Well our trip to The Isle of Man started at 4.30 am on Friday morning to book in at
Heysham by 9.15. Arrived half an hour late but only had to wait 15 minutes to board
the fastcraft Manannan. Crossing was flat calm and the sailing was full.
Friday was a scorcher and our first evening was shorts and T shirt.
Saturday and the first day of racing and we watched John McGuiness win the
Superbike TT from Ballaugh Bridge which was a spectacular sight with many
different styles of take off and landing (although I don’t think all were planned).
As the roads were closed we went from Ballaugh up over the mountain on the inside
of the course to Brandywell to watch the first Sidecar race.
Ale flowed that night an early start on Sunday to get around the course for “Mad
Sunday” . Very busy on the roads and we stopped at Ramsey for the Street Bike
Sprint Challenge as the Mountain was closed due to an accident. It stayed closed for
a couple of hours so we went down to Peel Day and had a huge Seafood Platter in
The Creek. Asked directions to the Creek from a local bobby who asked where we
were from and it turned out he moved over there 8 years ago form the Gadlys
(Aberdare) half a mile up the road , small world. Back to Ramsey and The Mountain
was still closed due to oil spillage from another accident, it finally opened around
4.00 pm but the run over was so busy it was hard to build up a rhythm. This meant
that I had to get up at 7am the next day to get a lap in before racing. That early The
Mountain was cold and misty but the roads were a little quieter.
We watched the start of Mondays racing from Glencutchery Road and went on to
Signpost Corner only to find out the race had been stopped as Derek Brein had
crashed at Gorse Lea and was killed. We waited for the restart and watched from
there. With the racing put back due to the stoppage the Superstock didn’t start until
6.30 pm and we watched this from Quarter Bridge.
An early check for the home sailing at 5.00am and a showery ride home was
interupted with my brother making a basic mistake by switching reserve only to find it
was already on reserve. Out of petrol on the M6 and he had to wait for 30 minutes for
the RAC to come to the rescue while I had a Burger King 6 miles up the road in the
services.
The Triumph didn’t miss a beat even though it was ladened down like a pack camel
and just as hard to get on.
Big Bruv at the Services
Boarding Manannan
Ramsey Street Bike Challenge Sprint
Peel Day
Huge Seafood Platter
My Pride and Joy on Onchan Head
Steve Plater
The Grandstand
Bruce Anstey
John McGuinness
Conor Cummins
Michael Rutter
Bushys
John McGuinness Superbike Race
Guy Martin Superbike Race
Cameron Donald Superbike Race
Steve Heneghan Superbike Race
William Dunlop Superbike Race
William Dunlop Superbike Race
Gary Johnson Superbike Race
Mark Parrett Superbike Race
Bruce Anstey Supersport Race Signpost Corner
Conor Cummins Supersport Signpost Corner
Comeback Kid
Maria Costello Supersport Race Signpost Corner
Mark Buckley Supersport Race Signpost Corner
Leaving Douglas on a rainy morning
Bye Bye for another 2 years
A dismal ride home
