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Saturday, 20th May 2000 Arrived at Jurby, signed on, went through scrutineering and - yep, you guessed it - it rained again. I'm a Jonah, me!Practice was wet, went out at the back with Paddy Martin and followed him round as we had agreed, to help me learn the course. Wasn't much fun, his bike kicked up that much shite, I couldn't see where I was going. Spotted my sister, Angela, at Cronk Corner, so I gave her a little wave, thinking she must be soaked. Down the long straight there were puddles everywhere, the back end was spinning in a straight line on the pipe. Still running my Dragon Evos, can't wait to get those bastards off. I thought they'd be OK for the Jurby road though - a grippy ol' circuit an' all. Anyway, was on the 2nd row of the grid, just behind Paul Hunt (his first race in a year) and it had dried up quite nicely. Got a good start and was up to third place. Milky passed me going into the Paddock section before the pillbox and buggered off into the distance. I held onto fourth for a couple of laps before, firstly, suffering badly from arm pump, I started to find it difficult to hold on as I was gripping that tightly, but it's easy to say relax when it's jumping around. Then, it nearly high-sided me at Killane which slowed me a tad, to say the least. The two riders behind me must thought - "shit!" I lost concentration after that and, overshot a few corners and hit neutral twice, not a clever thing to do.... ...and no mistake. I tried to have a rest and loosen up my arms by holding on with my knees going down the fast bits, but once your arms are pumped you're knacked! Held on to ninth place, I think. I have to be happy with that for my first attempt, I know I can do loads better though. Hopefully that'll come with experience. I was braking far too early on some corners, usually after I'd nearly overshot the previous one, and then had to power on again. Took the wrong line a few times too, but this should also improve the more I do it. I was noticeably slower through Killane after my near miss too. Before the second race I asked Rob Colvin, who had gone well in the 600 race, what the conditions were like. He told me that it was near-perfect apart from some oil on the fast left hand kink at the end of the long straight, and some damp patches at the same place - he said that they could be avoided by taking the racing line. So, fired up, damper adjusted a notch, tyre pressure up a couple of psi, I was on the grid for the second race. Flag down, we're off, up to second - going well. As I was approaching the left hand kink I thought I'd have a look for the oil slick, so I rolled back the throttle a smidge. That was enough for Big H to dive up my inside and push me wide, straight into the oil - oops - the back end started to slide, "not at this speed" I thought. Must have been doing around 150 - 160 mph, it straightened up quickly enough, but slowed me down a bit. Milky shot past me again and so did a few others after I overshot again. Settled myself down a bit and had a steady ride in about 10th. Had a good dice with Chris Dowling on his 400, he passed me every lap at Killane, but I was going steady through there after my first lap mishap, but kept passing him on the fast bits. He must have been going through the corners to catch me. I fancy a go on those 400s, they look like a laugh. The R1 is a bit of a handful for a muppet like me. Anyway, on the last corner of the last lap I hit neutral again and went wide, lost two places to finish 12th. Did a big wheelie over the line. I wish the bike had sorted suspension, sticky tyres, etc., but I'll need to get me a Sugar Mummy to afford those things. Next up are Mallory park on 28th May and Darley Moor on 29th May for the ACU Star Championship. I'm going with Juan (who's leading it, by the way) and Graham again. I've got me sticky Dunlops on for that weekend and will hopefully have stainless steel brake hoses and racing pads on. One little bit at a time. Tune in soon for the next exciting episode of..... ...Tommy Clucas Racing! Results: Event 1 - 1300cc Solo Centre Championship
(6 laps) - 9th place Jurby South Road, Isle of Man. Circuit Length: 4.25 miles.
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Copyright © 2000, 2001 Tommy Clucas Racing.
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