| Linsdell claims MGP double Oliver Linsdell claimed a double victory in the MGP. Ryan Farquahar gave Paton its first victory in the record breaking Senior Classic Race. Sam Dunlop; Roy Richardson; Derek Brien; Ewan Hamilton and Andrew Brady each had one victory at the meeting. The Senior Race was lost to a combination of poor weather an lack of marshals. |
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Monday of race week presented us with a cool, overcast morning, with the prospect of better to come later in the day. The Newcomers Class A had been headed in practice by Dromore’s Stephen McKnight on his 750cc GSXR at 114.25mph. On paper this looked like being a dust up between the locals and the riders from Ireland, with Russell Mountford set to be the lone English challenger. Class C looked to be a foregone conclusion with Oliver Linsdell; a winner at the NW200; over 3 mph faster than his nearest challenger. The race started on time on dry roads and with good visibility. In Ramsey on lap one it was Andrew Brady from Roslea, who led on the roads by a few metres; but importantly by 10 seconds on corrected time from Stephen Mc Knight, who had gone through the Sulby speed trap at 162mph. Then we had Noel Patterson from Newtown Abbey, Leo Fitzgerald from Bray, local man Justin Croft. Going well were Anthony Callister and Tony Oates, two more of the local contingent. Noted as riding well were Paul Gartland from Ederney; Russell Mountford and last man away Sergio Romero from Madrid. The town hall clock suggested that the riders were on a near record pace and so it proved. At the grandstand Brady had lapped at 116.806mph, just two seconds outside Shane Connor’s lap record from last year; this gave him the lead by 9.3 seconds from McKnight; the pair still being together on the roads. Mountford held onto third place 8.4s down on McKnight and the first of the 600cc riders. The leader board was completed by Patterson, Croft and Anthony Callister. In the 400cc class Oliver Linsdell had the race won by the first commentary point; in those 9 miles he had opened a gap of 28 seconds over the second place man, Brian Gordon from Douglas. Linsdell’s task became even easier when Gordon was forced out at the end of the first lap. Linsdell lapped at 105.693mph; Steve Ferguson inherited second place, with Brian Clarke in third. In Class A McKnight’s machine sounded fine in Parliament Square, but just half a mile later it had cried enough ending Stephen’s challenge and giving a more comfortable margin to Brady. His second lap at 114.276mph gave him an advantage of 47.25s over Mountford as they stopped for fuel. Noel Patterson held third; with Tony Oates the best of the locals in fourth, Croft was fifth, with Ian Gilder holding sixth. Conditions had by now begun to deteriorate with occasional drizzle on the northern side of the mountain. The stop allowed Croft to change his visor; which had misted at the start. With clearer vision he began to close on those ahead of him. In Class C it was no surprise that Linsdell eased his pace to lap at 103.277mph on his second tour; he had in fact eased the pace from the Gooseneck on lap one to save the motor for Friday. As the riders left for their third lap conditions took a decided turn for the worse; with fairly heavy rain over the northern section bringing out the rain flags and bringing down the speeds. We were expecting a red flag at the end of lap three; but as the riders were on treaded tyres and the visibility was sufficient for the rescue helicopters, the race went its full distance. The challenge of Tony Oates came to an abrupt end when he dropped his Suzuki in front of commentator Roy Moore at Ramsey Hairpin. He was perfectly all right and put in a couple of practice laps in the afternoon. Barry Edwards was not so fortunate; he suffered arm and leg fractures when he parted company with his machine at Kate’s Cottage. The pit stop and poor conditions dropped Brady’s lap speed down to 103.004mph, but his lead had widened to over 80 seconds from Mountford, with Croft now eating into Patterson’s advantage. All three had moments in the wet conditions, Mountford being out of the saddle, doing a handstand leaving Kirk Michael at 150mph! In Class Linsdell was now 10m 15s ahead and heading for a record margin of victory. Brady increased his lead further to 90 seconds at Glen Helen, and then eased his pace to win by 56s from Mountford. Croft was the man on the move; with the best final lap at 107.369mph he managed to grab third place from Patterson. Linsdell continued to increase his lead and eventually won by 13m 36.98s the biggest margin of victory in any MGP race, the previous record being set in 1926. Second in the class was David Yeomans with Brian Clarke third. The Senior Classic had a top class field and was potentially the best race of the week; with the gorgeous Paton twins set to challenge the British singles for supremacy. Last year Steve Linsdell squeezed four laps from one tank of petrol, but with the pace set to be hotter would the Patons go four laps this year? If not; could they gain enough time to cover what would be lost in the pits? The field was full of quality with several TT and MGP winners in it and a classic it turned out to be. From the flag it was two times TT and MGP winner Ryan Farquhar who did a McGuinness and grabbed the race by the scruff of the neck on a course that now enjoyed ideal conditions apart from some damp patches at Black Dub. By Ballaugh he had a 4 seconds lead over Linsdell, with Palmer holding third. Fancied runners who left the fray early were Chris McGahan, Ian Lougher and Roy Richardson. By Ramsey Ryan had taken the lead on the road from Oversby and Palmer, who was Matchless mounted rather than Norton as when he won last year’s race. On our watch the lead for Ryan was 8 seconds from the identical green machine of Linsdell. The action was fast and furious for the spectators as the field headed towards the mountain for the first time. Ryan stretched his lead to 17.2s at the end of the first lap; he shattered Bob Heath’s lap record from 1997 by 20s with a speed of 108.448mph; Linsdell was also inside the old record. Palmer was a further 6 second in arrears having set his best classic lap at 106.461mph. Alan Oversby held fourth; Tony Myers fifth and Mark Parrett sixth. Ryan now took a splash and dash fuel stop to ensure that he had enough fuel to last the race distance; but this dropped him down to fourth as he left pit lane to start his second lap. At Glen Helen, Linsdell led from Palmer and Oversby; but Farquhar was only 12.5s behind the leader and closing fast. By Ramsey Farquhar had the lead on the road by a couple of machine’s length from Palmer but on our watch he was 6s behind Linsdell on corrected time; Palmer held third a further 10s in arrears with Oversby 4th 10s behind Palmer. Following them we had Myers, Parrett, Allan Brew, Wattie Brown and John Goodall (winner in 1983) all lapping at well over the ton on their singles. At the end of the lap it was Ryan in the lead by 3.1s with Palmer third, Chris having become the third rider to beat Bob Heath’s old mark with a lap at 107.128mph. Oversby was narrowly outside Heath’s record at 106.714mph, but he held a comfortable fourth with Myers and Parrett holding station. Those of us who thought that Ryan had it in the bag had our confidence knocked when the clocks at Glen Helen and Ballaugh had less than second in it; clearly no one had told Linsdell what the story line was. At Ramsey we had Ryan a couple of seconds ahead as the field blasted through to face the mountain climb for the third time; this really was Classic racing at its finest. Ryan could not be certain that Steve would have to stop so piled on the coals over the mountain to end the lap with an increased advantage of 10.3s; his lap speed being 108.145mph. Linsdell did indeed have to stop for a quick infusion of fuel and this dropped him to third behind Palmer. Oversby’s ill luck in this race refuses to leave him; his machine began to leak oil as he went over the mountain and he retired at the pits. Tony Myers took a precautionary stop for fuel; but paid for it when the machine refused to fire up at once; costing him many valuable seconds; things got worse for him when it cut out in Ramsey; costing him more time and dropping him from the leader board. The main interest was now on whether or not Linsdell could prevent Palmer from taking second place from him. At Glen Helen Farquhar was 27s ahead of Palmer with Linsdell just 7s behind. Our watch had the lead at 30s in Ramsey; with Palmer 8s ahead of Linsdell. Ryan duly took his well deserved victory by 33.7s at a record average of 107.576mph, faster than the old lap record. Linsdell’s Paton was rapid up the mountain for the final time cutting the deficit to just3s at the Bungalow. Palmer just managed to keep Linsdell at bay to take second place by just 1.91s. Mark Parrett took fourth on the Ripley Land G50; Allan Brew fifth, as last year but 30s per lap quicker; with the final leader board place filled by Wattie Brown on the first of the Nortons. Wednesday gave the island a nearly perfect day for racing, with a slight headwind on the Mountain Mile the only problem. Racing began with the concurrent running of the Junior and Lightweight Classic races; the Junior set to be a benefit for Honda and the Lightweight for Suzuki. Fastest in practice for the Junior was Peel’s Chris McGahan on the Hales Honda, a machine that he thought was the fastest in the field. It was not to be his day as the machine lost second and third gear taking away his chance of victory. My selection for the victory, Ian Lougher lapped at over 101mph in practice, but as on Monday I did not get to see him as he retired at Sulby. Alan Oversby fared little better, his race ending at Pinfold Cottage. Fastest in practice for the Lightweight was previous winner Ewan Hamilton, with Bud Jackson just behind. Bud was another who never made it to Ramsey, he was reported to have stopped at the Highlander but he finally joined Lougher at Sulby. Right from the start Blackpool’s Roy Richardson set a record breaking pace on the Bullock Honda. He had the advantage of starting 10s after the second fastest man in practice; Monday’s victor Ryan Farquhar. By Glen Helen Richardson had passed Farquhar on the road; with his speed advantage such that Ryan could not hold onto the slipstream when Roy passed him. The lead was 11.8s, with Chris McGahan third despite his lack of gears, less than a second further behind. Lougher held fourth; but as we know he soon left the fray. Past Ramsey’s town hall only McGahan was now ahead of the flying Richardson on the road. Our watch had the lead at just under 14s with McGahan another 7.5s in arrears. Behind them we had the singles of John Goodall and Tony Myers, with the top six completed by Honda mounted Wattie Brown. Fancied runner Allan Brew stopped in Ramsey to make adjustments; he proceeded but was to go no further than the Gooseneck. Richardson blasted over the mountain to complete his lap; such was the pace that he beat Jason Griffiths’ lap record by 5s at a speed of 102.72mph. His lead had increased to 16.2s over Farquhar with McGahan in third 18.1s down on Ryan. Goodall, Myers and Brown completed the top six. In the Lightweight race Ewan Hamilton grabbed an early advantage with Davy Morgan, my pre-race selection giving chase, followed by Roy Richardson’s father Peter and Peter Wakefield. At the end of lap Hamilton led Morgan by 14s with Wakefield a further 10s behind him. As the Junior machines charged through Ramsey on lap 2 Richardson was clear on the road and by 29s on corrected time; barring problems the race as his. Farquhar was 15s clear of McGahan. At the grandstand it was confirmed that Roy had broken the lap record again with a speed of 102.749mph; his lead now out to 39.5s. McGahan was 11s down in third; Goodall kept fourth but problems for Myers and Brown had allowed Steve Elliott and Dave Madsen-Mygdal onto the leader board. Lap two saw the end of Davy Morgan’s challenge, the machine crying enough in Ramsey. As they came in for fuel Hamilton led by 51.2s from Wakefield with Richardson third. Wakefield struggled to re-start his machine, but his efforts were to no avail as he was forced out at Quarry Bends. Lap three saw Richardson and Farquhar lapping at a similar pace; but Chris McGahan was going well and closing on both; he reduced Farquhar’s advantage to 4s at Glen Helen. However that was to be as close as he came as his problems began to cause him to slow further. At the end of the lap Richardson led by 43s from Farquhar who now had 30.4s in hand over McGahan who had struggled up the mountain. Goodall held fourth from Steve Elliott and Tony Myers. Hamilton’s lead in the Lightweights was up to 68.8s; with Richardson in second and David Smith third despite having had an unscheduled stop for adjustments at the Highlander. The final lap saw Richardson and Farquhar ease their pace and lap within one second of each other. McGahan was the only rider to top the ton on the final circuit. Richardson won by 41.96s at a race record average of 101.545mph; Farquhar had 27.83s in hand on McGahan. Goodall duly took fourth and his 40th replica; with Elliott fifth and Myers sixth. The Lightweights also saw no change on the final tour Hamilton easing his pace to win by 63.98s from Richardson; on the Bullock Suzuki that son Roy took to victory in 2002 and 2003; with David Smith upholding Yamaha honour in third. The afternoon’s Junior MGP held the promise of being as close a battle as last year when just 0.01s separated Craig Atkinson and Derek Brien who started at 1 and 2. This year we had Brien; from Bellewstown at 1 and last year’s Class A Newcomer’s winner Shane Connor from Duleek at 2. Threatening to spoil their party was last year’s Newcomer’s A class runner-up Mats Nilsson from Sweden who had set the fastest lap in practice at 117.76mph in Monday’s session. Problems in practice had almost caused Brien to pack his bags and go home; but he decided to stay and it proved to be the correct decision as he had a trouble free run in what was a thrilling race. From the outset the pace was furious and it was Mats Nilsson, using an engine fresh from Padgetts, who held the early lead. As they charged through the tree lined roads at Glen Helen and on towards Sarah’s Cottage and Lambfell he led by 1.9s from Brien who was ahead of his starting partner by just 0.39s. Fourth was held by Phil McGurk; fifth by Michael Weldon from Swords, who was third in last year’s Newcomers A; with the leader board completed by Adam Barclay. At Ramsey it was still Nilsson in the lead on corrected time by 2s; it had been 3.6s at Ballaugh but he had been delayed by ‘traffic’ on the run to Ramsey. Brien and Connor were just a machine’s length apart and inseparable on the watch. With no traffic to delay him Nilsson flew over the mountain and had increased his lead to 3.64s as he hammered past the grandstand to begin the second lap. His lap speed was 119.58mph. Connor had edged ahead of Brien on the road and on time; he also lapped at over 119mph to eke out an advantage of 2.34s. Just 2.2s covered McGurk, Weldon and Barclay in their private battle for fourth. At Glen Helen, Nilsson had inched further ahead to lead by 3.8s from Connor with Brien right in his wheel tracks; just 1s behind. Connor was again faster on the run into Ramsey; slashing Nilsson’s advantage to 0.8s on the unofficial watch. Connor charged up the mountain and on transponder timing at the Bungalow had taken the lead by 1.6s. Nilsson was slightly slower down the mountain ending the lap 2.09s down on Connor, with Brien a further 1.4s behind. Both Connor and Brien lapped at over 119mph. Good work by his pit crew allowed Brien to leave pit lane just ahead of Connor, clawing back the 3.5s he had lost on the track. Even slicker work by his crew allowed Nilsson to leave the pits with an advantage of 5s. A lap at over 117mph allowed Dungannon’s Andrew Neill to force his Bullock Honda into fourth ahead of McGurk and Barclay; Weldon’s race being over. Andrew Brady was going superbly in his second race of the week holding an excellent twelfth place and averaging just under114mph. Brien and Connor were flying whilst Nilsson was slowing; at Glen Helen Brien led by just 0.13s; with Nilsson 2.7s down on Connor. At Ramsey Brien was on his own on the road and led Nilsson by 19s on corrected time. Brien was unaware that Shane Connor had lost control of his machine at the high speed Alpine Cottage section on the approach to Ballaugh. He was taken to Noble’s Hospital by helicopter and later flown to the UK where his condition was described as serious but stable at the time of writing. We hope that he makes a full recovery from his injuries; the extent of which is unknown. Mats Nilsson was the first rider on the scene of the accident and unsurprisingly seeing the aftermath affected him adversely; he of course lost time under the waved yellow flags. At Ramsey Neill was in third, McGurk fourth, Barclay fifth; with Strabane’s James McCullagh claiming sixth on his Bullock Honda. Over the mountain Brien extended his advantage over Nilsson to 26.7s with a lap at over 115mph, including his pit stop. Nilsson held a comfortable 53s cushion ahead of Neill; the leader board being completed by McGurk, Barclay and McCullagh. Si Fulton was the best of the local riders in seventh place ahead of another man also returning from injury; Michael Charnock, whose machine Cameron Donald rode on his debut at the TT. On the final lap Brien continued to build his lead from Nilsson who had clearly settled for a safe second place. At Glen Helen it was 34s, at Ramsey 50s and by the end of the race 65.9s. The first to congratulate a delighted Brien on his victory was Craig Atkinson who won by the thickness of a tyre last year. Mats Nilsson took a deserved second, with Andrew Neill taking the final podium place. Phil McGurk took fourth place; Adam Barclay fifth and James McCullagh sixth. Fulton took seventh on his ex-John McGuinness machine, Charnock finished in eight. Brady slowed in the latter stages to allow Oliver Linsdell to be the first of the newcomers to finish; he took thirteenth at 113.354mph; 26s ahead of Stephen McKnight. Friday; Senior Race Day; gave us a morning that was in the main dry; but had mist lingering over the mountain section from the Mountain Box to Duke’s 32nd Milestone. Three and a half hours after the scheduled start visibility improved sufficiently for a start to be made at 1.45pm to the combined Lightweight (250cc two strokes) and Ultra-Lightweight (400cc four strokes and 125cc two strokes) Races. We had the outright course lap record holder John McGuinness signed up as a marshal for the day. John was called into action during the fourth lap when Kevin Main lost control of his Honda on the approach to Quarter Bridge; hopefully this has not put John off racing here. The bike was decidedly second hand; whilst Kevin was perhaps fortunate to escape with just a broken wrist. Not so fortunate was newcomer Steve Ferguson who suffered serious injuries in a crash at Cruickshanks Corner in Ramsey. We hope that both lads will soon make full recoveries from their injuries. The riders were extremely careful the first time around Quarter Bridge; cold tyres and a cold track were not a combination to be messed with. Quickest out of the blocks was practice leader and last year’s runner-up Brian Spooner (Yamaha); at Glen Helen he held a narrow lead over Sam Dunlop (Honda); the son of the Jim the second of the three famous brothers. Neil Kent, a faller last year, held third place. Spooner had increased his lead to over 9 seconds by Ramsey; Dunlop taking a more cautious approach and feeling his way into the race in the tricky conditions. Riders that I spoke to said that the newly painted white lines on parts of the mountain section were like glass and caused some heart stopping slides. Over the mountain Dunlop was able to cut Spooner’s advantage to just 3.43s; with Kent a further 21 seconds in arrears; he was one of those who had a moment on the white lines; his being at the rapid Graham Memorial. The top six at the end of the lap was completed by Brian Mateer, Daniel Williams and Wally Kneale. In the Ultra-Lightweight, Oliver Linsdell (Yamaha) dominated from start to finish; adding victory in this class to that in the Newcomers: matching the achievements of Stuart Sturrock (2003), Chris Dowling (2000) and Martin Sharpe (1999). Oliver certainly looks a TT star in the making at just 19 years of age. As they prepared to charge down Bray Hill for the second time Oliver held a 24 seconds lead over Tim Sayers (Kawasaki) who in turn held a slender advantage over Keith Costello (Honda). The leader board was completed by Andrew Kirkwood; Joe Phillips who was fastest in practice and Kirk Farrow. Daniel Sayle; better known as the fastest sidecar passenger around the circuit was unable to deliver the expected challenge; his rapid 125cc suffered from intermittent fuel starvation that slowed him dramatically in places such as Quarry Bends; just when it seemed ready to expire completely it would then chime back in; hugely frustrating for Daniel; 11th after lap. In the 250cc race Dunlop was opening the taps and eating into Spooner’s lead; cutting it to 2.45s at Glen Helen. By Ramsey Dunlop had taken the initiative by 3.3s. With the aid of a great run over the mountain in the difficult conditions he passed Spooner on the road and set the fastest lap of the race at 109.88mph to give himself a lead of 15s. Kent still held third; with Mateer fourth, Williams fifth, but Dean Martin had taken sixth at the expense of Kneale. In the Ultra-Lightweights, Linsdell; with a lap at 107.643mph; led by 18s from Sayers. Keith Costello remained in third; but behind him it was the soon to retire Rab Davie who had moved up to fourth, Kirkwood held fifth with Phillips in sixth. Spooner’s pit crew had him back in the race ahead of Dunlop on the road. Dunlop soon closed on him and was on his back wheel when they reached Glen Helen; where Dunlop led on corrected time by 9.6s. By Ramsey Dunlop had retaken the lead on the road; he led by 11s as they took the uphill right-hander at Cruickshanks. As they raced onto the mountain for the third time conditions were beginning to worsen; the cloud cover was lowering again and it seemed only a matter of time before rain would begin to fall. The riders rode to the conditions; with virtually no change in the gaps on the run over the mountain. Linsdell’s stretched his lead to 73 seconds with a lap at 105.9mph, excellent in the worsening conditions. Sayers remained in second; but Phillips was the man on the move; he was now third. Costello was fourth, Kirkwood fifth with Daniel Sayle up to sixth despite still having problems with the little Honda. For Kirk Farrow mechanical problems proved to be terminal. Just when it seemed that everyone had settled for their placings fate robbed Spooner of his second place; the machine throwing in the towel just after the Sulby Glen Hotel the reason being an engine seizure; at least he could get a free pint to drown his sorrows. At Ramsey, Dunlop led by 65s seconds, a comfortable cushion as he faced the now extremely tricky mountain section for the final time. The white lines proved problematic even at what were now much reduced speeds; this suggests that the circuit can now only be used in completely dry conditions. Happily everyone managed to survive the mountain section and it was a delighted Sam Dunlop who took the chequered flag to record his second victory on the circuit; his first being the Newcomers C class in 2005. His average speed was 108.083mph; tremendous in the conditions. Neil Kent took second 72.56s behind and was happy to be on the podium. Brian Mateer made it an all Irish podium by taking third place. Wally Kneale, Daniel Williams and Dean Martin completed the top six. Linsdell duly took his deserved victory at 107.197mph. Second 1m 56 behind was Tim Sayers; with Keith Costello third and Joe Phillips fourth. By now conditions were reaching the point where it was no longer safe for bikes to attempt to race. This prompted officials to put out the red flags. This meant that many of the competitors were unable to complete the full race distance under racing conditions. The Clerk of the Course declared that the result would now be taken from positions at the end of lap three. This promoted Joe Phillips above Keith Costello, who had finished the full distance in third. Costello appealed and was re-instated into third by the jury; with Phillips fourth. Andrew Kirkwood took fifth and Daniel Sayle sixth after his troubled ride, to be the leading 125cc finisher. With no prospect of the conditions improving the organizers had no choice other than to decide that the Senior Race could not be run on Friday. With many UK marshals set to return home that evening or on Saturday morning and bearing in mind that there would not have been enough marshals to run the first practice session, (on a Saturday) had the weather not intervened, the organizers took the unpopular decision that the Senior Race could not be run on Saturday either; the first race ever to be lost from the programme in the event’s 84 years history. It is a shame that the MGP had to end in such circumstances. |
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