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 Race Report June 2003
June 7th saw us visit Nutts Corner, a very short but flowing circuit for the only time this year and wonder of wonders the sun was shining!
Practice was pretty uneventful, although it made me realise I needed new tyres as the bike really had turned into a garden gate!
Race 1
From the second row of the grid it was the usual mad dash into the hairpin with elbows out to try to stop any passes while trying to find a way through the pack. After a lap the race settled into a pattern with me having a great dice with Tommy Hogg on a 350K4 for 7th place. It was nip and tuck the whole way and the only reason I got the result was because I managed to get a tailender between us on the last lap. Have a look at the pics to see how close it was for 10 laps.
Result 7th over, 2nd in 500cc class
Race 2
Tommy and myself picked up where we left in race one but this time I was playing catch up. I had managed to get alongside him a few times but couldn’t manage to get past when the bike started to cut out! The first time it did it was halfway around a very fast third gear right hander, not good for the heart at all! I struggled on for a lap but by this time Tommy had disappeared into the distance and as the misfire was getting worse I pulled in. I thought it was a flat battery but on closer inspection we discovered the ignition wire had worked itself loose from its connector.
Result DNF
Dundrod 150 Road Races
Thankfully I am not superstitious as practice for ‘the 150’ which is held on the Ulster Grand Prix circuit at Dundrod, the fastest pure road course in the world, was on Friday 13th!
 Everytime I have been at the circuit I’ve had bad luck such as no 3rd gear or a broken piston ring so I was hopeful that Friday 13th would be my lucky day! After spending £200 on tyres it had better be! We had to complete 5 laps of the 7.5 mile circuit to qualify and has I headed off down the ‘Flying Kilo’ my only concern was completing the necessary number of laps. I reckoned that as long as I didn’t try too hard and tried to remain smooth then the lap speeds would improve. (trying too hard at Dundrod usually ends up with rider and bike wrapped around a tree). I managed the 5 laps with no real moments apart from running a bit wide twice at the hairpin and was pleased to discover I had qualified 23rd with a fastest lap of 86mph average.
Race day on Saturday was another sunny day (what is going here? Usually it buckets down!). I had expected to be in the ‘B’ group on the grid but somehow I ended up at the back of ‘A’ group. When the race started the quick guys cleared off and I was left riding at my own pace waiting for the quicker rider from the next wave to catch me.
As one would pass me I was able to follow for a few miles and learn a wee bit more about how to ride Dundrod quickly (but safely!).
Thankfully I had no ‘moments’ apart from running wide at the hairpin three times! It was the first time I have ever had a trouble free run and Dundrod and was pleasantly surprised to finish 17th overall. I was even more surprised to be 4th in the 500cc class but to be honest this had more to do with other riders blowing up than me being super fast!
My quickest lap was 5min 07secs at 86.5mph. The overall winner, Wattie Brown, managed to lap his 900cc Norton Commando at 106mph and was speed trapped on the ‘Flying Kilo’ at 149mph. That is just an insane speed for a 35 year old bike!
Bob McIntytre Memorial Races East Fortune, Scotland
 Last year at the ‘BobMac’ I managed to blow the engine into shrapnel so I was a bit apprehensive about doing it again this year but the gods were smiling as I started 6 races and finished all 6 of them!
As I sat in the warm up area before the first race I had a look at the four bikes in front of me and realised that collectively they were worth over £100,000 and that two of the riders had finished 2nd and 4th in the first round of the Classic World Series.
I knew then that I would struggle to make the top 20 out of the 35 500cc bikes on the grid as this was the racing equivalent of a Sunday League pub team playing Man Utd but at least I would have fun trying! Rather than bore you with details of the 6 races over the weekend, and my fingers are tired typing, let’s just say I rode the wheels off the bike all weekend, didn’t fall off and didn’t break down.
I had some great scraps with somebody on a Manx Norton, the two of us were battling for 16th place in every race with both of us making a few ‘Hail Mary’ outbraking passes into Railway corner and the very fast 4th gear esses. At one point on the Sunday we swapped position four times in one lap.
Great fun! The only time I improved on 16th was when it rained during one race. Being used to the rain in Ireland I was able to pull myself up to 14th.
Duncan Baillie, fellow MAGSPORT RACING member was there on Saturday to marshal so it was nice to finally meet one of my team members after years of riding for MAG. I think he is still trying to get over the shock of seeing the type of Road Circuits we have in Ireland after I gave him a few videos of Irish Road Racing!
Next Race
Kells Road Races, Co.Meath,Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th July.
See Ya There?
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