The preparatory work turned up trumps – second fastest newcomer, behind Manxman
Conor Cummins, at 116.2mph, a time of 19 minutes 28.91 second during Wednesday practice. Jeremy really appreciated all the assistance received during his stay; during that session Dave Bell pulled in front of him, indicating he should stay in tow and then pulled him around for most of a lap, giving him greater insight into racing lines. In fact, Jeremy was so impressed with his first TT experience, “we stayed with a marshal called Ian and his wife, nicest people in the world. Milky gave us his wife’s car…things like that blow US hospitality away”.

Racing around the Mountain Course is a far cry from the dirt bikes he raced as a kid, but
over almost two decades, the San Diegan has competed in almost every discipline offered on
two wheels - supercross, motocross, road racing, desert riding and flat rack – giving him a
good grounding for his TT debut. He turned professional as a road racer in 1998, since securing many top ten places in AMA Superbike events in fields containing the likes of Duhamel, Mladin and the Bostroms. It was at Macau last year, where he has sixth and ninth positions to his credit, that he was approached to ride at the 2006 TT…and so began the preparations. Liaison Officers Paul Phillips and Milky Quayle were involved in arranging rides with the Martin Bullock team; was Jeremy impressed with the Bullock set up? You bet he was, “he gave me a brand new, well prepped 06 GSXR 1000, a great mechanic and a very nice place to pit…oh, and a couple of nice dinners”.

Great progress was being made during practice, which was fantastic news for supporters
and the organisers; some will remember the hype in 1981 when a top US racer, Dale Singleton,
was persuaded to make the journey over the pond to test his skills against the world’s toughest
circuit, but ended up ‘taking the mick’ by pitting at the end of each lap in the Classic TT, even
having the time to eat an apple on one of his visits. Not so with Jeremy, or indeed Mark Miller,
who both approached the event in a thoroughly professional manner, justifying the time and
effort spent on them by sponsors, mechanics and the like. What did Jeremy actually think about racing on the Isle of Man? Best read the quotes he gave to an American journalist on his return to California… “the course itself is daunting – 37.7 miles in length. The conditions go from nice streets to completely bumpy, jarring conditions. Sections of the course seem like they were designed to be dangerous. But they aren’t there by any design, they’re just there. Then there are the speeds. Ludicrous speeds; the Superbikes hit 207 mph on the radar guns along the straights There are a couple of 160-mph jumps. Speed doesn’t bother me. In racing, some of the most relaxing times for a rider are when you are going the fastest on a straight. That’s when you catch your breath. But when you go off a jump at 180 miles an hour ... and you’d be riding at these incredibly high speeds and the course would change under the bike before you could slow. There would be dirt on the course or a cross wind. It’s intense”.

What problems beset Jeremy during the practice periods? “The problem of going too slow!
Other than that, only minor set-up problems with the bike; setting a bike up for the TT turned out to be to be way different than I thought”. So, preparations had gone well, in fact so well that our Californian friend was moved up the starting order for all of his races, a positive move on the grounds of safety and certainly a compliment to the rider. His Superbike Suzuki was scheduled to start at No 57, but on the day of the event it was sporting number 29, that of the injured Ken Doherty. A fine finish, 26th with a Bronze Replica, but in a post race chat, Jeremy reckoned he’d set off too slow as he didn’t really know what to expect….too slow? A fastest lap time of around 19 minutes 12 seconds rendering a speed of just under 118mph and an average race speed of 115.74mph… yeh, really slow for a newcomer!!... and to put his performance further into perspective he was the best placed newcomer to the course. Team manager, Martin Bullock reckoned “he paced himself well, but still saved enough to back it into Signpost big style right in front of me!” This manoeuvre was something Jeremy was obviously perfecting during the fortnight as can be seen in the accompanying photo courtesy of Equipe Ajax at the same location during the Superstock event, in which he came home in 39th position, third best newcomer and with another Bronze. Jeremy takes up the story “I felt oil on my boot so I pitted for an extra time; I wasn’t there to take chances, although it turned out to be just a little chain lube”. Martin Bullock added that he had problems throughout with quite an unusual gear lever trouble. Although his average was 113.368mph, his pit crew timed him out of the pits and back
to the finish line on lap three at over 120! This obviously doesn’t appear officially because that
lap included the previous stop, but it certainly was a sign of things to come!

The Senior TT and a start number of 34…”I hadn’t been on the bike for four days, but you just roll it up to the line and off you go! It took me a couple of laps to get tuned in again” Tuned in he did get – a first lap at over 118mph, on three occasions he bettered his personal best and to finish with a circuit at 120.555mph to give him 20th position, a third bronze, the Iceman Trophy for the best performance by an overseas newcomer. Indeed, Jeremy is the fastest ever overseas newcomer at the TT.

There has been much discussion over recent years about the quality of competitors wanting to take on the demanding intricacies of the Mountain Course, thus securing the event’s future – the following names should give you a positive take on this issue……Toye, Buckley, Cummins, Miller, Poole, Dunlop, Bitter, Edmeades – all 114pmh+ in their first TT. A brilliant debut by Jeremy Toye, who deserves the final word, “the first time you go out on the course, you ride behind a marshal who has also told you about the course and goes over the dangers. My first one or two laps out there, I was scared out of my mind. I was beside myself, really wondering what I had gotten myself into. It is so intense, nearly 40 miles of maximum concentration. But once you start racing and grow a respect for the course, it becomes addicting. I had people coming up to me telling me how great I had done and what an accomplishment it was. When you are 25th, you’re not really thinking in those terms. But when I look back now ... nothing I’ve ever done before was as intense as this.”

Next year is the 100th anniversary of the first Isle of Man motorcycle races. Jeremy’s intentions? “If everything falls into place, I’ll be back.” Let’s hope that proves to be the case; he’s
been a breath of fresh air, adding an international dimension to the event – everyone agrees it was great to work with someone who is so appreciative.

Graham Bean