The Italian Job
June saw the annual roadracing fest that is the Isle of Man TT take place, Malcolm Wheeler was there for the party.
Steve Plater on his way to victory in the Senior TT.
Although the racing was red hot all week, inevitably it was Italian MotoGP star Valentino Rossi, making his first visit to the Isle of Man, who was the name on everybody’s lips. Accompanied by fellow Italian legend, Giacomo Agostini, Rossi completed a lap of the 37.73 mile Mountain Circuit, on a R1 Yamaha alongside Ago on an MV, and was clearly excited at the experience. Afterwards Rossi pronounced, “You need two very big balls to go fast at the TT,” and described John McGuinness as a ‘gladiator’ as he presented the garlands
to the top three in the rain delayed
Superbike race.
John McGuinness
A nail biting thriller of a Senior TT was a fitting end to one of the best weeks of TT racing in years. In his usual fast starting action, pre-race favourite John McGuinness made his intentions known from the drop of the flag, and shattered the lap record from a standing start. HM Plant Honda team-mate Steve Plater pressed him hard and the pair gradually eased away from the field, with 23-year-old Manxman Connor Cummins, McAdoo Kawasaki, giving chase in third. McGuinness responded to Plater’s pressure and raised the ante even further, with a lap of over 131mph. But it wasn’t to be his day. With a relatively safe 18 second lead his chain snapped out on the course and his Senior race was run.
McGuinness was almost philosophical about his retirement: "To be as strong as I was in the race to have to retire due to a broken chain is devastating. I've won the Senior TT for the last four years and I was going all out to win again today for the fifth year running and know that I could have won. I felt I had everything in control and inch perfect and the bike was running like a dream. There's nothing else I can say other than I'm gutted for me and also the team and Honda, as it would have been magic to get another 1-2 Superbike race finish with Steve as we did last Monday, especially this year for Honda's 50th. But I'm pleased it was my team-mate on the top step of the rostrum and at least there's always next year."
Havier Beltran, the team manager was less philosophical: "For John to retire with a broken chain when he was putting in the most incredible performance and pulling away from the whole field like he was, is just so disappointing.” A similar fate befell the crowd's favourite Guy Martin, who lay in fourth position, as he accelerated away from his second pit stop. Lincolnshire’s Steve Plater continued on his way to victory at the end of the six gruelling laps, with Cummins second and a delighted Gary Johnson, who had picked up a 10 second stop box penalty, in third. Steve Plater said of his victory: "I really had it in my head to get a good result and I was all fired up, pushing hard on the out lap as Neil (Tuxworth) has been on at me all week for being an old lady on the first lap!"
Sadly, in the final race on the Mountain Course this year, veteran Manxman John Crellin lost his life when he crashed at the Mountain Box on the fifth lap of the Senior race. John, 58, was an experienced TT competitor who has competed in a number of TT races and Manx Grand Prix events. He was a civil engineer with the Department of Transport's Design Services division. The coroner has been informed and an investigation into the circumstances of the accident is under way.
With racing delayed from a wet and windy Saturday to a sun soaked Monday, McGuinness showed his hand with a dominant victory in the Superbike race, with lap and race records, to come home ahead of HM Plant Honda team-mate Steve Plater, and Hydrex Honda’s Guy Martin. Leg one of the Sidecar race followed and was won by Manxmen Dave Molyneux and Dan Sayle, his 14th TT victory.
Tuesday’s racing, postponed from Monday, produced identical rostrums in both the Super Sport race one and the Super Stock races with Yorkshireman Ian Hutchinson, Padgett Honda, on the top step in both, from Guy Martin and Scotland’s Keith Amor, making a Honda 1-2-3 in the company’s 50th year of TT racing.
A rain delayed programme on Wednesday produced a very different second Super Sport race; rain on the west part of the circuit delayed Wednesday's four-lap Supersport race by nearly four hours, adding to the pressure on competitors. When the riders eventually set off at 2pm the roads were still wet in places, as Q8Oils supported Ryan Farquhar explained: "It was really damp through Glen Helen and I had a few slides, one minute there was grip, the next there wasn't, so it was really tricky."
Farquhar took the chequered flag in seventh, with young Michael Dunlop, Yamaha, being the latest in the Dunlop dynasty to add his name to a TT trophy. Dunlop, who retired from the first Super Sport race after being fastest in practice, put on an impressive display, leading from flag to flag, in the tricky damp conditions. He was joined on the podium by Bruce Anstey, Relentless TAS Suzuki; the only bright spot in a dismal week for the Australian, and Connor Cummins, McAdoo Kawasaki.
Sidecar race two was black flagged after a horror crash involving pre-race favourites Nick Crowe and Mark Cox on the flat out run to Ballaugh. A hare darted from the hedgerow and jammed under the front mudguard, turning the outfit over at full speed. The outfit then caught fire. Both Crowe and Cox received major fractures, with Crowe, described as stable as MCM goes to press, being flown to England for specialist treatment.
Electric
There’s long been an electric railway on the Isle of Man and now there’s an electric race! The TTXGP, backed by the FIM, is the world's first zero carbon, clean emission Grand Prix. Held during the Isle of Man TT on the prestigious Mountain Course, the event gives us a glimpse of the future with cutting edge technology with an ultimate goal of providing alternative, greener transport.
This first for the TT, whispered away with just 14 starters, and after three changes of podium position after protests, was won by Rob Barber, in the Pro class. Pirelli shod Rob Barber led the electric TTXGP race on his Team AGNI X01 bike from the early stages and crossed the line, of the single lap race, in a time of 25min 53.5sec, a speed of 87.43mph coming within 1mph of the TT Ultra Lightweight lap record set by Ralph Bryans in 1966 with a speed of 86.49mph.
Barber commented: “It’s something special to make history around the TT course. I’m really pleased for Cedric Lynch (the creator of the winning machine). He really wanted to beat that 50cc record and we’ve done it. The machine raced well, although it just started to splutter along the Glencrutchery Road.”
The Pirelli race compound Diablo Supercorsa tyres used by Rob Barber on his Team AGNI X01 electric bike are the same tyres the general public and track day riders can buy over the counter at any Pirelli dealership.
Chris Heath finally got to stand on the top step of the podium, long after the grandstand had emptied, to be pronounced winner of the Open class, at a sedate 66mph average.
Billown circuit
Run on the Billown circuit, through Castletown and Billabeg, on the final Saturday of TT week both the 125 and 250cc TT races were won by Ian Lougher, Honda, after the luckless Chris Palmer retired when looking like a possible winner. Palmer dominated the second leg of the 125 race, but it wasn’t enough to take victory from second place Lougher with the races being decided on aggregate.
Bushy's beer tent
In the evenings of the TT fortnight the Loch Promenade in Douglas normally comes alive with some of the best Manx ale and live music. Visitors, racers and locals can enjoy a once a year meeting place with great atmosphere in Bushy’s famous beer tent. It was a bit scaled down this year and got a thumbs down from local brewery Bushy’s; it claimed up to a 70 per cent drop in takings.
Next year’s Isle of Man TT fortnight will kick off on 29 May 2010. www.iomtt.com
Photographs Honda, Julie and Malc Wheeler
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