ISLE OF MAN TT 2010 - II

Monday – Supersport Race 1 & Superstock

Next spot to for us to watch from was the famous Creg-Ny-Baa pub. A lone, white building situated just after the mountain section of the track, it sits looking up towards Kate's Cottage where riders power downhill along an undulating straight before breaking into the near right angle corner before another high speed section. Our viewing spot was not to be right behind the crash barrier in front of the pub as we hoped but down the hill on the exit of the corner.

The world famous Creg. A great pub and a hell of place to watch the TT from.

Our position was about 200m from the pub, with a good view of the riders as they past the apex and get on the gas for the long straight ahead of them. I've been to WSBK, MotoGP's, AusSBK and club races before but I've never been to a race that requires you to keep on eye on the riders if they are running wide. Because if they do run wide, you may need to pull you feet out of the way. You also get to feel the pressure wave of the bikes as they fly past your viewing position.

Sidecars. Mad bastards. They really are.

I took a walk up the hill to the top side of pub to take a couple of pictures when I noticed Kiwi rider Bruce Anstey pulled over into the side lane of The Creg. His Suzuki had chucked in the towel and the pub was as good as place as any for him to pull up and wait for a lift down the mountain to the pits. I got up close and took a few photos and shouted "Someone get him a beer!" To my delight he'd already been handed one and was drinking it. Just as I was leaving there noticed a short pale gentleman walking from the bike car park and into the roped off area where Bruce was. It was the Firestarter himself, Keith Flint from The Prodigy, having a chat with Bruce and watching the racing. "You don't get this anywhere else", I said to myself again.

Wednesday- Supersport Race 2. Sidecars Race 2

A cloudy, damp morning greeted us and our large, ongoing hangovers this morning. Ramsey Hairpin was the destination for the day. A twenty minute taxi ride along the coast road from Douglas before we are dropped off at one on the slowest points of the circuit. We are first to arrive and duly set ourselves up closest to the inside of the hairpin. As I mentioned before waiting was a big part of the TT and this was no exception. In our boredom and hunger we sent my mate Matty down into the town to collect some sausages and a disposable barbecue.

Woody and Matty. Not pictured; the portable BBQ.

This odd device is foil backing tray full of charcoal that once lit and going will cook for about an hour and a half. It's bit weird to use and makes the food smell a bit smoky/keroseny. The smoke caused a bit of concern with the marshals, as we were cooking within six feet of the track, but as the racing ended up being cancelled we headed back to Douglas and proceeded to get royally pissed for the sixth day in row.

We met Colin in the bar of the paddock. As the weather had cancelled the racing, most of the spectators had gone back to their parts of the Island leaving only the people staying close by at the bar. This included racers Adrian Archibald and Michael Dunlop and the current Irish SBK champion Alistair Seely, plus a bunch of other racers whose names I cannot recall. They'd had racing cancelled for the day so they were blowing off some steam with a pint and talking motorcycles. Our new mate Ray had been in the VIP tent but with the racing being cancelled they'd stopped service there so he'd come to find us. He'd just so happened to meet Danny John Jules AKA The Cat from the TV show Red Dwarf. Danny had come down to the bar too and spent a good half hour having a laugh and few drinks with us You wouldn't get this anywhere else.

Colin had organised for us to have dinner at the Creg-Ny-Baa pub with some of the race teams he'd met. This was not something we were going to miss for the world. We had dinner with the team of racer Paul Shoesmith, a privateer racing in five races for the week, as well as two guys from South Africa making their first appearances at the TT.

At the table were the team mechanics/helpers/associated peoples with about twenty people in total. I was sitting opposite Paul Shoesmith's mechanic and his teenage son who'd just taken to racing dirt bikes. We talked about our motorcycle backgrounds. How awesome Phillip Island is but there is simply no place like the Isle Of Man. We discussed the week's events. We listened to the riders describing their laps to each other and the team. We consumed beers, had a good feed and laugh with people we'd never met but were all connected through the glorious pursuit of motorcycles. The best part of the evening was getting a lift back from the Creg with Shoey giving us a commentary along the way. "…when you're coming along here, you're in fifth gear and the front rises as you crest this slight hill. Then you hit sixth for a while before having to brake and drop a gear for this left hander. Then it's hard on the gas again until this next roundabout…" Simply awesome. Everyday here I get more respect for these guys.