Jurby Airfield - 31st March 2002

Easter Sunday 31st March 2002
Jurby Airfield - Anti Clockwise
Rounds 3 & 4

Was already awake when the phone rang, it was my mate Jon 'The Wad' Wade…… of Jon Wade Gardening Services (844668) phoning to check if I had put my clocks forward………… Couldn't believe that I had forgotten to do it………… deary me, what an idiot…… good job he checked up on me…… cheers Wad, I can always rely on you. Was a little disappointed that Geller couldn't make it today, as he is absolutely top help, this was the first time The Wad was helping me on his own, but he handled it a piece of piss as I knew he would.

Got to Jurby at around the same time as yesterday, the weather was decidedly dodgy, and it had forecast rain all day, although it was all wet, there was a stiff breeze drying the track and blowing the clouds away, and in the distance it didn't look bad at all…… these weather forecasters are complete shite…… (they probably failed their O Level road sweeping and got a job as a weather forecaster).

Me and The Wad put a bike each through scrutineering and then set the awning up again, would have been nice to have left it up, but did that last year and when we arrived, it was upside down……oops, so lesson learned from last year…… 'don't be a lazy bastard and take your awning with you.' Had forgotten to take my beacon yesterday, so had to fettle that with new batteries, then went and got my usual jobs done…… tyre pressures, etc, etc…… Big 'H' gave me some advice on the Ohlins suspension on my No 2 bike and setting up the ride height, etc…… Cheers for that H, I'd still be there now if you hadn't……… I'm still a muppet when it comes to bike set up.

Went out in the even-numbered practise session, did one lap as I had to pull in and switch on my lap timer beacon, then set off again…… only got two more laps in and it ended, hardly worth going out……… lap timer indicated a 1'05.06…… oops, I'd better get quicker than that. It was pretty hard trying to get your head round going the wrong way, and that coupled with the damp patches and the thought of worn rubber (I had kept the same set of tyres on that I had used yesterday)…… was going to see if it was okay, as the left hand side of the tyre was hardly used, but even so, I would have preferred to have had new ones on, had new ones fitted to wheels, but I wanted to keep them for Oulton Park tomorrow. Tried to keep as much heat in the them as possible by keeping the tyre warmers on for longer to warm up the rims, but it wasn't helping that the puddles in the paddock were trying to keep them cool again……… not too handy that.

My first race of the day was, again, Race 1, the 1300 Open Centre Championship round 3, 10 laps and I was on the front row……… the flag dropped and I got a crap start, after two corners the red flags came out, was wondering who had come off this time, but as it turned out no one had, there was a few who jumped the start, so we had to endure a bollocking on the grid…… rightly so as well, if they were allowed to get away with that, I'd be left even further behind at the beginning!…… The restart was not much better, all the bigger bikes have more grunt and I was 7th by the first chicane, went quickly to 5th and was behind Phil Bell Scott on his Suzuki 750, with Bruce in 3rd (Yamaha R1) then Dedman (R1) and Chris Heath leading again (R1)…… don't really know why, but was struggling a bit and found it hard to get past Phil, the engine work he's had done has definitely improved the speed of his bike because he was just slightly pulling away from me on the straights, going into Nan's on the third lap, Bruce lost the front of his R1 and crashed, he looked ok as he got up, so inherited 4th place, still behind Phil though, managed to out brake him into the first chicane after the fourth lap to go 3rd again, but was still finding it difficult, was also suffering from arm pump again, no matter what I've tried to combat this nothing works till after the race when I've done some stretches, a little bit worrying that, I can't pull in for a rest after one lap at the Manx GP……… anyway, watched as the front two disappeared before my eyes, struggled to the end, but made sure I held a 3 second or so cushion whilst doing so, and recorded my third 3rd place in three races, so was happy with that, but not with my performance, my fastest lap had been 1'01'67 which was way off the pace, and it was definitely down to me as it hadn't slowed either Heath or Dedman down who had been lapping at the same times as yesterday…… in the 58's and 59's……… I was riding like an old woman.

Next up was Race 6, the Formula 600 Championship round 3, 8 laps, and on the front row again……… the flag dropped and I was 3rd into the chicane behind Norman and ex British 125 Champion Chris Palmer, who got off to a blinder…… tailed them both into the Bus Stop and approaching Snuffies flat out in fourth, stuck it up the inside of Norman, I don't think he liked it very much as it looked to me he wasn't going to have any of it and we nearly touched, but as I had the inside line, it was him that would have bounced on to the grass, he was on the rough bit by the grass anyway, give him his dues he tried to come right back at me and never shut off, but I got better drive and managed to pass Palmer half way down the back straight to hit the front, wanted to pull a gap and did so and had a pretty comfortable lead, I was still only lapping in the 1'01's and 1'02's which is nice if you can get away with it…… crossing the line on about the 7th lap had a look behind and could make out a blue bike in 2nd, and as Kneen and Palmer were on white ones, I guessed it must be Sellsy who had made his way up through the field…… upped the pace a tad to hold the gap and went on to win again……… great. Norman had managed to get past Palmer as well to nick third.

Next up was race 9, Centre Championship round 4, 10 laps, front row, again thought that I had the start sussed, but lost drive when the front started to lift again, and Dowling came past me one side and Kneen on the other, they were pretty close to each other, but I still went in between them, I was a bit concerned that we were going to touch, and to be honest I'm amazed we didn't, gripped onto the bars that tight to make sure I could hold it if we did, but got through and was 8th at the first chicane…… made up a place at the Bus stop and some more on the brakes into the Perimeter section, Phil Bell Scott was next and got him into the crossover chicane and then I could see Gary Carswell in 3rd…… got him on the anchors into the Perimeter and started to pull away………… surprise, surprise, it was Mark Mann's two R1's at the front with Heath leading Dedman, they weren't pulling away that much, but I knew I was never going to make it up so settled in the position I was in, had a bit of a slide at Nan's and because of the gap I had decided on knocking it off a bit and according to my lap timer was lapping a full second slower than I had been doing, its amazing to think of the extra concentration required to lap a mere second quicker, because I had knocked it off a bit I had time to spot sports reporter John Watterson at the hairpin, so for the next three laps I tried a spot of posing hoping he'd get me on camera, Ho Ho Ho…… had my knee down, I hope he got that……still had about a seven second cushion and it was another lonely ride in 3rd…… I had recorded my fastest lap of the day at 1'00.26 which was still considerably slower than yesterday, but I had still grabbed 3rd, so it didn't really matter………… pretty pleased to have recorded four 3rd places, which I still felt were like wins, its not realistic to think that with my experience I'm going to beat Heath and Dedman on those ultra quick bikes on my 600…… but it's a good excuse if nothing else!

My last race for the day was my fourth Formula 600 race, (round 4), 6 laps, this time Sellsy was on the front row after being given some crap grid positions all day, God knows why, we were joined by Norman again and Chris Dowling…… was 4th into the corner, Rob had got a flier and was off like a scalded cat, managed to get past Dowling on the drive to the Bus Stop, and was stuck behind Norman, whilst watching Sellsy getting away, had to make another ballsy move at Snuffies to get past and chased Rob down the back straight about 150 yards behind…… Well at least it was a race, was impressed with how quick his bike was, but was getting good drive out of the corners and starting the second lap was catching him, was lining up a move on the brakes into the first crossover chicane, only I wasn't going to use any, he went into it faster than I thought he was going to so stuck in behind him, although when he flicked left and changed down for Nans I nearly ran into the back of him…… thought that at one stage I was going off the track to avoid a collision, but he tipped into the corner which gave me a place to go, albeit a wide line, was thinking of having another bite at him as we approached the Bus Stop, as he had done it to me when he caught me napping last year, but thought there was plenty of time left and tucked in behind…… he was just as fast as me around Snuffies, but I decided on an anchors jobby at the Perimeter section…… no matter what.

We went past the 200 metre board and he must have known I was there, because he had left it as late as I normally would, but I was committed to making the move and went up the inside of him, the bike protested a bit, and the back end was snaking, but held it okay and started to pull away, had a bit of a slide at Nans on the bump that is there when the front end skipped a bit, thought that the tyres must be well knackered by now so settled down a bit and knocked at least a second a lap off to be safe, still didn't stop me from having a scare on the last lap……… went to change down from sixth on the back straight into the left hand Perimeter section and hit a false neutral……… bollocks……… tried to stamp it into 5th and all I got was crrrruuunnchhhh………tried about three times……same thing, straightened the bike up and braked really hard, felt the back wheel lifting off the deck, so no option for it, tried changing back to 6th, and it went in at the second attempt, then quickly back down three gears to third ……… didn't need that on the last lap……… if I hadn't the gap that I had, I'm sure he would have had me, had a quick look but still had three or four seconds, so took it really steady to the flag and recorded win number 4……… well pleased. On the cool down half lap, I shot all the way round back to the start to pick up my lap timer beacon, need to take it with me for tomorrow, then went back to the van and got all packed up. Was keeping my fingers crossed that I wasn't going to spoil a great weekend by jumping off tomorrow, it's been a good one so far…

Headed home to get packed and showered up for the 2130 hours ferry to Liverpool, as I'm competing in round 3 of the MRO National Cup at Oulton Park tomorrow, a busy time and no mistake……… was supposed to be going with Nigel Beattie, but as it turned out, was just going with my Team Manager, Chris. Was starting to stiffen up a little, and that ol' shoulder was giving me a bit of Jip…… not good.

We set off in the M.Benz from Peel to Douglas at around 2015 hours, and when we arrived the boat was delayed………… just great. We eventually got underway and it was pretty rough, getting better at this sailing lark, so wasn't really bothered, till I went to the bog and there was puke everywhere………… yyyuukkkkk. Got my head down under a table and managed an hour's kip, was surprised at that because I'm usually such a light sleeper and there was loads of kids on board making loads of noise……… I must have been knackered. Didn't get off the boat till gone 1am, so drove to Chester to find a B'n'B, tried a few and got one at the fourth attempt…… it was called the Devonia……… and if you ever want to go to Chester…… don't stay there……… fifty quid for three hours kip and no brekkie……… bargain.

Was that tired, and my head was still on race mode, couldn't switch off and go to sleep, but eventually did some time…… not the ideal preparation for a National race on the telly…… but that's the joys of racing………… whoopee dooo..

So, tune in tomorrow for another, fourth day on the trot, tyre chomping episode of ………… Tommy Clucas Racing.