to be seized spherical rose joints on the gear selector (well I'm hoping that's all), but once we freed them off a bit I could get first and second....so, will have to invest in some new ones. Got my 20th signature, which is enough to upgrade to a National Licence which has been my mission from day one, so I'm happy that's done.

Packed the van up and headed up the motorway to Liverpool to catch the 2100hrs Barge to Douglas, stopping for a KFC on the way, Dawnio cadged a lift again. Dave, Rob, Carolyn and Phil had the long trudge up to Heysham for the 0215hrs ferry as their van was too big to get on the Seacat....long day........and it's a longer day when you've fallen off. The boat was full, had to sit in 1st Class cos all the seats were taken......... that was a blow............

Another 312 miles clocked up in the old van again this weekend...........Top truck................'Ohh, Lord, won't you buy me....aaa Mer-cedeeez Benzzzzzzzzz...............'

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