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MY FIRST EVER RACE MEETING SICK of watching everybody else doing
it I decided, (and with my mates nagging me to do it) to convert my
road going R1 Yamaha to a race bike. Leaving
it totally bog standard in doing so, I changed the fairings, screen, seat unit,
tyres, put on Ohlins 916 style steering damper and a Micron oval carbon exhaust
(that was on already!). To
start racing, I had to join the A.C.U. (Auto Cycle Union) and the A.R.A.
(Andreas Racing Association Ltd), this sounds straightforward but there’s more to
it. Had to modify my bike in
accordance to the regulations in the ACU Handbook, then send entry fees to the
secretary of the meeting to enter my first race.
Many thanks are due to Chris Preston for keeping his word and paying for
the entry fees for my first meeting. I
decided to have my bike in the colours of Q & G Builders Ltd (07624 496752)
as its owners, one of who is Mr. Kevin Quayle, were my first sponsors.
(Quayla also being my best mate had absolutely nothing to do with it,
fnar! fnar!). You
have to do a race meeting to get a signature, which goes on your licence.
You could come last in one race or win ten races…. all you would get is
one signature, 1 per meeting, not 1 per race.
I have to get ten signatures at three
different tracks to lose my orange novice jacket…. Then you get upgraded to
Clubman. Then
you have to get ten more signatures at four different tracks to get a National Licence, only trouble
is you have to finish in the top fifty percent of finishers.
So, a minimum of twenty
race meetings are required to get a National Licence, which I will need to get
to qualify for the Manx Grand Prix, which is why I’m doing it.
(I say a minimum of twenty meetings, because if you don’t finish for
whatever reason, you don’t get a signature.) I
went to bed early-ish on the Saturday night because of the early start on
Sunday morning… Woke
up Sunday morning, absolutely gutted to see that it had been raining, the roads
were damp and the forecast wasn’t good. Started
to feel a little anxious, because I don’t do rain…….. I’ve always been a
fair weather biker, but still I had to go to get a signature. Jurby
Airfield 2nd April 2000 Arrived
at Jurby with another of my best pals Sean “Seany Sean” Kelly on Sunday
morning at 8.30 am, in a big (and I mean big) Mercedes van (thanks to Ged
Dickinson at Total Oils 844000……. for the van).
There are two man made things you can see from outer space ………. one
is the Great Wall of China…… the other is Total Oils’ Mercedes van!!! I
had to get to Jurby that early, because I had been picked to help set up the
course (I couldn’t believe that I had been picked to do that at my first
meeting!). Still, I’ve had my
turn……everyone else’s turn next, no exceptions. We
parked the van in the Paddock and went over to the race office to sign on.
Any hopes I had of the weather clearing up were dashed when it started to
piss with rain. Signed on and got a
programme and a scrutineering card with my number on it…… mine being number 86.
Then back to the van, to get the bike out to go to the scrutineering.
Queued up like everyone else, then it was my turn, had my fingers crossed
that I’d done everything right…..bike passed okay….only picked me up on
one thing. The footrest hanger that
holds the exhaust on still had the foot peg attached, so I whipped that off. Practice
Queued
up in the holding area, then they let us out to have a practice, it was pissing
down…. and to my horror it was clockwise around the course…..not only do I
not do rain……..I don’t like right hand corners, so I thought……. ‘it
can’t get any worse, surely’, (how wrong could I be!). So…….
first lap of practice and I took it really steady, anybody watching might have
thought I had stabilisers on…. but I was getting a little faster every lap.
I had a major problem with my visor steaming up and my eyes were watering
like mad, wetting the inside of my visor. The
spray from the other bikes wasn’t helping much either, so after the first
practice session….. I wasn’t fancying it at all.
Still,………I had a plan. I
was parked in the paddock next to Peter “Hound Dog” Hounsell he gave me a
few tips about the tyre pressures, etc. and tried to sort out my visor problem
for me, which did help…… thanks Pete! Also,
thanks are due to Dave “Beaney” Purris for suggesting I tape my nose and
mouth off with duct tape to divert my breath under my lid, which made a massive
difference……thanks Beaney. Second
practice session fared better, although I still had problems with my eyes
watering (I put that down to the cold) I had to lift my visor to wipe my eyes,
which is not a good idea when it’s raining, but despite it all, I felt I was
going a little quicker again. Later confirmed by my mate Dan, who had a
stopwatch on me. Second
session ended and I pulled into the paddock, my van had become a bit of a
meeting ground for family and friends who had braved the weather and came up to
cheer me on, and my girlfriend Ann, who had that many clothes on (all mine by
the way), she looked like one of those Weeble Wobbles (remember them!?). The
Race
The
first race was called and I just happened to be in this one…… the Centre
Championship. About 24 riders
gathered in the holding area, as you waited you were given your position on the
grid, I was right at the back……….. surprise, surprise!! A lot of the bikes had had tyre warmers on before they came
to the holding area, seemed a bit pointless when we were sat in puddles in the
pouring rain for ten minutes. If
that doesn’t cool them back down, nothing will.
Anyway, warm up lap went by in a flash…… but I still had a plan.
My plan was to sit at the back of the grid and let everyone bugger off,
then I’d tootle round at the back and finish…… and hey presto, first
signature obtained….. step one of my Grand Prix quest complete. So,
I waited on the grid, the bloke at the front walked by with ‘Engage Gear’ on
a blackboard and then he dropped the flag.
I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I’d be and we were off.
Leaving me dead last…….. part 1 of my cunning plan complete.
By the time I got to the first part of the chicane.
I had passed about 4 and after the first corner proper about another 3,
down the back straight and the R1 showed its power and I passed some more.
Still very wary of the conditions and that I had been going sideways a
couple of times……. I kept thinking, ‘Keep it upright, don’t be a
hero!’…. I had a good dice with a guy who passed me a couple of times.
Going into the last corner, I nipped up his inside, pushed him wide and
made it to the line ahead of him, couldn’t believe I got 9th
place……. Well chuffed with that (and well surprised). Next
race up was the sidecars……. one of them dropped oil all over the course
(I’m not kidding when I say that either!) so the restricted licence holders
race, my next one, was delayed, while they tried to clear it up…… a
thankless task in the rain. The
cement dust they put down was turning to paste. We
eventually went out in the warm-up lap and I’m on the 3rd row of
the grid……… it was an absolute joke…… there was a track of oil about 2
feet wide all the way around the track…. As if it wasn’t slippy
enough……Jesus! Anyway,
the flag went down and we were off…… I hit the front at the first corner and
led for the first lap but the bike was sliding everywhere so I went off the
racing line to dodge the oil and in doing so got passed by three other riders
who rode straight over the oil……I thought ‘rather you than me mate’.
So, I held on to 4th place till the finish (3rd in
class) and pulled into the pits….. I was disappointed, because I knew I could
have done better if the oil wasn’t down, even though I can’t ride in the
rain. I wasn’t going to go out in
the next Centre Championship race, I was going to sit it out cos it was just too
slippy…….. but I did. On
the warm-up lap most of the riders were shaking their heads at the conditions
but it was so much better that it had been in my race, 3 races earlier.
I was at the back of the grid again, I could feel that everyone was as
anxious as me, not wanting to fall off, but we were off when the flag dropped.
I got to the first corner in about 8th place and I diced with
Pete Hounsell on his R6 Yamaha for about 3 laps, he was as cautious as I was.
I kept passing him down the straights and he passed me back on the
corners. I was starting to enjoy it
a little and passed Pete going over the start/finish line, I was up to seventh
…… I went into the first chicane, took the left hander, then the right and
was on the straight bit before I hit the corner proper, touched the front brake
and lost the front, it happened before I knew it and I was sliding down the road
on me arse…. as I was sliding I could see Peter heading for me and I thought
‘Oh shit!’. I hoped he wasn’t
going to brake on the oil patch where I had, but I could see he hadn’t and was
going to dodge me, as I was sliding I was thinking of giving him a little
wave… (amazing what you think about at times like these) until I saw my bike
sliding down the road, and it didn’t put me in the mood…..I knew I was okay,
I wondered what my bike was doing……… I wasn’t best pleased.
Ran over to my bike and helped the Marshalls pick it up.
I
had to go to the Ambulance for a check up….
some of my mates had picked that exact spot to watch so they rushed over
as well. Peter went past on his
next lap and signalled to me if I was OK. I
signalled back that I was, and rode my bike back through the grass with no front
brake. Got
to the pits and the doctor came over to see if I was okay, so did the chief
scrutineer to check my bike. It was
covered in oil on the right hand side. I
insisted that the oil wasn’t off my bike cos I had checked it before I rode
back to the pits…….. he was fairly amazed to discover that I was right….
The oil had come off the track. I
assessed the damage, the bike had come down on the exhaust side, damaged that,
the clutch cover, bar end weight, brake lever, fairings and my leathers.
I was mad at first, but then it could have been a lot worse, so I was
more upbeat after that, also I was okay and that I knew I could easily
fix the damage…… nothing major. Most
of the people that came to watch me buggered off after that and who can blame
them, it was bloody freezing….Jurby is a bleak place on a good day.
Anyway packed up the van and had to stay till the end to put the course
away. Thanks to Seany Sean and
Scotty boy for staying with me. Looks
like I’m going to have a few nights up at my garage!!!! Jurby Airfield, Isle of Man. Circuit length: 1.5 miles.
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Copyright © 2000, 2001 Tommy Clucas Racing.
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