Jurby Airfield - 29th & 30th March 2002

Good Friday, 29th March
Duke Track Day

Had the van all loaded on the Thursday night, with the two bikes, minimum amount of kit and no awning……… waited to see what the weather was going to do before I decided for sure on doing it, the whole point was to try my number two bike in the dry…… Had talked my mate Scotty Boy into doing the track day as well on his Yamaha R6, as I'm fed up with hearing how fast he is in a straight line……… well Jurby has two big straights so I wanted to see it for meself……

Got to Jurby at about 0920 and there was quite a few already there……… so was Scotty Boy, as white as a sheet……… trying to come up with an excuse good enough for not doing it, he was scared to death of falling off……… calmed him down a bit after telling him he wasn't racing……… it's just a track day for Christ's sake……… The sun was shining and there was only a slight breeze, one of the nicest days on the airfield that I can remember……… Strapped my lap timer Beacon on to a cone on the main straight and warmed the bike up ready, had a set of second hand tyres that I'd used at Mallory fitted on the bike, but had brand spanking new ones fitted to No 1 bike……… but didn't want to be using that if at all possible. We both signed on for 5 sessions at the cost of sixty quid and went out on the track in the first group…… decided on wearing my new leathers, to see what they were like, and they were 'Bob On'…… Sam at Celtic Leathers had done another top job, even got a speed hump on these ones, he also had the set I had ruined at Mallory repaired and ready to go as well…… (cheers mate)……

Couldn't believe how flighty my No 2 bike was……… it was so razor sharp on the steering it was scary……… definitely not what I'm used to…… it also flapped its bars like mad on the bumpy surface……… pulled in after 5 laps…… best lap time was a 1'04.51…… which was pretty shite to be honest……… Scotty seemed to have enjoyed himself, he was raring to go for the next session……

Next session , went quicker and after 10 laps had to pull in because the temperature was going up, as I slowed Nigel Beattie whizzed past, the cheeky bugger was following me round, thought I saw him waiting in the pits…… the temperature by this time was 105C…… bollocks…… there was also steam bellowing out of it…… bollocks again, checked it over and found a hole in the radiator…… triple bollocks…… bloody Jurby. So that was that bike knackered for the rest of the day…… Checked the lap timer and I had managed to go quicker with a 1'02.3 which was still pretty crap considering, confirmed by Paul 'Big H' Hunt who told me so……

Didn't really want to, but took the No 1 bike out in the third session, to see if the it was ok, as I hadn't ridden it since I jumped off it at Mallory Park two weeks ago…… did 12 laps and then pulled in, brakes didn't feel as good as they were, but lapped in a near identical time with a 1'02.2, wanted to save my tyres for the weekend (and keep the mileage down)…… lent my lap timer to Scotty Boy for his fourth session, he wanted to see if he could up his pace, and he managed to go five seconds quicker with a 1'30.11…… said to him that was okay for his first go, and he'd do better next time…… he said he'd definitely be doing it again…… what a turn around! Packed up and went home to bleed the brakes on No 1 bike and change the radiator on Bike 2 (I had a spare standard one luckily enough). Got it all loaded back in the van at around 9pm.

Saturday 30th March
ARA Championship Rounds 1 & 2
Jurby Airfield - Clockwise

Got up at 8am, phoned both Seany Sean and Geller to make sure they were up, as they were my help for the day, was really glad to have two of the boys helping me, but, got a call from Sean's Girlfriend saying that she couldn't get him up…… that's what happens I suppose after 12 hours on the piss…… was pretty disappointed, if Geller hadn't agreed to come, I'd have been buggered.

Got to Jurby for 0920 again, and managed to squeeze in the paddock right at the front, closest to the track…… top spot. We put a bike each through scrutinnering, signed on then put the Awning up…… it hadn't given it such a good weekend, but it looked like it was going to be okay as there wasn't many clouds about, and the sun was about………There was plenty up and a few new faces, entering their first race, felt like a bit of a veteran compared to them, but had to remind myself that I had only been doing this 2 years myself…… Wanted to try and save my tyres as much as possible, so decided on only doing one practise session, although having two bikes I could have done two on each, but as you only get one session at club races across, wasn't too bothered. Lapped again in the 1'02's, but knew that I'd up the pace come race time. Had a few people come up to cheer me on and by now the sun was shining and it looked like the forecast was going to be wrong (again)……

Geller mentioned that I wasn't in the programme for the first race, The 1300 Open Centre Championship, good job I went to check as I wasn't in it, I said I had entered it and when they checked my entries they admitted it was their mistake…… close one, would have got to the holding area and would have been turned away, or at best been at the back of the grid…… but as it turned out I was on the front row…… had two warm up laps and the grid reformed ready for the 10 lapper……… the flag went down and we were off…… was about fifth by the first corner, but managed to force myself up to third, and down the back straight, could see that it was Paul Dedman leading on one of Mark Mann's V&M tuned R1 Yamaha's, with Bruce Black in second on his ex Jason Griffiths R1…… was wondering where Chris Heath was on the other Mann R1 and was expecting him to come past me down the back straight, but he never…… Bruce had quite a few yards on me as we entered the second lap, but I was riding as hard as I ever have to catch him, had the thing snaking on the brakes, sliding on the corners and crossing up coming out of the chicanes as I was getting the power on that early and hard it was lofting the front wheel onto the start/finish straight as I was trying to change direction, all of which wasn't doing my damaged shoulder any good…… and I was gripping on that tight, could feel my arms pumping up……… not again……… (it always seems to happen in the first race, and after I do some stretches its ok for the rest of the day……… doesn't seem to work after practise though……) by the time we got to Nan's on the second lap, I was right on Bruce's rear wheel, was well impressed by the way he was riding, and with Dedman, who was starting to pull a gap, had a bite at Bruce into the first crossover chicane, and could have made it stick, but it would have been dodgy, I didn't want to have him off, and I definitely didn't want to come off either, so tucked in behind him again, and thought about it at every corner…… he did pull away from me on the straights, but every corner I made it all back, and had the bike protesting like mad every time onto the start/finish straight when I was pulling along side only for him to pull away with the extra horses he had, but still could have out braked him into the first chicane…… if I wasn't injured I would have gone for it. Crossing the line to start the fifth lap, Heath came past me…… ok then I'll tuck in behind…… but his bike was way too fast and he's the quickest I've seen at Snuffies corner……… sat behind Bruce for most of the race and thought that I'd have to get past him before the last lap, so went for the move I'd been lining up the whole race, and got him on the brakes into the first chicane on the ninth lap…… knew that he would be on my tail for the rest of the race and on the last lap, used a back marker to my advantage, I dived up the inside of him, knowing Bruce wouldn't be able to and got to the line in 3rd place, with Bruce a few bike lengths behind…… best I could have hoped for…… Chris Heath had pipped Paul on the line to take the win and I was 9 seconds back in third…… got back into the pits and my arms were that pumped I couldn't take my gloves off myself…… struggled through that one after the first few laps……

Couldn't believe my eyes when I checked my lap timer…… I had done a '58.47 on the second lap, 59.46 on the third and 59.73 on the fourth, then I slowed as I started to struggle but they were still all in the 1'00's…… bloody hell…… that's pretty quick that, 0.7 seconds inside the 600 lap record……… quality…… was looking good for the 600 race.

Next race for me was race 6, the Formula 600 Championship round 1……8 laps…… was again on the front row, after the flag went down was third into the first chicane behind Nigel Beattie and Gary Carswell, got past Gary straight away and chased off up the back straight towards Snuffies after Nige…… caught him up and decided on sitting behind him for most of the race and then try and make a break for it on the last two laps, that was my cunning plan…… he was riding it pretty well, and I was really pleased he seemed to be getting to grips with the Kawasaki after all the problems he's had with it, although he's a lot smoother on the 250 Honda, he was having more than one bite at Snuffies every lap, bit too close to the cones for my liking, as if he had clipped one I was that close behind him it could have taken me off…… going up to the line to start lap 5, Nige had a look to see where I was, yep, I was there, but as he did so it scrubbed some of his speed off and I just drove past…… bollocks, my cunning plan in ruins…… oh well, a chance at leading, now to see if I could make it stick…… after another couple of laps, had a look myself and saw that Nige was still there but further back than I had been, but he nearly caught me napping as we went to the line and I only beat him by a couple of bike lengths, but still recorded my first IOM Formula 600 win……… yeee haaarrr. We both finished over 10 seconds clear of the third placed man, and had lapped in the 59's which was great again, and quite surprising at this time of year when the track temperature is not as good and therefore neither is the grip. Was a little disappointed to learn that we were only 2½ seconds outside the outright Formula 600 race record, if I'd known I would have been that close to it I would have tried harder, as after that first race, this one just seemed slower, but it wasn't really, I just wasn't suffering from arm pump like I was in the first one…… Was well chuffed, as long as I stayed on and the bike ran well, it was going to be interesting.

My next race was race 9, The 1300 Open Centre Championship Round 2, wasn't really looking forward to it, as I was busting my hump to get third, at best. It's like pissing against the wind trying to catch a really good rider (like Dedman and Heath) on seriously fast bikes, though mine is no slouch……… she's a beauty. Was on the front row again for this 10 lap race…… got a better start than normal, and when we got to the first chicane, Bruce tried to lean across my front wheel but I never let him, he couldn't make the corner then, so he had to straighten up and overshoot, chaos ensued, saw Beattie go off as well, by this time I was up to second behind Heath, and thought 'Yee Ha'…… but rounding Perimeter, the red flags came out so I stuck my hand in the air and slowed……… shite!…… So back to the start for another go, turned out Mik Stott had crashed at the hairpin…… On the restart, got a good one initially, but it wheelied and I lost places because of it……… damn! Was down to 7th at the first corner, but dove up the inside of Kneen, Beattie and Bell Scott to go 4th and chased off after Bruce again……… it wasn't a surprise to see Dedman and Heath at the front……… here we go again…… managed to get past Bruce quicker this time and pulled a 5 second gap on him, rounding the hairpin on the 4th lap, saw that the marshalls were wheeling Nige's bike away and there was loads of green scratch marks on the track, was hoping that he was okay, but had to get that off my mind and concentrate on what I was doing…… had a pretty lonely ride in 3rd, but seemed to be gaining on the front two, checked my lap timer for the next few laps, it wasn't me going quicker, it was them going slower and at the end was only 5 seconds down on Heath who got 2nd with Paul Dedman a further 2 seconds ahead in 1st. Had to be happy about that…… two 3rds. Had lapped pretty quickly again, with a fastest 59.48. Nige had high sided and was still in the ambulance when I went to see how he was, luckily he got away with just a sore elbow, he wasn't going to carry on, I called him a tart……… it would have evened up the pain with his elbow and my shoulder……

My last race of the day was race 14 The Formula 600 Championship round 2, only 6 laps this time, got a good start, but was still second into the first chicane behind Norman Kneen on his 250 Honda, he nearly had me when he wiped my nose, so to speak…… he had a rocket up his arse today and was another who was 'on it'…… gave him a taste of his own medicine when I went up his inside at the fast Perimeter section and started to bugger off at the front…… pulled a nice 5 second or so cushion and had a steady ride, glanced at the lap timer every lap and was consistantly doing 1'01's Nice to be able to dictate the pace if you can, I was really enjoying this one, mainly because it was slower and I had time to, and went on to take the chequered flag with Norman holding 2nd from a rapidly improving Rob Sells who was only ½ a second behind him…… it always takes Sellsy a few races to get into the groove.

So, had to be happy with all that, two thirds in the Centre Championship (which were like two wins to me) and two wins in the Formula 600 races, with a personal best lap thrown in to boot, and I still don't like right handers………

So, roll on tomorrow and tune in for another very exciting, personal best lapping, hopefully as sunny as today episode of…………… Tommy Clucas Racing.