Jurby Airfield , 24th June2001

Saturday - Clockwise

Picked up Seany Sean, as he was helping me again today and arrived at Jurby just after 9-30am.....there were a few already there so not the best spot in the paddock again. Had brought quite a bit of stuff up today as the barby was going down a storm and passed the time when you were hanging about, also brought up my new cheap plastic patio furniture, a whole set for under twenty quid from B&Q..........Bargain!

Unloaded, set the awning up, signed on, etc.... and the sun started to shine, looked like it was going to be a top day. The Scrutineer noticed that there was some brake fluid seeping out of the master cylinder at the banjo bolts.......found that the bolt had backed off and needed nipping up.........must have happened when I changed the handle bar last week......so spannered that up .......all ready to go for practice.

Had two practice sessions, first one managed six laps and four in the next one.....felt like I was all over the place, the only thing that the trip to Aintree did last week was dent my confidence, but I knew that I would settle down a bit come race time. Had quite a few people up to cheer me on, my step mum, Anne, making her debut....... Had two goals for the day today.........the first one was to win the first Clubman's Race and by doing that I would wrap up the Championship, so that in the next one I was going to have a go at the Lap and Race records......provided of course I had the first one out of the way..... the second goal was to finish as high as possible in the Centre Championship so that I could hold on to my fourth place and be the highest placed 600cc machine, which is really the best I could have hoped for.

The first race was called and again I was allocated a place on the front row of the grid, alongside Big H, Beattie, Milky, and Phil Kneen.....ten laps.........the flag dropped and I got a better start than I've been getting, but still lost a few places when the big bikes got into their stride, but I knew I'd make some back by being late on the brakes into the first crossover chicane.......a few people braked earlier than me and I shot up the field into the corner and saw Big H overshoot, all hell broke loose with Nige running into the back of him but managed to stay on, every one had to take avoiding action and there were bikes going in all directions, but thankfully there were no 'offs'.........put my hand in the air as I had to go off the track as well, but came back on in about ninth spot......got my head down and started to catch a couple in front of me, took a few attempts at getting past people and eventually made my way up to 6th and started reeling in Dedman and Carswell, Paul eventually got past Gary and started to pull away a bit, got past Gary myself only for him to come back past me on the straight, got past him again and the same again happened..... managed to get past him for the third time and made it stick and started to pull away a bit, could see Dedman about 100 yards ahead and every time I pulled a few yards back, he opened it up again, had a few slides coming out of Nans and onto the start/finish straight but put that down to the hot weather and my tyres overheating a bit, started to suffer again from arm pump, don't know why I keep holding on too tight and I definitely need to learn to relax more, this happened for the next few laps until the ninth lap, when somebody showed me their front wheel.......shite.....where did he come from, turns out it was Rob Hulley and it took him a few attempts till he barged his way through and started to pull away a bit.......could see he was catching Dedman and he did and got past him as well, thought......'bloody hell, he's going well', stayed in the position I was in till the end and ended up........... 6th. Would have settled for that before the start, but was hoping for better. Had a best lap of 1'00.9.......not bad, but I know I can go quicker. Need to be a bit smoother in places and there are other places I know that I could push it a bit more, I don't think that any of my laps are the same.........different lines, braking points etc, etc, but with more experience that will probably come and I should see another improvement. Knocking another second off your best lap time sounds like a piece of piss, but you won't believe how hard it is to do.

My next race was the Clubman's Race......8 laps...... the one I wanted to do well in, and on the front row again.......No Bruce Black in this one as he had told me that he didn't want to get in the way of us, so lined up with Rob, Phil and Dave Kinrade ...........after the flag dropped was fourth as we approached the corner.......went around the outside of Dave and chased Rob and Phil down the back straight........ ........decided that I wanted to hit the front sooner rather than later and dove up the inside of Rob at Snuffies and was right behind Phil into the Bus Stop Chicane, nearly ran into the back of Phil as he was taking it slower than I was going to, so had to stand on the brakes......got him straight away into Nans and got my head down and started to pull away, had quite an uneventful race and everything seemed to go to plan and started to lap people on the seventh lap and down the front straight weaved in and out of a few to get past and was really enjoying it........ going down the back straight, caught up with Carolyn Sells.......she was ahead of quite a few blokes and was riding really well, so gave her a little wave on the way past...........kept my head down and went on to take the chequered flag.................YES!!!!............... Championship wrapped up, was also told that I got the club lap record and the outright restricted race record........which belonged again to Juan Kinnish.........so had to phone him up afterwards to rub that one in.

Couldn't wait to get my leathers off as it was absolutely cooking.........the barby was going well again and everyone that had come up was stuffing their fat faces, bit gutted that I never feel hungry when I'm racing, but really starving afterwards. The next race up was the last Centre Championship race and now that the Clubman's was out of the way I could try and relax in this one........was on the front row again and got my best start of the day and by the first crossover chicane was up to fifth after some late braking........saw that it was Milky leading, followed by Big H, then Carswell then Nige on the Wilson and Collins ZXR750, then me, Nige was pulling away from me a bit on the back straight but caught him back up around Nans........pulled more yards on me on the front straight, but made them all back up on the brakes at the first crossover chicane and around Perimeter........reeled Gary in and we both got past him and pulled away a bit, tailed Nige for the next few laps and out braked him into the first crossover chicane after the finish line, he tried to take me back on the brakes at the long runway corner, but I closed the door on him by wiping his nose, so to speak......felt him hit my rear wheel, which knocked my bike sideways a bit.....turned round to see if he was okay, saw that he had stayed on so got my head down and he flew back past me on the back straight...........gets a little frustrating at times, busting your hump around the corners to be passed on the straights, 'but there ain't no substitute for cubes' as they say........made a few errors and let Nige get away a bit and after the back straight he was further ahead, decided not to push it any harder as I was already sliding all over the place and settled down in the position I was in.............I know that I start to go slower when I'm not dicing with anybody must be through lack of concentration, something I'm going to have to improve because I'm in danger of getting caught, stayed 4th for another couple of laps................then on the last lap on the brakes into the Bus Stop Chicane Rob Hulley hit me................he put a hole in my upper fairing.............because of the impact he put me way off line and I hit the kerb in the middle of the chicane and took off.....................Thought:'Shite, this is going to hurt'................landed on the grass on my front wheel but managed to stay upright.........Hulley ended up in the grass as well.......took it really steady and made my way back to the track, but was passed by Carswell and Madsen Mygdal before I managed it........... got back on the hard bit before Hulley and made it to the finish line.................... 6th. Was a little displeased to say the least, thought that it was a crazy move, he signalled to me on the cool down lap to say he was sorry.......and I guess that's racing...........he came to see me afterwards to apologise verbally.............I think I would have taken it differently had he taken me off. Was a little unhappy about the sixth place when fourth sounds so much better, felt that I was riding pretty well for the first 7 laps anyway, but as soon as I lost the tow I started to go backwards..........was upbeat that the guys that are behind me in the Centre Championship finished behind me in the race......so I kept my fourth place..........first 600cc machine, was well happy about that.

Missed the first Formula 600 race as I have done a couple of times before as the Clubman's race was after it and that was more important to me, watched the race with Gary Beattie and his son, Nigel was having a real ding dong with Milky.........On the last lap into Nans Milky was flying, came up on some back markers and dove up the inside of them..........said to Gary that I thought he was going in a bit hot, and then he lost the front and down he went...........he must have thought that Nige was right up his chuff , but he was in fact quite a few yards behind, Nige went on to take the win in a new race record, Milky had recorded a lap record on the fifth lap...... he was ok though after his spill.

Was pretty relaxed for the next Clubman's race.........6 laps........was on the front row again with the usual blokes and got a pretty good start again, seem to be getting the hang of it....... and not before time, wanted to hit the front as early as possible in this one and try for the 6 lap race record and Kinnish's outright Restricted Lap record.............was third into the Perimeter section and chased Sells and Bell-Scott up to Snuffies.......passed Rob going into the Bus Stop, didn't look like he was going to let me in, but blocked him a bit so he had to, because of this I took the Chicane slower than I wanted to and Phil had pulled a few yards, knew I wouldn't get him till we got to the first Crossover Chicane after the start/finish line......out braked him into there and put my head down, pulled a bit of a lead and was really enjoying it till after I completed the fourth lap............changed down to third gear for the first crossover chicane, accelerated down to the Perimeter section and then tried to change to second.........it wouldn't go in, rounded the corner and tried stamping on it........no joy........thought: 'Shit, better think of sommat'........tried speeding up and trying to change, then slowing down, trying it gently, then kicking the lever...........but it was having none of it...........admitted defeat and stuck my hand in the air to pull in........just at that moment Rob zoomed past, followed by Phil and a few seconds later Dave Kinrade..........was cursing my luck, but kept trying to change gear all the way round, it was stuck in third and the bike was revving its tits off, tried to keep it off the rev limiter as best I could, was thinking....'my poor bike, this is doing it no good'..........was about to pull in at the end of the fifth lap, but had a look behind before I did, and saw that I had a really huge gap....... Decided on trying to grab some extra points, so carried on for the sixth and final lap......... had one hand on my hip and looked behind me most of the way down the front straight, not much else to do really, saw the chasing pack coming out of the bottom chicane as I was at the top one........went round as fast as I could in the circumstances and tootled up the back straight........must have only managed 60-70mph on the straight and through snuffies saw them charging up the back straight........The Marshals were signalling to me as if to say....'what's wrong?'......I just shrugged my shoulders and carried on.......knew that after the Bus Stop and around Nans they wouldn't catch me as that is usually taken in the low gears anyway, so I just hoped that onto the start/finish straight I'd have enough of a gap............was approaching the chequered flag and they were gaining and gaining.......there was not much I could do, so held the bike at maximum revs in third gear and got to the line just before the chasing pack......... 0.2 seconds to be precise.............and ended up.........4th.......couldn't believe it, was worth doing after all, felt sorry for my bike after two laps in third gear, but was wanting to beat the shit out of it at the same time...........a load of the Marshal's gave me a round of applause on the cool down lap.......thanks boys. Rob won and got the six lap race record............. he also got the restricted club lap record that I had set in the previous race as well for good measure.... Got back to the paddock and switched the engine off........tried the gear selector and surprise surprise it went into the other gears......... Bloody Typical!!!........the top two scrutineers John Ridout and Ed Swain came to see me, they checked my bike over and could see nothing obviously wrong.........said it might be a piece of gear or other internal part that may have got jammed and when the motor stopped spinning it might have dropped out. Decided it wasn't worth the risk to ride it again in case it locked up while I was on it..........if that happened it could lock the back wheel up and wreck the engine and more importantly........me!.....I've bounced down the road enough times to know that I don't like it.........so I'll have to have the engine out and gearbox checked before I go on it again................better to be safe than sorry..... I was glad that it happened when it did and not before I confirmed my placings in both championships, would have been pretty hard to live with had it happened early on.

So packed up after that, with the help of Seany Sean, Geller, Ann and Donna and watched the rest of the races, its probably the only day at Jurby that its not been cold........

Had my entries accepted for the Manx Grand Prix..........Only hope it's on now.........I've got confirmed rides in the Senior Newcomers on the Monday, The Junior on the Wednesday and The Senior on the Friday.............not many Newcomers get that.....so well chuffed. Hope that I can fulfil my ambitions. Next up for me is either the MRO Championships at Oulton Park on the 14th July or the NEW ERA Superclub round at Snetterton on the 14th and 15th July, which one I'm doing will depend on entry acceptance...........and Snetterton is over 6 hours in the van - ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz. and I don't really fancy that.......... Then after that it's an extra airfield meeting at Jurby that the ARA have replaced the cancelled Jurby road race with .............That's if the bike is fixed that is............

So tune in for the next very exciting, gearbox sticking, baking hot, barbequing episode of....................Tommy Clucas Racing

(Isle of Man Clubman Champion 2001.......................yippee!)