Thompson, Ct.

Last Sunday, Team Obsolete participated in a "Vintage " track day at Thompson Speedway in the extreme northeast of Connecticut.  The track has a long history starting in the 1940's, based around a 5/8th mile oval.  The 1.7 mile road course uses at least half of the oval. I had last raced at Thompson in 1978 and shortly after that there was a fatality when a stock car lost control and hit the gap in the oval where the road course pealed off.  After that, the road course (which was in rough shape with orange cones in the potholes down the back straight) was abandoned.  A few years ago, the road course was revived, totally repaved, and lengthened and altered slightly.  There hasn't been any racing on the revived course, perhaps because of a lack of runoff, but several track days.  This one was in conjunction with a swap meet and bike show, sponsored by Indian.

The fans take photos of the Team Obsolete bikes.  Ken Richardson photo

Team Obsolete brought three bikes: an Arter Matchless, a works BSA 750 triple, and a works 350 Benelli four.  This Arter Matchless G-50 is know as 'Wagon Wheels' as it is perhaps the first bike to be raced with cast magnesium wheels.  It's the bike with which Peter Williams finished 2nd three times in the Senior TT at the Isle of Man, to Ago's MV in '70 & '71 and Jack Finlay's 500 Suzuki in '73.  In '73, Williams did a lap of 102.7 mph which, I believe, was the fastest lap by a single cylinder bike until 1989 when Robert Dunlop won the Ultra Lightweight TT on a RS 125 Honda and probably the fastest lap by a four stroke single until Bob Heath won the Senior Classic Manx GP in 1991 at a race average of 102.62mph.  In 1989, I did the fastest lap of the Senior Classic MGP at 102.52mph, but the course was much quicker then than in '73 with places like Quarry Bends straightened, widened, and smoothed.  Tires were better and I'm sure that I had more power  in the Team Obsolete G-50 than Peter had in his relatively standard motor.  I'm in awe of his '73 lap.  Team Obsolete has been invited back to the IOM for the fourth consecutive year to participate in the Jurby Festival and Lap of Honour and Wagon Wheels is the bike we'll be taking this year.

on the Arter Matchless 'Wagon Wheels" with T/O mechanic Josh Mackenzie.  Ken Richardson photo

The BSA A75R is the bike that Dick Mann road raced in 1971.  This Is a bike that I've raced many times over the years and over the years we modified it to keep it a competitive vintage racer.  But, it was last raced in 2002 (with a different motor) and it was decided to return it to as close as we could make it to the way it was when Dick raced it in '71.  This was completed recently and Thompson was a good opportunity to see if it was right.

The BSA A75R in the middle in front of it's owner Rob Iannucci.  

Likewise, the 350 Benelli four was rebuilt recently and needed to be tested.  This is a works Grand Prix racer from 1968 of the type raced by Renzo Pasolini and Kel Carruthers.  It's motor is DOHC, four valve, and seven speed. I had raced this bike several times, including the IOM where I crashed it on the first lap of the '93 Junior Classic Manx GP while leading and took a ride in the helicopter.  It was last run in 1997 at Schubenacadie, Nova Scotia, where we had an engine failure.

The DOHC, 16 valve, seven speed 350 Benelli with it's beautiful  dry clutch

I went out on the track first on Wagon Wheels.  It's a bit awkward as the clip-onscreen very close together and inboard of the fairing.  Williams idea was to get the bike as narrow and aerodynamic as possible.  But, once I got rolling it wasn't a problem.  I did have some trouble shifting initially as the shift lever is a bit too long for me, but I managed once I got used to it.  When Alan Cathcart did a racer test on it at Mallory Park, he described the front brake (a Lockheed caliper with a 10" iron rotor) as "so wooden, it gives trees a bad name".  But, at the pace I was going, it seemed fine.  And, that pace was slow as someone crashed on our first lap on track at what seemed like a very low speed.  I guess just cold tires as the track seemed fine as we gradually upped the pace and I scrubbed in the new tires.

I took the BSA out next and, like the Matchless, I had some initial trouble shifting as it's lever was too long, also.  After a few laps, we were gelling nicely as I was reacquainted with an old friend.  It's a big, heavy bike with a heavy crankshaft/primary drive and therefore lots of gyroscopic effect which require some muscle to overcome, but it steers very well and has great brakes.

Finally, I went out on the Benelli, another totally different animal.  It shifted the best of the three and, with it's seven speeds and a relatively light crank, that's a good thing.  It was smoking a bit with rings that hadn't seated and I was shutting off early on the straight in deference to drum brakes and tires from 1997 which we hadn't had time to change, but it still seemed fast and I was getting into top gear.

Almost all of the other bikes participating in the track day were much newer that ours, but it wasn't a problem as there were few bikes overall and it didn't seem to be a problem going out in either group.  With plenty of track time, everyone seemed to pack up before the official end.

However, there was a good turnout for the bike show and there were lots of spectators for it and the swap meet and it has the potential to turn into a real event.

Talking with my old buddy, Bill Burke.  Ken Richardson photo

Mike Gontesky tells Bill Himmelsbach how it is on a cool, windy day.

AHRMA Sonoma raceway

From Willow Springs, I rode up to Sacramento with Karl and Monday got working on the bike.  Mike determined that the swing arm pivot failure that we experienced at Willow was from a D shaped retainer, which the spindle socketed into, had broken free, allowing the spindle to back out of the retaining bolt on the other side.

 Mike started to work on repairing the fairing.

before

During

I discovered a broken spoke in the rear wheel.  Mike had another wheel with a broken spoke and I harvested two spokes from a third wheel to repair the two.

harvesting spokes

Tuesday, we took the bike over to Karl's and he came up with a plan to fix it.  This involved Mike and me finding some 2" diameter steel bar stock.  This took us to a neat old welding supply store in Auburn in a building that dated back to 1865.  We dropped the bar stock off with Karl, then drove to Davis to pick up some supplies from Mike's storage facility.  Back at Mike's house, I started cobbling a bench to put the bike on, because at my age I don't want to work on my knees.  After dinner, we drove over to Karl's and put both bikes in his pickup and took them back to Mike's.  In the morning, we finished the bike (except for the final paint on the fairing), organized the tools and spares, loaded everything up and headed for Sonoma.  There we rented a garage and unloaded the pickup and waited for the track day to finish to move in.

Garage mates Don Lange arrived from Seattle and and his old musician buddy Kenny Cummings arrived from NYC via SFO.  Several years ago, Don had become intrigued with Kenny's hobby of racing vintage bikes and started coming to the races and filming.  After a year or so, Don bought a street bike, a Honda CBR300F.  After another year or so, Don bought a race bike, a CB 175 Honda.  The weekend before the AHRMA Sonoma race, Don took a race school and made his race debut at Pacific Raceway in Kent, Washington.  This allowed Don to race at Sonoma and he invited Kenny to share his bike, racing it in 250GP, while Don rode it in the CB160 class and 200GP.

Kenny Cummings on left and Don Lange or right with Don's CB175.  Don's made a brilliant start to his RR career.  photo by Stacie B. London

On the first lap of my first practice Thurs., the gas cap flew off when I braked for turn #9.  I came right into the pits and we were able to bodge a solution with tape and an aerosol spray can top and a zip tie and I was able to get one for one or two more laps.  A couple of laps into the 2nd practice, I saw my teammate Walt Fulton III on a sister bike had crashed at turn #2, but was up and looked OK.  A couple of laps later, I was given the black flag at start/finish, and I pulled off at the next corner worker in turn #2.  I couldn't see anything wrong with "my" bike, while Walt's was a bit rough, and we both came back on the crash truck.

Always could be worse, but bad enough to put it out of commission for the event 

I found the black flag was for exceeding the 103db noise level.  I was told that track policy was three strikes and you're out: exceed 103db three time and you could no longer put the bike on the race track.

Mike and Karl, with the help of Andrew Cowell, fabricated a crude deflector to try to direct the exhaust away from the noise meter.  It was decided that "Walt's" bike was too badly damaged to fix up and that he and I would share "my" bike.  Therefore, I changed my entry from 350GP to Sounds of Singles 3, the single cylinder class for the smallest bikes, so Walt could race in 350GP.  SOS3 was gridded last behind Sound of Thunder 2 and Vintage Superbike Heavyweight in the first wave, and Triumph Thruxton TransAtlantic Cup and Electric bike class.  The other bikes in SOS3 were Mick Hart on a RS125 Honda, Mark Hunter on a Morwaki 250, Kurt Hipp on a pretty standard RC390 KTM, and Austin McCabe on a tricked out RC390 with reprogrammed ECU, special twin exhaust, special yokes, etc.  Austin led from the start with me second, but Mick came by in turn #5 on the 1st lap.  Mick got by Austin at some point , but they were well ahead of me and I finished a mere 0.008 seconds ahead of Mark.  We had passed one of the SOT2 bikes, two of the Vintage Superbikes, three of the Thruxtons and all of the e-bikes.  Good fun, but when I came in, I was informed that I had again exceeded the noise limit.  Strike Two.  

So it was decided that I would sit out the 500 Premiere race that I was entered in to ensure that Walt would get to ride in the 350GP.  Walt's significant other, Nancy, rode her bike to an auto parts store in Novato and got some radiator hose with elbows and some hose clamps and Karl and Mike made a better deflector for the exhaust.  The 350GP was also a second wave start and Walt, focused on a new to him starter, screwed up and launched with the first wave.  He immediately realized what he had done and stopped and waited until the entire second wave had left to start himself.  He consistently closed on the 350GP leader, Jim Neuenberg on Fred Mork's short stroke H-D Sprint, and came up less than 3 seconds short, but with a fastest lap more than 2 seconds quicker than Jim.  When Walt came in after the cool off lap, the radiator hose deflector was missing having fallen off sometime during the race, but he never tripped the noise meter.
At Willow Springs, I felt that the Grimeca front brake didn't make that much difference, but one doesn't brake much at Willow.  At Sonoma there are many hard braking areas and the Grimeca was definitely better but both Walt and I felt that the weight of it made it much harder to heave the bike from side to side through the esses.

This big Grimeca 4LS front brake definitely stopped better than the previous A1R, but it's weight also made it harder to change direction.  There's no free lunch

Karl took the exhaust pipe home with him and made a more secure connection for another radiator hose elbow.

Mike drills while Karl directs to attach radiator hose deflector to exhaust

Friday, I figured we had the noise problem licked, but in practice I short shifted by the noise meter to be safe and didn't have any problem.  In Friday's SOS3 race Austin McCabe didn't start, nor did Ari Henning, who showed up with his well developed KTM RC390, but both of them raced SOS1 and SOS2.  This may have to do with their bikes being of at least questionable legality for SOS3.  The rules say:"Single-cylinder machines with production chassis (with street-legal VIN) must retain stock bore and stroke, stock frame, forks and wheels.  Eligible machines include KTM 390RC and Duke."  Austin had told me that he bought the race version of the RC390, which may well have not had a 'street-legal VIN'.  Ari started with a street-legal RC390, but I don't know if it had stock forks and wheels and, in any case, he never entered SOS3.
So, in Friday's race, I was running 2nd to Mick Hart when, starting the 7th lap, I got the 'meatball' flag.  I assumed it was for noise again and wondered if I should pull off.  But, a couple of corners later, Zack Courts lapped me on his SOT2 FZ-O7 Yamaha, so I knew I would get the checkered flag the next time around and something in the back of my mind told me that I had a couple of laps to respond to a Meatball flag (as opposed to a black flag).  So, I didn't pull off and took the checker, finishing 2nd in class to Mick Hart and 15th overall of the 27 finishers and ahead of one of the SOT2 bikes, two of the Vintage Superbikes, two of the Thruxtons, and all of the e-bikes.  But, when I came in off the cool off lap, I was told to report to tech.  Cal Lewis, the AHRMA referee, told me that I had indeed gone over the sound limit again.  I told him that in practice I had short shifted by the sound meter and had been alright.  He told me that until the track said that I couldn't go out again, he would interpret the 3 strikes rule as per day.
So in the 500 Premiere race, I led off the line from pole position, but Ari Henning and Jon Munns came by me between turns #2 & 3 on their 500 Sportsman 350 Hondas.  I had a big slide on the exit of turn #5 which cooled my jets a bit, and then I really short shifted by the noise meter and lost touch with the two of them, but stayed close enough that I was able to watch a really good battle between them.  My fastest lap was more than 1.6 seconds slower than in the SOS3 race, largely because of short shifting for the noise meter, and I finished 3rd overall and 1st in class.
Walt got the start right this time for the 350GP, though he follow Jim Neuenberg for a few laps as he had ridden at all Fri. up until then.  He passed Jim and won by just under a second.  Walt didn't short shift by the noise meter and never exceeded the limit.  Did we take different lines, sit on the bike differently, shift at different points?  Who knows, but I tripped the meter 4 times over the 2 days and Walt not once.  Life isn't fair.  My best lap time this year was 2:02.434; last year I did a 1:58.490, almost 4 seconds faster, and that was on a frame that turned out to be significantly bent from the crash the previous week at Willow Springs, and was subsequently straightened.  It's not entirely valid to compare times year to year as a lot of things change, but 4 secs.  The brake might have been a bit of that and maybe the tires were getting a bit old, but 4 secs?  It can't be because I'm getting old, can it?

Lenora Cox, editor of the Velocette Owners Club newsletter, rode this MAC to the track

Lenora let me ride it around the paddock and it's badass

Jeff Scott fettled the MAC and made this exh. clamp

An interesting character assembled this tableau outside our garage

Saturday, I did a 85 mile road ride with my good friend Parra and three other Roadoilers.

With my old friend Parra in what could be mistaken for his native Ireland.  Great photo by Robert Bleeker

 Last year,  I rode Parra's TR5T Triumph, but it played up with a leaking fuel line, so I road his Dick Mann Special TT500 Yamaha.

With the Dick Mann Specialties TT 500 Yamaha (despite what the tank says) Robert Bleeker photo

Dick made nearly 200 frame kits for the XT/TT500 between '76 and '81.  Parra had initially cow trailed the bike but later converted it to road use.  It has Betor forks with Marzocchi yokes, Kosman front wheel with a Lockheed caliper and a Yamaha MX rear wheel and fuel tank, and Works Performance rear shocks.  Gus rode his '58 BSA Goldstar,  Robert rode his '83 Honda VF 750 Interceptor, Parra rode his FT500 Honda Ascot, and Jim rode his 2011 XT250 Yamaha, which may have been the smallest bike, but it was also the newest and Jim is an old roadracer and he led and set a great pace.

L to R Parra, me, Jim and Gus.  Robert Bleeker photo

 Parra, Robert and I left Parra's house in Forest Knolls and met Jim and Gus in Pt. Reyes Station.  From there we headed north through Marshall, then headed inland through Fallon, Valley Ford, Two Rocks, Dillon Beach and stopped in Tomales.

I critique the DMS TT500 for Parra.  Robert Bleeker photo

Robert headed back to the East Bay and Gus, Parra and I left Jim there and headed back to Forest Knolls with Gus peeling off at the end.  It was a gorgeous day and Marin was quite green after some recent rain.  The roads were fabulous and what an eclectic collection of bikes.
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T-Day weekend 2015 T-Day weekend 2015

Again, I went up to my brother's in Haddam, Ct. and again, we had mild weather.  We had the traditional and excellent Thanksgiving day meal with neighbors.  Friday, we went for a end of season ride, Amy, on her '71 CL350 Honda, Doug on his '64 Norton Electra, and me on my '53 Moto Guzzi Airone Sport.

We rode to N. Madison where we met Rich Hosley, who was riding his '73 750 Norton Commando Interstate (one of the last 750s) after having a technical issue with his Norton International.  We headed north and west with Doug leading first through Durham and Northford.  Then Rich took the lead as he was more familiar with the roads to the west.  He took us through Wallingford, past Quinnipiac University, and into Cheshire where we had an excellent lunch at the Notch Store.  From there Rich led us through Prospect, Bethany, Seymour, Woodbridge, Hamden, North Haven, Northford, North Branford, East Haven, Branford, and Branford Center, where we left Rich at his business after looking at his pile.  This includes a '42 Ford Convertible (one of the last before production stopped for the war), an Ossa Wildfire and a 175 Sport; a Norton ES2, 650 SS, Combat Commando Roadster, a Fastback, and a Manx; a Royal Enfield Interceptor; a Matchless G-12, etc., etc.  From there, Doug led us through North Branford, Guilford, North Madison, Killingworth, and back to Haddam.  All told, it was about 150 miles through south central Ct., in excellent conditions with the leaves off the trees allowing one to see around the corners and into the woods and clean roads.  And, though it got more populated as we went west, traffic wasn't bad.  Doug drained the oil out of the Electra and the Honda hot.
The next day was cooler and showery and I went riding mountain bicycles with another neighbor, Cheryl,  and her dog, in Cockaponset State Forest.

 I hadn't been out in the woods on a bicycle for a couple of years, well before I had my right ankle replaced.  I only crashed once, so I obviously wasn't trying and Cheryl had to do a lot of waiting for me to catch up.  She is nearly 20 years younger than me and has a pretty trick bicycle and is very fit and experienced.  But, it felt great to be out in woods.

 As long as I'm on two wheels, I'm happy.
Sunday, we went to the British Iron Association breakfast at Pete and Sandy Swider's house in Salem.  My old sparing partner, Phil Turkington, was one of the dozen or so who showed up.  Phil and I had many dustups in 250GP races, he on his Bultaco, me on my CRTT.  A few years ago, he badly broke his femur and quit racing, but still rides vintage bikes on the street.  It was good catching up with him.  And it was good hearing Ad Coppens' classic immigrant story.  He arrive in the U.S. from Holland with $28 in his pocket, knowing no one and little English.  He worked three jobs, built up some capital, and started a tire business, importing and exporting tires to Europe.  Eventually, he sold out and started doing what he really loves, restoring AJS and Matchless and supplying part for them from his shop in Salem.
Back in Haddam, Doug took out his '64 260 Benelli and I fired up the Airone and went for a 10 mile burn up, then dumped the fuel and oil to put them away for the winter.

Doug returns from warming up the oil in his Benelli

Ya own a Guzzi and ya live under it.  Amy Roper photo.

After draining all the fuel and oil, we lowered all the bikes into the basement.

Amy's CL 350 Honda goes in first.

The 175 CZ goes down.

Amy receies the Norton Electra

Doug lifts his Benelli

My Airone being lowered

We saved the biggest for last.  Amy reaches for her 2016 V7 II

This completed the ancient Roper Family tradition of stowing of the bikes and the end of another good season of riding.

2015 Classic TT

A day home from Mosport, then off to the IOM. The flight was early arriving in Dublin, but late leaving Dublin, due to a hanger fire that stopped all incoming traffic for a while.  My dear friend Sue met me at the airport and drove us to Douglas where I got a SIM card for my phone and we had some lunch.  The she drove us to the the rental car agent where I picked up the Ford Transit van that we would be using for the week, and I followed her to her home in St. John's.

Our Ford Transit short wheelbase, high roof, 6 speed manual diesel

We loaded some bicycles on the back of her car and first drove a little ways and took a hike up South Barrule in a strong wind coming off the Irish Sea.  Then, we drove through Peel to Kirkmichael where we parked and unloaded the bikes and rode up the former rail line to spectate the evening practice at Rhencullen, a spectacular series of bends just out of Kirkmichael.  We sat on the bank and watched Michael Dunlop come through first and stand his X-R 69 Suzuki right up on the jump.  After 15 or 20 minutes, there was a red flag due to a crash at the 13th milestone and about 7 or 8 bikes pulled up right in front of us.  One of the riders was Ian Lougher.  Ian finished 2nd to me in the '84 Senior Historic TT, in only his 2nd race on the Mountain circuit, having finished 3rd in the previous year's newcomers race, then gone on to race in an incredible 141 more races at the TT, including 12 wins.  Ian chatted with the other riders there at Rhencullen and a few of the spectatators sitting on the bank.  After a while, he recognized me and we chatted a bit.  Then, the fellow next to me on the bank, turned and asked me if I still had my 250 Moto Guzzi.  Surprised and wondering how this fellow would know I had this bike, I replied 'Yes' and then realized it was Paul Smart, who I had met on a Moto Giro in California in 2008.  What are the chances that the three of us would be together at this spot in all of the 37 3/4 miles of the Mountain Circuit on a Wed. evening practice?  But, the Isle of Man is like that.

After spending the night at Sue and her husband, Peter's, house , I drove the van the next morning to the Airport to pick up Mike Gonteskey, a long time friend, former vintage road race competitor and current Moto Giro competitor.  Mike had volunteered to be the Official Team Obsolete whipping boy and gofer.  We checked into the Regency Hotel on the northeast end of The Queens Prom in Douglas. We then went up to the Paddock and unloaded the crate with the Team Obsolete 1954 AJS E-95 Porcupine.

photographer unknown

This was only the second time that an E-95 Porc had appeared at the Isle of Man since the Works last raced them.  In 1964, Mike Duff rode Tom Arter's E-95 one lap of practice, but it developed mechanical problems and it wasn't raced.  We shared a tent right behind the grandstand with Ken Mcintosh, who had brought the very first Featherbed Norton Manx, a bike that Geoff Duke debuted in New Zealand in 1950.  This bike was featured in a number of tributes to Geoff Duke, who died last May.

Ken McIntosh on the left with the first ever Featherbed Manx

The Porc uncrated, Mike and I went for a tour of the paddock.  The National Motorcycle Museum had a huge display of Nortons spanning everything from the Rem Folwer bike that won the inaugural  TT twin cyl. class (but let's not forget that Charlie Collier won the single cyl. class and overall on a Matchless), through Manxes, JPN Commando based racers and the Cosworth engined Challenge, through a whole gaggle of rotary racers.  There was a big display of Kawasakis and there I saw Hurley Wilvert.  I chatted with Ollie Linsdel, who's remarkable Royal Enfield racer had been the fastest single in the previous evening's practice.  Chris McGahan had some remembrances of the Porc from when he lived just down the block from where Mike Duff stayed in London when he was riding Tom Arter's Porc.  I caught up with Bill Swallow, who was racing along side of his son, Chris.  And we visited Dave and Lorraine Crussel and Scott Clough, who was looking after Dave's TZ750. The Mike and I went for a lap in the van.  We stopped at Tony East's A.R.E. Museum in Kirkmichael.  I paid particular attention to Tony's Greeves Sport Twins, a model with which I've recently become enamored.

A Greeves Eastcoaster at Tony East's A.R.E. Museum in Kirk Michael

 As we were leaving, we bumped into Mick Grant, who had ridden the T/O Porcupine at Cadwell Park in 2001, and asked me if it still vibrated so much and I allowed that on the dyno at 8000rpm it was buzzing pretty hard.
We drove on around the course to the Bungalow and got out and made a pilgrimage to the Joey Dunlop memorial there.  Then we almost finished  the lap, but turned left at Governors Bridge and drove through Onchan and the back roads to Hillberry to watch evening practice.  Hillberry is one of my favorite places on the course, a very fast right hand bend at the bottom of a long straight decent from Brandish, where the bikes sweep out towards the wall as they climb toward Cronk ny Mona.  Marshaling there was Les Trotter, a Senior Manx Grand Prix winner and someone I'd gotten to know racing in the Classic Manx GPs in the 80's.  It was great catching up with him and especially fortuitous as my pit neighbor the previous weekend at Mosport, Ron Kalaquin, had asked me to say hello to Les if I ran into him. After practice, Mike and I had dinner at a very good Thai restaurant oddly named New Manila.

A Norton featherbed with a Velocette motor we saw at Hillberry

The steering damper knob on the 'Velton'

Fri. morning, I went to the airport to pick up Rob Iannucci, major domo of Team Obsolete and the man who had tracked down and bought the Porcupine.  There, I ran into Bill Haas from Rhode Island, who regularly marshals at the Manx GP.  He was there to pick up Gordon Razee, a motorcycle dealer from R.I.,  and entourage.  Rob arrived, but his luggage didn't.  Also on the plane was an Aussie, who recognized me from racing in OZ, and we gave him a lift to Douglas.  After we got Rob checked into the hotel, we went up to the paddock and I went and fetched some Super Unleaded petrol, which we mixed with Avgas.  With this, we fired up the Porc in front of a very appreciative audience.  We saw Dean de St.Croix, a very fast classic racer from Canada, who had just come from a classic race in Most, Czech Republic and who was laying the ground work for a return to racing at the IOM where he raced in 2000 Classic Lightweight MGP on Henry Hogben's 250 Ducati.
I ran into John Cronshaw, who had come over on his original Goldstar road bike and was there helping his good friend Sandro Baumam, from Switzerland.  Then I saw Jim Redman, who Rob had re-united with the Team Obsolete RC 163 Honda six which Jim had raced when it first appeared at Monza in Sept. of 1964 then paraded many times in the late '90s.  At age 83, he's still looking good and  participating in many events in Europe.
Mike and I took off to watch evening practice.  We drove to a spot that I remembered spectating at many years before between Ballaspur and Doran's Bend.  This involved walking through a culvert under the course to get to the field on the other side.  But, the marshall there told us the farmer who owned the field no longer allowed spectating there, so we drove on to Cronk-y-Voddy crossroads.  We watched there for a while, but the wind finally forced us out before practice was over.
Sat., I drove Rob to an appointment in Peel and had some time to kill, so I drove along the coast road almost to Kirkmichael where I saw an intriguing path that went to the beach.  I found a place to park the van, then walked back to this path.  An oncoming motorcyclist passed and waved and I waved back, thinking just a friendly biker.  After a moment, he turned around and came back, stopped, and said 'Dave, are you stuck?'  I told him that I was just taking a walk and thanked him for checking, but I was amazed that someone who I did not recognize, would recognize me while riding by and turn around and check if everything was OK.  But, the Isle of Man is like that.

The ford at Glen Mooar

 I walked down the path, crossing a ford, to the beach which was deserted except for a Dad doing some 'civil engineering' with his two young sons in the sand.  I walked up the beach until the sea was crashing into the cliffs.

The beach at Glen Mooar

The Island has changed a lot since I first came there in 1974, with more houses and traffic, but there are still absolutely gorgeous spots to enjoy.
Then it was back to the paddock where Cathy and Frank Smith tracked us down.  They were with their Scottish friends who they had been staying with before coming over to the Isle.   We walked down to St. Ninian's crossroads to watch the Senior Classic race.  There we saw Pat Mooney and Gordon Razee.  The race was dominated by replica Italian exotica with Dean Harrison leading from start to finish on a MV-3 chased by Ian Lougher on a Paton.  Last year Lougher was penalized 30 seconds for speeding in the pit lane, but overcame this disadvantage and still won the race.  This year Lougher was again penalized 30 seconds for speeding in the pit lane.  He put in the fastest lap of the race, but ended up 26 seconds behind Harrison with the 30 sec. penalty.  There was some thought that Michael Dunlop might have a shot at the win on the Molnar 4 valve Manx since he could go the distance without a pit stop, whereas the multis would have to stop for fuel, but he ended up retiring with a mechanical issue.
After the race, we loaded up the van with the Porc, fuel, tools and spares, to head to Jurby in the morning.  That evening we went to Ballasala for dinner at our old friend Paul & Sue Barrett's house.  Paul was the one who arranged my first ride at the IOM and taught me the course and, years later, moved to the Isle.  With us was Dave Arnold, winner of the 1973 Lighttweight MGP, and Chris Bladon a former MGP competitor and renowned Aermacchi tuner, now involved with developing mini gas turbine motors.
Sunday morning, we drove up to the north of the Island for the Jurby Festival.  There's a WWII era airfield there which now has a short circuit race track on it and for the Festival, bikes of all different eras  and sizes lap the circuit.  There's no racing, just unrestricted parades.   There are two sessions for the Lap of Honour bikes and it's a good opportunity to shake down the bikes before doing the lap on the Mountain Circuit the next day.

turn #1 at Jurby, sorry, don't know who to give photo credit to.

 I was out there with a bunch of Norton rotaries, but for once I wasn't on the oldest or smallest bike.  Glen English was riding a 50cc Itom and someone was on a KTT Velocette.  We had very little time on the Porcupine, which makes one a little anxious, but the bike just seemed to get better the more we ran it.

exiting turn #1 at Jurby, again, don't know who took the photo

It was another beautiful day and there was a huge crowd.
That evening, we went to a memorial for Geoff Duke at St.. Ninian's Church.  Sammy Miller and Bill Smith gave remembrances of Duke and the event ended with what has to be a first in the history of the know universe:  a 500 Gilera 4 cyl., of the type Duke raced, was fired up in the Church and ridden out.  But, the Isle of Man is like that.
From the memorial, we went to the embarrassingly named 'Heros Dinner'.  The TT winners are distributed around to different tables to have dinner with the paying public.  We had 4 Aussies, an Italian, and an American couple, he competing in the MGP as a newcomer, at our table, all keen enthusiasts.  Charlie Williams, an 8 time TT winner, was M.C. and he introduced all the 'Heros' then got Bruce Anstey, John McGuinness, and Michael Dunlop up on the stage for an interview.
Monday's schedule was the Junior Classic race first, then the Lap of Honour, then the F1/F2 Classic race.  But, when we got up to the paddock, found there was a communications glitch and Race Control couldn't speak with the marshals.  The Junior Classic race was postponed, then postponed again, then again and again.  Most of the participants figured that the Lap of Honour was going to be scraped or put off to Tues., and the weather forecast for Tues. wasn't so good.  And some, like Mat Oxley, couldn't stay the extra day.  Finally, nearly 3 hours late, it was announced that the Jr. Classic was going to be shortened to 3 laps and Lap of Honour and F1/F2 race would follow.  I didn't get to pay much attention to the Jr. Classic race what with scrutineering and getting ready for the lap myself.  I started #14 and was passed by many faster bikes, but did pass a few myself.

lining up on Glencrutchery Rd. to start Lap of Honour, photographer unknown

t

the Launch

At Quarterbridge, Alan Lygo photo

rounding the Gooseneck on the Lap of Honour, photographer unknown

 Somewhere after Ballaugh, Alex George came by me on a Norton rotary and I was able to follow him for a good ways as he slowly pulled away.  I lost sight of him in Ramsey, but then saw him again at Brandywell and closed on him into Windy Corner.  He was clearly having a problem and I passed him before I got to the 32nd.  Afterwards I talked to him and he told me that he ran out of petrol and that he coasted all the way down to Hillberry where he knew someone would have some fuel. Sure enough, he was able to get some and restart the bike and finish the lap.  I finished the lap trouble free and was able to ride at a pace that kept it interesting, but I didn't scare myself once.

The flyscreen after the Lap, photographer unknown

 I talked to Les Trotter after the lap and he said that after he did the jump at Ballaugh Bridge, he got a shock every time he touched the clutch lever on the RG 500 Suzuki that he was riding.  Not wanting to abuse the gearbox of this valuable bike, he dutifully used the clutch for each shift, but the anticipation of using the clutch was a bad as the actual shock.  They found after that the fuel tank had moved down when he landed from the jump and a spark plug lead was grounding on the tank and electrifying the clutch lever.  I spoke to Steve Parrish the next morning at the hotel and I mentioned that I thought they were going to cancel the Lap.  He told me that he thought so too and that he got the word that it was going ahead while he was in the Beer Tent.  He was sure that the beer helped him on his lap on a Molnar Manx, the first time he had ridden a Manx at the Island.  Monday evening we had dinner with local friends at a restaurant on the quay in Peel.
Tuesday, Mike and I crated up the bike and tools and spares.  I had some time to kill in the afternoon, so I took a ride to Laxey.  By the time I got there, the Laxey Wheel, a huge water wheel that was used to pump water out of the lead mine, had closed, but I was able to wander around some of the other old mining structures and see the train come through town on the Electric Railway.  It's a charming trip back into the Victorian era.

The Laxey Wheel

a flathead Norton outfit I spied at the Laxey Wheel

the leaf spring on the Norton sidecar

We had a very amusing dinner with John Cronshaw and Sandro Baumann that evening.  Sandro's English isn't so good (though it's far better than my Italian), but John's Italian is very good, and they're both very funny.  Rob knows a bit of Italian and Mike speaks pretty good Spanish, which Sandro also speaks.  So the dinner was conducted in three languages and lots of hand gestures and was great fun.
Wednesday morning it was off to the airport to fly back to New York via Dublin and so ended another wonderful trip to that magic Isle.