Kettering’s James McBride had a hugely successful TT, not only did he pull off a top ten finish in the prestigious Senior TT, a third place in the TT Zero race but he won the inaugural Privateers’ Championship.

As a privately funded rider McBride has put a huge amount of work into this year’s TT and that has paid off. His main sponsors Pazzo Racing and Downview Finance have stood by him for some time now and their dedication to McBride has helped him achieve these amazing results.

The successful TT week started with the PokerStars Superbike TT Race where McBride brought home his Stock Yamaha in 20th. He pulled off this result despite an unscheduled stop on the first lap at Creg-na-ba losing 25 secs. He missed a gear and over revved but stopped to make sure there wasn’t a problem with the machine. And from there on he nursed a broken gearbox all race long as fourth and fifth gear were jumping out. He was pleased to finish and score his first points with fifth place in the privateers’ championship.

After a day’s rest it was on to the Monster Energy Supersport TT race one and this is where the results really started. After a tough four laps of the 37.73mile pure road circuit McBride was running top twenty and finished 17th and fourth in class. He had a close call on lap two as he was running low on fuel on his Downview Finance R6, coasting into the pit lane and losing 14secs overall.

However he made the pits and was able to re-fuel and post all his best sectors on the remaining laps. He went low on fuel again on the final lap but this time crossing the line and claiming his second result so far and another TT replica as a prize. Knowing that the tank was a little small McBride planned ahead for the second Supersport race and borrowed a larger tank.

One of McBride’s best results tends to come from the Superstock race and the Royal London 360 Superstock TT was no exception with James finishing in 14th position and first in the privateers’ class. This result took him to the top of the privateers’ table at the half way point. He was trying a new rear spring and damping settings, plus a rebuilt Superstock engine so took he took the first lap steady but still posted a lap speed of 122.8mph.

He was happy with the new settings and led his class on the road. He also set his personal best lap time of 125.2mph on lap two into the pits. The fuel stop went incredibly well and the Pirelli tyres were wearing fantastically, he could easily extract four laps from the rear tyre. Lap four McBride posted three more personal best sectors and was happy with his Pazzo Racing Yamaha R1, nabbing posted another personal best of 18mins 00.62secs (125.695 mph). He also had the accolade of being first Yamaha over the line, all of this was achieved whilst running with a broken quick shifter from the start. This time round he earned his third replica of the week this time a silver.

Monster Energy Supersport TT race two ended with McBride in 21st, its wasn’t the result he had hoped for but still bagged him his fourth replica and a steady 11 points to add to his leading privateers’ championship tally. It was very windy on track and the steering damper decided not to work so it made for a difficult race aboard his Downview Finance R6. There unfortunately were a couple of crashes which affected McBride’s concentration and added to the tough race conditions. Nevertheless he was content to be still leading the privateers’ championship.

One of the more recent additions to the TT calendar is the TT Zero emissions race. McBride has been assisting the Team ManTTx with their machine development. All their hard work translated into a third place finish during only the second TT Zero race ever held. The team were still building the bike all through practice week and McBride’s first practice lap was to be on the Saturday after the superbike race but ended three miles in as the fly-by-wire throttle gave up. This added to the determination of the team to build a bike for the Monday practice lap that could achieve a full lap.

The Monday lap went ahead and McBride lapped at 80mph while learning the chassis and characteristics of the electric machine. For the race the team had made many improvements whilst on the dyno at Slick Bass’s and found some inactive battery cells and gave McBride more power. This equated to a 10 per cent improvement in lap speed as he beat Rob Barber’s lap record speed from 2009 and finished in a content third place with his first TT podium in the TT zero race picking up his fifth replica of the week.

The main event at the TT is the Dainese Senior race, it is the event to get a result in and McBride did just that bringing home his Pazzo Racing Yamaha R1 home in a spectacular 10th place. McBride knew a lot rested on the outcome of this race and so studied his competitors and how well they were doing earlier that week. He also was on a fully stock machine as opposed to a superbike so he had his work to do to keep other riders in his sights.

His homework paid off and he finished second in the privateers’ championship which was enough to secure the title by a clear ten points. He was the only rider in the privateers’ championship to score points in every race, reflecting well on the effort and preparation put in by the whole team. This gave him six race starts with six successful finishes resulting in a well deserved replica for each race. No other rider in the 2010 TT scored six finisher's replicas and McBride was first Yamaha home yet again.

McBride said:

“I’d like to thank my Man TTx team for supplying me with a bike which they had put body and soul into. As a ‘thanks’ to them I had the national Manx flag to wave on the podium as apart from me it was a fully Manx team.

“I wasn’t coming to make the numbers up when it came to the privateers’ championship. I’ve had a plan since it was launched and that was to use the North West 200 as a test. Then practice week was for slow development of both my bikes, I didn’t want to show my hand too soon and to stay under the radar. I knew I needed points in each race and that was what I was aiming for and it worked.

“I am very aware of the gruelling conditions that the TT mountain circuit has to offer and I treat each race as a test. It’s a test of the machine and the team, finishing a race is a big achievement, finishing without any breakages or problems is equally as tough, so to have my bikes finish every race they started only compliments the efforts and hours my team put in by not allowing a single fixing to go unnoticed. Yes we had some minor issues but it is part of my job to ride around the problem and bring the machines home for the chequered flag. It’s not just a race it’s an endurance test for teams and machines.

“I have to say a big thanks to all my sponsors and helpers as it wouldn’t have happened without them. Everyone worked really hard and didn’t finish until the job was done. The easiest part of the two weeks for me was riding the bikes to be honest, but the preparation was intense and soul burning. Early on everything was geared around evening practice sessions adjusting our body clocks to be at our best during that time. It was a massive effort from everyone – thank you.

“This has been a hugely successful TT winning seven trophies and a podium laurel in the TT Zero race. A winner’s trophy, two silvers replicas and four bronzes replicas of which I’ll be presenting to my dedicated team and sponsors."

Special thanks goes to – Roy Chambers of Downview Finance, Markus Selje of Pazzo Racing, Ian Carson of Speedycom, Emma from the Green Insurance company, Tim Royal OF Rock Oil, Trevor Hall of Spidi leathers, Colin Hill from Ape Accessories, Graham Banks of GB Racing (new sponsor who came on board at the TT supply engine covers) Gordon from the Vodka Team, Pirelli tyres, Paint FX, R&G Racing, and Double O Hospitality.

Not forgetting the team of Bruce Philips, Richard John, Shaun Pickering and a whistle stop visit by Richard Payne.

James will be back in action at the Southern 100 on the 12th – 15th July.