Manx Grand Prix - Newcomers Race: Monday 26th August 2002

Newcomers Race Day

As far as I had ever been concerned, today was the only reason I had ever started this lark in the first place…… all the racing I had done on circuits on the Island and all over the country had only really been to gain experience, along with my National Racing Licence for this moment…… The Manx Grand Prix Newcomers Race…… and that moment had arrived. I had been wrong in one respect though, I always envisaged that it would piss down, and 'rain on my parade' so to speak, but it was scorchio, the weather was blinding…… coooool. Had my brother Don over from Scotland, and he along with me sister Angie, were all dead nervous an that and the team weren't much better……… I think I was the calmest out of the lot. Had been at the paddock since 7-00am and had the bike through scrutineering, kit checked this time and it was all done and we just hung about waiting for the 10-15am start. Had a brief dummy run of the pit stop with my Pit Crew, The Wad, Ian, Nigel Beattie, and another Laxey Boy, Dasher…… everything seemed to be okay and the boys knew what had to be done. Had three pit boards lined up, John Bainborough (Stuey's dad) at Ballacraine, Geller at Ballaugh and another mate, Josser at Windy Corner…… Hoped that I'd see them okay. Got interviewed live on the Radio by Dave Moore and he asked what I was hoping for, I said that after the way my practice week had gone with all the breakdowns, I was hoping for a podium…… but I was really wanting to win it, but I knew it wasn't going to be easy.

Lined up on the Glencrutchery Road at about 10:05am an were all in number order waiting for the start, was a little nervous but not that much, just wanted to get on with it…… my major rivals were going to be Ray Porter from Ireland who topped the leader board with 114.34mph, a bloke called David Bell from the North East, a motocrosser who had done 112.02mph and another Geezer, Craig Atkinson, who I'd been yapping to all week who had done 110.83mph, I wasn't really worried about anyone else, although there were a few other fancied Irish Lads, Forristal, Quinn, McCrum and McCrea…… Watched as Porter went off like a scalded cat and it was soon my turn…… No 17 was a non starter, so it was 'Billy No Mates' off the line……… was absolutely flat out at the bottom of Bray Hill and had a couple of good wheelies and into the quarter Bridge could see the two that had started in front of me……… was on their ass by the time we got to Braddan Bridge and they held me up till we got to the Post Office in Union Mills……… got good drive and passed them both going up the Ballahutchin…… was thinking that they must be gutted getting caught already…… I know I would have been…… went into Ballagarey in 6th gear and got good drive all the way down into Crosby where I passed a couple more…… Got the thumbs up from John at Ballacraine, and passed a few more before I got to the Glen Helen commentary point, then caught sight of two more when I got onto the Cronk-y-Voddy, passed them just after Handley's……… Got my first pit board at Ballaugh when Geller swung out =1st……… cool, that's not bad with all the traffic I had…… I guessed Porter now had a clear road, Had an unexpected pit board at the Ginger Hall, don't know who by, but thanks to whoever it was, had my head down till I got to the Ramsey Hairpin, where I was now fourth on the road, and pretty much wobbled round there, the damp bit on the road definitely puts me off a bit…… had another pit board I wasn't expecting at Tower Bends and at windy Josser had =1st again…… so I was still doing okay, though I still felt that I could up the pace, but at the pace I was going I didn't feel like I was sticking my neck out, and I didn't really want to either…… second lap round I was still in fourth place on the road and had pulled clear, was wondering if I would catch the next bloke, which I reckoned would either be Quinn on the No 6 750 Suzuki or Forristal Riding at No 2……… but never saw either of them. Into Ballacraine for the second time saw John swinging out the board with P 2, -6, +18. so I had lost 6 seconds somewhere and had pulled an 18 second gap on the bloke in third which I thought was well handy…… started to struggle as I got to Kirk Michael, with what I had been dreading. Arm pump…… and it was really hard to use the clutch and change direction at speed…… at Ballaugh, Geller had out P2, -13…… and I knew I was letting him get away, but it was hard work trying to hold on to the thing…… People always tell you to relax, but you want to try it when the bike is jumping all over the place, the last thing you want to do is let go of the bugger…… Really struggled on the run to Ramsey and every time I rolled the throttle I thought ' there's a second gone' and when Josser swung my pit board out at Windy Corner it said P2,-28……… Bollocks…… had really let him get away, but there wasn't much I could do about it……… Was really a bit worried that I was not going to manage the other two laps, but kept my head down doing my best to relax, especially my grip on the bars and was taking deep breaths……knew this time round I would be pitting for fuel, and I was hoping that we had every scenario covered…… I had another helmet ready with rip off visors already on it, as well as a spare visor with rip offs on it and also just a rip off ready taped to go on the helmet I was wearing…… got to the stop box, stopped, put my foot down and carried on to my pit which was the fourth one along…… Forristal, (No2) was just leaving his so it gave me more room, would have been a bit tight if he had still been there…… decided that I just wanted the loose rip off taped to my helmet, so I ripped the fly splattered one off before I got there…… The Wad whipped the petrol cap open with the key and Nige started putting the fuel in…… shouted that I just wanted the single rip off…… but they couldn't find it…… I couldn't believe that they never had it ready, that's the first thing I would have done and if the rider didn't want it I would have lobbed it…… they were still looking for it and I shouted 'its in the f*cking box!'…… they looked again, and no joy…… I shouted 'for f*cks sake'……little did I know that Manx Radio all the while had a microphone on me and the whole Island heard it…… Got a big cheer when I swore, though I didn't know at the time……… by this time the petrol was up and I was eager to get away, Wad snapped the cap shut and was wiping the spillage away, I hit the starter button and zoomed off…… got my head down towards St Ninians crossroads and realized they hadn't cleaned the screen either……… Jesus! Got to the bottom of Bray Hill flat out at about 160mph and at the dip, as usual, the bike came up to meet me and I felt something stab into my chest…… had a look down and the key was still in the petrol cap!……… bloody hell!…… wheelied over Ago's Leap while pushing on the cap to make sure it was snapped shut, then I was wondering what to do with the key…… decided on throwing it to somebody…… Got to the Quarterbridge and went really wide to see if I could spot somebody and handily enough there was three Marshals standing together…… whipped the key out, threw it to them and shouted for them to look after it for me…… was hoping that they would, because it's the only key I've got. Got my head down and carried on. When I got to Ballacraine, John swung the pit board out and it said P2 -23 +31 so I had made up some time somewhere, but I still didn't want to ride out of my limits and scare myself…… so far I had been circulating steadily and smoothly and well within myself…… could have pushed a bit harder, but was wondering if Porter had anything else up his sleeve…… and would it be worth pushing it if he had, noticed that my arm pump had eased, must have been the rest I had got in the pits, or maybe it was because I was settling for the position I was in and hoped Porter would have some of the bad luck I had experienced all week and break down somewhere. The bike was holding together well, although I felt it could do with being a bit faster, as on the really fast bits, I was sure that I could be making seconds galore if it was…… this was the points that I was really missing my original No 1 bike…… sob sob…… but hopefully this one would get me to the finish. Was getting loads of waves from the crowd, and as it was a sunny Bank Holiday Monday there was quite a few out, you could feel them urging you on…… Caught up with the No 6 bike of one of the other Irish Lads, Liam Quinn on his 750cc Suzuki at Brandywell and he was holding me up, had to be a little cautious as I lined him up for a pass, because I didn't know which line he was going to take but decided that I had to get past and did so on the anchors into the Creg-ny-Baa Pub…… By this time I was now third on the road, was wondering where I was going to catch Forristal, but as he had started first, I might not as he had started 70 seconds ahead of me…… I haired down the long straights, wobbled round the slow bits and knew every time, that I could have gone round Cronk-y-Mona and Bedstead better…… was always tipping in too soon, and kept saying to myself, 'I won't do that next time'……… Flew through the speed trap at the Grandstand in fifth gear at 148mph, snicked it to 6th gear and headed off down Bray Hill for the last lap…… the flying lap is definitely loads faster than a standing start one, Mark Parrett told me afterwards that he was watching at the bottom of Bray with John McGuinness and it was only Porter and myself that were taking it absolutely flat out, but my line was better and I looked smoother, was is always nice to hear…… doesn't feel smooth when you do it…… its pretty crackers when you stop and think about it.

John swung my pit board out for the last time, and it indicated that I had lost 4 seconds on the guy behind, whom I assumed that it would be David Bell, who had been second fastest in practice, so that meant that I had lost 4 seconds being held up by Quinn…… upped the pace a tad and the next pit board was when Geller showed it at Ballaugh and it was back up to +31…… so I knew that I could get the cushion back if I needed to…… just kept going though…… Ballacry Jump was interesting every lap, as you don't know how the bike is going to react on landing, which makes you a little apprehensive…… Was getting even more waves from the crowd this lap, tried to wave back if I could. Started the climb up the Mountain for the last time and it felt like I could easily do another two laps as the arm pump I had been suffering from had vanished completely, and it was quite good fun…… got to the Gooseneck and as I tipped the bike in the front skidded, felt like it juddered, managed to save it, and went wide…………mmmmmmmmm that hadn't happened before, was wondering if my tyre was going off, but it couldn't be…… it had only done 3 ½ laps…… Slick had picked this point to watch and he texted me afterwards, saying that it slipped on the painted white line, just goes to show how a stupid thing like that could spoil your day…… kept my head down…… waved at the crowd when I got to Signpost, as they were waving like they had done every lap, got Bedstead wrong again and wobbled round Governers Bridge, don't like these slow hairpin type corners, and flew through the finish line…… lots of people where clapping as I rounded the big tree to get back up to the grandstand, but I was just looking for My team Manager, Chris…… and there he was…… stopped by the fence and shook his hand and thanked him…… it had cost both of us quite a few quid to get here, and now we'd done it. Started the bike back up and headed up the lane and was ushered into the Winners Enclosure…… saw that Porter was already there…… The Wad and Ian turned up and took the bike off me…… shook Porter by the hand and said well done…… My sister and brother were hanging over the fence and gave me a big hug, and were chuffed to bits, probably more relieved than anything, then I spoke to John Watterson and then was interviewed on the radio, again by Dave Moore, then in front of the TV camera's…… even signed an autograph, but my hands were still shaking a bit, so it didn't really look like my writing……… was chuffed to finish, but a bit deflated that it had been second, although only 13.8 seconds down on the winner at the end…… was really pleased that the bike had held together and I had a race average of 112.11mph, which was pretty good too…… think that was the 3rd fastest Newcomers race time in Manx GP history (Porter 1st at 112.43mph. then Seamus Greene in 2000 at 112.21mph) Was well pleased that my mate Kelvin had timed me from Ballaspur to Ballaspur between lap 3 and 4 at 19 minutes 41 seconds (115mph), although officially from Grandstand to Grandstand it was 19' 54 (113.7mph) so was happy with that……… wondered how I would have gone on my No 1 bike. Went on the podium and got loads of pictures taken…… My bike was taken by the scrutineers and was supposed to have the cylinder head taken off it and measured, but as I was racing it on Wednesday, they sealed it instead so it can't be tampered with…… Can't understand this at all, as I had raced in the open class which has a limit of 750cc and mine is only a 600cc, even if it was a 640cc or similar, it would be fine, so I can't see the logical reason why the would do it…… and it pisses me off that its at my expense.

Anyway, afterwards packed the van up and went to the beer tent for a few orange juices and sat in the sun for a while…… was bloody knackered.
Next up is the Junior on Wednesday followed by the Senior on Friday…… but at the moment I didn't want to think about it.

So, tune in for another very exciting, podium placing episode of…………… Tommy Clucas Racing.