ABC Tour – Competition Completion

RACE WEEK FRIDAY

The grand finale of the TT fortnight is the Senior Race held on Friday.  We like to watch this race from Kirk Bradden, but as it is a really popular venue to watch from you need to get there early. The race was scheduled for a 12.15pm start.  We arrived at 6.45am and we weren’t the first ones there. 

It was a nice morning to be sitting in the sun and the church looked lovely in the early morning light.

While we were waiting I caught up on some blogging.

We were so early that there was no one in the seating area over the road.

The truck load of fuel canisters was still on its way to pit lane.

As the morning progressed, it started to get cloudy, and quite cool.  We heard reports of rain at Ramsey at the top of the race course and then the announcement that racing would be delayed by an hour.  Not to worry, we were well fed, had nice people around us to chat to and I read a book.  Quite a nice social day anyway.

Of course, the church ladies excelled themselves with the catering again.  I even remembered to take a photo of some of the selection of cakes.

What a civilised way to watch the racing.

By the way, lunch was beautiful, homemade minestrone and a pasty.  Why would you watch the main day of racing from anywhere else.

There was a further delay announced after more rain and some hail further north.  Finally, at 2.00pm the parade lap of Yamahas to celebrate 50 years of their involvement in the TT got proceedings underway.

Then the Subaru display lap went around.

After further delays, the “Mountain Milestones” parade lap to celebrate 100 years of the Mountain Course went past.  The first bike past was  a Douglas sidecar which won the 1923 race.  Unfortunately, it didn’t make it all the way around.

There were some memorable bikes.  Agostini is always a favourite.

How sidecars have changed over the years.

John McGuinness was there for being the first to break the 130 mph lap speed barrier.

Ian Hutchinson was there to celebrate his five race wins last year.  It was very unfortunate that his injured leg prevented him from competing this year.

By this time the road was starting to dry out and five hours after it was due to start, the race got underway at 5.15pm.  Now, if someone asked us to sit in the cold on hard pews with nothing to do for ten and a half hours we would think they were barmy, but it was worth it for the great race that followed.

It was quite close all the way around the six laps with the final result being John McGuinness winning his 17th TT race.

Guy Martin came second.  He still hasn’t won a race, but was on the podium for four out of the five races this week, so it was a fine effort by him.

Third place went to Bruce Anstey.  There are some inklings that he may not race again next year, and if that eventuates he will have gone out on a high.

Cameron Donald ended up coming fourth, after a frustrating week of racing for him.

After the race was over it hit home that our time on the island is nearing its end.  Only a couple of more days till we go back to England.