Tuesday 2nd ,Race Day
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Well this is it the day that has been on my to do list for over 22 years. As the current ACU sprint champion I first visited the Island in 1993 with my bike the Kursaal Flyer to compete in both the Ramsey Sprints during TT week. While here like 99% of the visitors to the island I drove around the course and loved it so much I wanted to return to race around it on closed roads. But I found out I was unable to do this as I was to told, I was to old at 42
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( what a very silly rule, that's my politically correct way of putting it ).
It was not till 2010 that I found out that the ageist rule had been changed and I was now young enough . I set about getting my national licence back that I had let lapse from the mid nineties, I had problems with this because my racing roots are in scooters so on my return to racing I chose to race one, I won my class in my return year applied for the upgrade but then found out that scooters and bikes are not the same any more and all that was upgraded was the scooter licence . I disagreed with this so much that I appealed the the ACU committee to get the upgraded . I think I actually put a very strong case together but their reply was rules are rules you need to get the upgrade on a bike. I did what was required and with hind sight I might have chosen an easier more reliable class to get the upgrades from, but I got what was required and the rest of story is contained within the ramblings of this thread. Bottom line here I am its my race day at the Manx Grand Prix.
At this stage I am anxious rather than nervous, since I have been on the Island apart from the weather everything has gone really well bike wise, but I do need to have to have a good look around to see if I can find a reason for the sticking throttle from last night. The function of the cable and the butterflies seem fine but everything is lubricated to be sure , but inspection of the slides finds one that is a lot slower returning to the closed position than the others and the cause of this is traced to an alien part blocking a small air return hole in the bottom of the slide.Everything is checked and I am happy the bike is good to go.
The weather is good around where we are in Douglas but there are problems with heavy showers in other parts of the Island and this causes a delay in the race start time. Eventually the call comes to go up for technical inspection and she passes through this with problems. Then off to the holding pen where I am directed to put my bike ready for the call to line up on Glencrutchery Road. The tyre warmers are on, the bike looking good, its sunny lets get ready to have some fun.
Its been announced that due to the delay our race has been reduced to three laps instead of four. This gives us something to think about and soon realised that if we are going to get a flying lap in we need to pit for fuel at the end of the first lap not the second as we had originally intended with the four lap race.
We are allowed to fill our refuel tank before the race starts so when the pit lane opens we go down there find my pit position which is quite close to the other end of pit lane, we fill the tank bleed it through and I check that they ( that's the pit crew ) are happy with how this is all going to work when I come in. We set up our pit area acting on good advice from a seasoned crew member. When I pit its going to be be performed with precision military discipline or they will be up in front of the commandant, me ! I have not spent my life savings on these fire proof suits to be mucked about
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Nice thing about doing this before the race is that it is acting as a distraction to stop me thinking to much about the race itself , my mental approach to this is different to my other races but even with the distraction of the pit lane I feel different the butterflies are building the clock is ticking down to zero hour for the first rider to get away then 12 minutes and 10 seconds later it will be my turn.
All I want now is to see the flag drop get away and then three laps later see that beautiful Chequered flag. Around seventy newcomers turned up for this year Manx with much the same thoughts in mind, one sadly lost his life, my friend is in hospital battered and broken after hitting Sulby Bridge and he has other riders for company in his ward , sobering thoughts but will it change my mind ,will it make me stand down, will it alter the way I ride the course , is it fair to leave my family in the pits and stands . Ive come this far, life would not be complete without the next step the race itself