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A Manx win and La
Marseillaise is played again!
The weather again played its part in Wednesday's racing, starting
with a two hour delay in the roads closing. The revised schedule was
for the roads to close at 11:30 am and the Mylchreests 4 lap Junior
Manx Grand Prix to start at 12:15 pm. True to form further delays
were announced until the race eventually got away at 14:30 pm over a
reduced distance of 3 laps.
Gary Thompson, Clerk of the Course, explained that there had been
unexpected showers on parts of the course and that he was waiting
for the road to dry. Incremental 15 minutes delays were announced
including a final delay which was then superceded by another final
delay!! The window of opportunity eventually opened and the race got
underway.
Star of the future, nineteen year old James Hind, had unofficially
broken the Junior lap record in practice with a lap of 121.105 mph.
He was runner up in last years newcomers B race and had finished 7th
in the MGP Lightweight race. Listed at number 20 in the race guide
he was moved up to start at number 4, taking over Victor Lopez
Santos place, he had been unfortunately injured in a crash at Jurby
when testing.
Hind set a blistering pace on the first lap and officially broke the
lap record at 121.773 mph, however, his pace was too much for his
Yamaha and he retired at Greeba Bridge with an oil leak on the
second lap. Twenty one year old Manxman Nathan Harrison led the
chasing group and was pushed hard by Stephen Smith, Andrew Farrell
Steven Proctor and Brad Vicars. In an attempt to get out of the
pits, at the start of the third lap, Harrison forgot to put his rev
limiter on and broke the 60 kph pit lane limit and immediately
received a 30 second penalty. Utter disbelief in the Harrison pit,
they had gained 10 seconds on second placed Smith by their slick
work in the pits. The penalty put Harrison back to third once the
pit stops had been completed.
All's well that ends well and Harrison clawed his Chris Preston /
Quayside Tyres Honda back into the lead by Ramsey and then went on
to win by 3.886 seconds from Stephen Smith (Slipps Racing Suzuki)
with Eire's Andrew Farrell (JFR Racing / Steadplan Kawasaki) in
third. In the winners enclosure Farrell said that he had achieved
all that he wanted to achieve and that he was retiring as of now and
would not be riding in the evenings Lightweight race.
The last of the 60 finishers was Russian Danila Krasniuk who was
none the worse from wear after his spill at Sulby in the Newcomers
race. The first 48 finishers received were awarded replicas. Nathan
Harrison stood proud and tall as the Manx national anthem was played
whilst on the top step of the rostrum.
The Manx Grand Prix Supporters Club Lightweight and Ultra
Lightweight race was reduced to 3 laps and started at 18:30 pm.
Teenage sensation James Hind made no mistakes and won the 3 lap
Lightweight race by 28.693 seconds from Italian Francesco Curinga
(Paton S1-R) with Dave Butler( Z650 Kawasaki / AG Fabrication and
Engineering) in third. Hind erased Richard 'Milky' Quayle's long
standing lap record from the record books when he took his TZ250
Yamaha round at 116.453 mph. A real star in the making. There were
29 finishers with the first 20 gaining replicas.
It took 112 years for a Frenchman to win a race on the mountain
Course and stand on the top step of the rostrum and hear the La
Marseillaise, and then it happened again a day later! Remarkably
Lancelot Unissart, from Montreuil France, won the MGP Supporters
Club Ultra Lightweight Race from Guildford's Tom Snow (Honda NSF
Moto 3 / Falcon Electrical) by 15.669 seconds. Alex Sinclair was
third on his CSC Racing FZR Yamaha. Unissart set the fastest lap on
his Pullen Racing / French Assault VFR 400 Honda at 105.738 mph.
Fifteen of the sixteen finishers received replicas.
Gary Thompson, who appears to have been pulling rabbits out of hats
both here and at the TT did it again on Wednesday evening. He
announced that Fridays races would be brought forward to tomorrow,
Thursday. This is an unprecedented move, the weather forecast for
Friday is poor and no racing would be expected. There is provision
to run on Saturday however this was deemed not possible due to the
number of marshals who would have left or be leaving the Island.
Thursday will be eighth consecutive day of practicing / racing on
the Mountain Course, if the weather is poor on Thursday then the
meeting will be abandoned. There is no provision to go racing on
Friday if the Thursday option is taken and the weather turns, Gary
will have his prayer mat out tonight.
Photographs:
Bike Sponsor Chris
Preston with Junior MGP winner Nathan Harrison
Ultra Lightweight winner Lancelot Unissart with runner up Tom Snow #
61 and third placed man Alex Sinclair # 64
Bike art by
Quarterbridge marshals. Steph Watts has made a bike from the bits
taken off the road.
Seventies star Ian
Richards during Monday's parade lap.
Mike Hammonds
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