For the first time in the Isle of Man TT Race’s 105-year history, the event’s Senior race was cancelled – but race organisers say poor weather conditions left them with no alternative.
The Senior, along with the new Supertwins race, was rescheduled from Friday to Saturday because of heavy rain.
But as roads remained open on Saturday and marshals and spectators waited hopes of seeing a full race programme faded.
Finally at 6.30pm the Supertwins race ran over three rather than four laps in still poor conditions and the Senior was abandoned.
Gary Thompson, who took over this year as clerk of the course having previously served as deputy, said:
‘It was the worst we’ve had for a number of years, but you can only go with the conditions you have got at the time and make sure decisions are properly communicated to riders and marshals.
‘It’s disappointing not to run it but there were no serious injuries or fatalities [during racing] and that can only be good for the event.’
He added an inspection of the course with top riders including Ian Lougher and Conor Cummins found lengthy wet sections on the mountain.
As the Supertwin 650cc bikes use treaded tyres and have lower power, that race went ahead but it was not feasible to run the 1,000cc Senior bikes, which use slick tyres.
The cancellation meant prize money went unclaimed and spectators waiting in the new grandstand seating areas around the Mountain Course were left disappointed.
Paul Phillips, TT and motorsport development manager for Department of Economic Development, said no decisions had yet been made on the Senior prize money, which totals just over £60,000. The winner receives £20,000 if they lead from start to finish.
One option was to pay nothing, another was to divide the total between competitors perhaps according to practice times, but this was governed by the sporting code of the Auto Cycle Union, the governing body for motorcycle sport, he said.
Costs of the cancellation, he added, such as lost grandstand ticket revenue, were minimal and were balanced against some savings like insurance costs for the event.
A spokesman for Duke Marketing, joint promoters of the grandstand tickets along with Regency Travel, said Senior race ticket holders could claim refunds using a form downloaded from the
http://www.iomtt.com website, which should be completed and returned along with the unused tickets.
Discussion threads on the TT website expressed differing views with one branding the cancellation ‘outrageous’.
But former travelling marshal John Mcbride posted: ‘It probably isn’t right to ask someone to ride a modern superbike around here competitively on wet roads.’
• In the interests of accuracy, we should point out the only years the Senior has not run since the first TT Races were held in 1907, were as a result of the First and Second World Wars and in 2001, when the entire event was cancelled due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak in the UK.
Article by John Turner & the Photograph by Mike Wade
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