Jurby Airfield , 19th May 2001

Saturday - Anticlockwise

Picked my mate Seany Sean up and headed to Jurby at around 9 o'clock, thought that by getting there early we would get a good spot in the paddock and put the awning up, etc. Got there about half an hour later......and surprisingly there were already loads there, so we didn't get that good a spot (pretty shite actually).

There are not many times at Jurby when the wind isn't blowing, but so far, this seemed to be one of them, and because of this putting the awning up was a doddle. Put the bike through scrutineering, then signed on. Because this was supposed to be the Jurby South Road meeting (postponed till September because of Foot & Mouth) it had been replaced by the meeting that was going to be held in September, and it was going the same way as the last one, which was unusual, I prefer the anti-clockwise direction, but the last time I was up here I jumped off, so I was a little apprehensive.

I had entered eight races again, which were (2 of each) the 1300 Solo Centre Championship, Formula 600 Solo, 1300 Solo Clubman's Championship and the Champion Of Champions....... so another busy day, and no mistake. For the first time this year things were almost running on schedule and I was in the first group that set out to practice..........this time I had a different set of rubber on........Pirelli Dragon Super Corsa's, the last time I used Pirelli's they were shite, but they weren't the Corsa's, and Juan had recommended them, saying the were the cat's nads. I also had to go up a size on the rear as they don't come in the sizes I was running, so was wondering as I set off what they were going to be like, I knew the steering was going to be slower. Had about five laps of practice, and going through the Bus Stop Chicane for the first of them, I was extra cautious, could still see the scrape marks my bike had made from the acrobatics of last time. They had been a bit of work done on the track since last time........most of the holes filled in and new lines painted, and they had resurfaced the inside of the track, don't understand why they did this and not the outside of the track, because you don't use the inside, but it all looked pretty nonetheless. The tyres felt really different and after the first session was starting to get a little nervous, because I didn't have my head round it yet. The next session fared better and I felt I was starting to get the hang of it......and on the last lap of the session, approaching the first Crossover Chicane, Milky Quayle dived up my inside.........I thought.....Bloody Hell.....If he makes the corner I'll be well impressed.......but he didn't and had to go off the track. He told me afterwards he was slipstreaming me down the straight and thought he out brake me into the chicane........but I didn't brake where he thought I was going to, and he only just got past.

First race of the day was the 1300 Open Solos Centre Championship......... had to do as well as possible in this to consolidate my 4th position......was on the front of the grid again, Nige Beattie one side of me and Milky the other ........Got a pretty bad start again, something I'm definitely going to have to work on, but made some places up at the first crossover chicane, dived up the inside of two or three before the Bus Stop and headed around Snuffies, a couple of laps later out braked Bruce Black into the Long Runway section and could see Dedman and Carswell ahead.... ...started to make ground up on them, and going into Nans, hit a small pothole which just happens to be on the part of the track where you tip the bike in and the front let go, but gripped again after a loud scraping noise, which at the time I thought was the foot peg digging in....but kept my head down. Going towards the Bus Stop, Carswell was out of shape on the brakes and went on the grass, allowing Dedman to nip past, quickly followed by me, down the back straight the speed of Gary's R1 Yam zoomed past me again but I got him back on the brakes into the Long Runway, but the same again happened on the front straight, although I was keeping a tighter line, so he would have to take me on the outside, I was pretty confident of out braking him back again into the first crossover point if I was close enough, but he pulled that many yards on me I wasn't. Was right up his chuff into the Bus Stop and knew that I would really have to push it around Snuffies to stay close enough to him to be able to get him on the anchors at the perimeter section, was really nailing it and was going around his outside, but he pushed me onto the rough bit of the track and the bike jumped all over the place, but kept the throttle pinned..... ...pretty scary.

Was still right up his chuff into the Bus Stop on about the eighth lap and hit neutral.....shite, had to straighten up, just avoided going on the grass and he pulled about 100 yards on me........bugger. Knew I wasn't going to make that back and make it stick with a lap or so left, so had a quick look behind and kept my position till the finish, and ended up.........6th.

My arms were well pumped up again when I got back to the pits, and was well made up to be told that I had beaten my previous best lap of 1'01.2 (which I set on the R1 last September)..........I had a best time of 1'00.4, was also made up to be told that most of my laps were in the 1'00's, so pretty consistent. Was also keen to do well in the Clubman's Championship race cos I was inside Kinnish's lap record of 1'00.7............couldn't wait, although I was still a little nervous. Was hoping if I got a good start and managed to bugger off at the front, I could have a crack at getting both Lap and Race records.

Next up was the Clubman's race and I was on the front row again, alongside Rob and Phil, and Bruce was in this one on the fifth row, and the way Bruce was going I knew he was going to be there or thereabouts. Got my usual poor start, and because of this thought that the chance of getting the race record had gone, but made my way up to 3rd by the time we got to the Bus Stop Chicane, as usual it was Phil and Rob in front, didn't know where Bruce was but knew he wouldn't be that far behind, so kept my head down and passed Rob into the Perimeter section, he kept a pretty tight line, but still managed to creep up his inside and make the move stick, Phil was a hundred or so yards ahead, but managed to reel him in and passed him into the first Crossover Chicane on the fourth lap, started to pull a bit of a lead and once I had it, eased off a bit and had a few looks behind to make sure I had enough of a cushion to be comfortable and had a steady ride to the end of the race, and finished.............1st. Had another look and saw that Bruce had grabbed 2nd, with Phil 3rd and Rob 4th. So had a bit of a favour done to me there, with Bruce taking some points off the others. Was a little disappointed to find that I was 0.1 of a second outside the lap record and only 4 seconds outside the race record, I didn't think I was anywhere near it, wished I'd tried a bit harder, I reckon I'm easily losing 3 or 4 seconds on the first lap because of my start and trying to get past people, but that's my own fault.

Next up was the second Centre Championship Race and was on the front row again, but before the race could start, there was an incident in the paddock and the ambulance had to attend, turns out that one of the competitors had a heart attack and had to be taken to hospital after treatment, and the rules state that at least two ambulances need to be at the meeting, so we all had to wait till it got back (rider making good progress).

Had a barby while we waited as my sister is a top cook, and everybody stuffed their fat faces. Was called back to the grid not long after and after the start I thought I had made a good one but it bogged down again, and got passed but made my way up to about eighth at the Bus Stop............going around Perimeter saw that there had been a coming together with Big H and Chris Palmer (turns out Palmer's throttle had stuck open....scary!) and both of them overshot.........goodie......up to 6th, passed someone to go 5th at the Long Runway and started to chase Nige Beattie, slipstreamed him and out braked him into the right hander at the first Crossover point, was well chuffed about that as it was the first time that I'd passed Nige in the dry, started to pull away from him and was beginning to reel in the R1's of Bruce Black and Gary Carswell........could smell another podium place and was really enjoying it and confident of catching and passing them both, was right behind Bruce at Nan's on the fourth lap and saw that Rob Alton had come off on the previous lap and was still at the side of the track.......knew that they would red flag it..... and they did............bollocks. So it was back to the start again........this time for 8 laps.

On the restart, same start again happened and noticed that Bruce was leading into Nan's, made my way up to 6th by the end of the first lap, was tailing Carswell and passed him at my favourite passing point, the right hander at
the first Crossover Chicane, set off after Nige who was lying fourth and tailed him for a couple of laps, we both reeled in Bruce and Nige got past him at the Bus Stop, I couldn't, so and I followed him down the back straight, going into Nan's decided on going down another gear to get better drive out of the corner, but some how managed to hit first gear, which locked up the rear wheel and sent me into a huge slide......it flicked right then left then right again, had to let go of the brakes at the same time as changing up into second, which took care of the slide but made me overshoot, came back on and was lucky that I didn't lose another place, got my head back down, but didn't re-catch him so got to the finish.........5th.

Next up was the Formula 600 Solos, and I decided on missing this one, the reasons for this are that I've not had much luck in these races so far (chain coming off, running out of petrol and crashing), can't afford to lose any more points in the Clubman's Championship, which was the next up, so sat this one out whilst also having a rest. Was well ready for the second Clubman's Race, on the front row again, with Rob and Phil....Bruce was on Row 3, but with the starts he was getting I knew he'd get a flyer............At the first corner it was Phil, Bruce, Rob, then me, couldn't get past Rob at the first attempt around Snuffies, so had to sit behind down the back straight, could see that Bruce had hit the front and was pulling away from us...........shite. Rob kept a tight line into the Perimeter section to try and stop me from diving up his inside, but did so anyway with not much room to spare, made the move stick and headed off after Phil, managed to get past Phil at the first Crossover Chicane on the third lap and reeled Bruce in and did exactly the same move on him a lap later, he was pretty fast around there himself but I knew I had to get past him as I had no chance on the straights...........caught up with a few back markers and thought that I'd got them between the two of us at the Bus Stop, but he managed to squeeze through, made sure I kept the same distance between us for the next lap and got to the line ...............1st again......nice one.

Really enjoyed that one, had no hairy moments and it was a nice close steady race. Rob got 3rd this time with Phil in 4th. Was outside the lap record again, but nabbed the race record, so that was a bonus, also extended my lead a little at the top. The others have also upped their pace as well, all four of us being faster than we had been before - which makes for some close racing.

Decided on doing the second Formula 600 race and not bothering with the Champion of Champions races, as I felt like five was enough. Was on the second row for this one and got the corner about 5th but made a move and got 4th straight away.........was tailing Nige, Milky and Dedman and was getting towed along with them for about four laps until I made a couple of errors and started to lose touch. Had a quick look behind and saw that I had a huge cushion, (but hadn't noticed that Rob Sells was on the side that I wasn't looking). Didn't want to push my luck and knew that 4th place would be the best result I was going to get so eased off. On the last lap, going into the Bus Stop, Rob dived up my inside, and to be honest I was seriously considering closing the door on him and forcing him off, but I was that surprised at wondering where he had come from I didn't, was pretty confident of getting him back before the finish, until I missed a gear at Snuffies and he pulled a few yards on me, had to work hard to catch him but he got to the line 0.1 seconds ahead........take my hat off to him, he caught me napping and made it stick, but it's something else I've learned. He must have recorded his PB in that race, makes for an interesting Clubman's race next time around, it could be any one of four of us for the win......

Packed up after that and went and got my licence signed again (25th signature) I think I'll be safe with that amount now, but as they always say.....better to be safe than sorry. Not a bad day, apart from a few hairy moments, but you're gonna get them if you race, just glad I got this one out of the way and stayed on. Got a couple of 1sts, two 5ths and a 6th.........a race record and a personal best lap, have to be pleased with that.

Next up is Jurby Airfield (clockwise) on what would have been Formula 1 race day (June 2nd).............should be a couple of ringers from across the water competing in this one, would be nice to get one of their scalps.

So, tune in next time for another very exciting, rear wheel steering, barbequeing episode of .....Tommy Clucas Racing.