Today was my day to watch the races from the main grandstand in Douglas. Unusually it wasn’t the sound of bikes heading for the mountain that woke me but the sound of rain. The downpour was obviously putting them off.
Candy did me a nice cooked brekkie of bacon, sausage, mushrooms, beans and poached eggs (that’s for you Cath), before I togged up in my waterproofs to take the drive over to Ramsey.
I set out and was surprised to see the mountain road was open, though indicating fog at the top, so I was finally going to get my chance to ride this part of the course. And what a chance. By this time the rain had stopped but the roads were empty. As I set off up the mountain, I passed one bike through the Waterworks. Out of the Gooseneck I powered up the hill, past a couple of cars, cranked it over through Guthrie’s and away I went. Incidentally, Cath had suggested I put a map on the blog page so people would know where I was talking about on the circuit. This I have done, so those who get the email blog entry, you’ll have to visit the blog page to see this. You’ll also, need to do that to view my pics, that I have finally managed, at great pain, to load up to flickr. Today’s will soon join the rest.
As I said the roads were empty. From Guthrie’s and all the way over the mountain to Creg Ny Baa, I probably only passed another 3 or 4 cars. With no other bikes hassling me I was able to pick my line through the bends and wobble my way slowly round the corners. It’s all very well being able to go fast, I got up to about 90mph on one stretch (no speed limit remember) but when you don’t really know how tight the corners are, you just have to err on the side of caution, else risk joining the sheep down the hillside. Even for me, those 8 or so miles, were over far too quickly. There is a certain buzz you get from riding on closed roads and I really enjoyed it. Had it been dry, all the crotch rocket nutters would have been out and no doubt spoilt the experience.
Anyway, I arrived in Douglas and parked up in a free bike park in Nobles Park. Just a short walk later and you are behind the grandstand. By this time the sun was out and it was quite warm. The news was though, that the Supersport race, scheduled for 10:45, had been put back one hour. I wandered about the paddock for a bit. There was Phil McCallen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_McCallen ) an 11 times TT winner and up until last year, the man who held the record for most wins in TT week (4). I took his photo and shook his hand. After my wander I sat on a seat by the race office, taking in the sun and the sights. Whilst I sat there, John McGuinness entered the office, then Michael Rutter and Martin Jessop were talking at the foot of the stairs, a few feet away. Steve Parrish wandered past, then Hector Neil and then, the ITV4 film crew decided that was where Craig Doyle was going to do a piece to camera. I’m sure I won’t be in shot though. There was an elderly lady next to me, who was keen to get a picture of Craigy but he was up and down, reciting his lines, so she couldn’t get a photo of him. Eventually though, he stopped right by us and a couple of young women had their photos taken with him. I suggested gran do the same. Craig duly obliged, giving her a big hug and I took the photo for her. One happy gran!
Before the race, there was to be a parade lap by some road racing stars and a test rider for Motor Cycle News(?). This is a regular feature now, where GP or Superbike stars, who don’t have such big cajones, come to do one lap on a standard road bike. Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo have done it recently. Don’t get me wrong, they are fantastic riders, Rossi probably the best ever but even they admire the TT regulars after having done a parade lap. Maybe it’s not the size of the balls but the shape!!
Today there was Ian Hutchinson, who set the new record for winning all 5 solo races last year, complete with metal cage on his left leg, following his accident in the 2010 World Supersport race at Silverstone. Then, Josh Brookes, the Aussie competing in British Superbikes; Cal Crutchlow, former World Supersport champion, now in MotoGP; Mick Doohan, an Aussie legend, 6 times 500cc/MotoGP World champion and Nicky Hayden, an American MotoGP rider and World champion. So quite a line-up. Oh, and the MCN bloke!
The parade lap was quite slow, Doohan and Hayden waving rather than riding, whilst Brookes and Crutchlow were swapping places over the mountain, so the Supersport race was delayed once again. With all this delay, the weather started to close in and we had a few spots of rain. Sufficient for me to put up my new 99p brolly. 3rd time up the material came away from one of the struts. I guess that’s why it is 99p. Mind you, a similar thing happened to one from M&S, so no point in paying more.
Though the road was dry at the start/finish, there were clearly going to be some damp/wet patches around the circuit. The bikes were brought to the line but even with the 1 minute board out, some of the riders were reluctant to get on their bikes. McGuinness was suggesting they should delay the start even more and/or put out the sidecars for their race. As it was, Nicky Hayden flagged them off on time. A lap and a bit later, almost exactly as Monday’s race, they red flagged it. Thankfully, this time it was just a precaution (I think) as it was starting to rain round the circuit and not because of a fatal crash.
Shortly after and with the rain coming down more steadily, the decision was taken to abandon the racing for the day. The hope being that the weather will be better tomorrow. I believe my grandstand ticket will be valid for tomorrow too, so I’ll get another chance to ride over the mountain. I might take the Gopro this time.
Back in Ramsey, the rain has now stopped and there’s some blue sky showing. Oh well! Till tomorrow.
