RACE DAY MONDAY
Racing was on again today, so we had to decide where to watch from. Quite a few people have mentioned Cronk Y Voddy as being a good fast spot, so we thought we’d suss it out today.
You sit in a farmer’s field (not to be confused with a “paddock”, which is the pit paddock). You pay a pound to park your bike and there are basic facilities and food van. We got there nice and early to get a spot on the fence and watch the world go by before the road is closed.
The first race was the 600s over four laps. Cameron Donald took an early lead and was favoured to win. Two of the favourites, Guy Martin and Michael Dunlop had to retire early on.
Then, to everyone’s dismay the race was red flagged and stopped. Unfortunately, a rider fell off and was killed near the hedge we sat on last week. The very worst outcome there could be.
After some delay, it was decided to restart the race and run it over three laps. All the original starters were eligible, so Michael and Guy were back in.
Cameron once again took the lead, but his bike just stopped, for no apparent reason at Kirk Michael, so he had to retire. Michael Dunlop had problems again, so had to retire for a second time. The eventual winner was Kiwi Bruce Anstey, being his ninth TT win, which is pretty amazing. Keith Amor came second. He fell off in practice last week and hurt his shoulder, so it is an amazing result for him. I think he must be in a lot of pain. To everyone’s delight, Guy Martin came third and had a podium finish. Things are looking up for him.
Due to the rerun of the first race, the schedule had to be rearranged and the day became rather long. The weather had been cold and breezy initially, but it fined up to a nice sunny day, although that breeze was still there.
The sidecars came out for a couple of laps of practice.
Subaru are supplying the official vehicles this year and a WRX rally car did a demonstration lap and surprised everyone by doing a faster lap than the sidecars.
Then the electric bikes came out for a practice lap. There has been a prize on offer for the first one of these bikes to do a lap exceeding 100mph. That prize was won today.
The second race was initially due to start at 3.15pm, but didn’t get under way until 6.30pm. By then the weather had closed in a bit and it had got quite cold. It was only 9 degrees plus a very cold wind. So much for summer.
The second race was also over four laps and the competition was fast and furious. Michael Dunlop took an early lead and just kept on increasing that lead. No one was close. These three bikes had our hearts in our mouths as the flew past, side by side. Keep in mind this stretch of the course is at around 190mph. There is not very much margin for error.
During the first lap we started to get a few spots of rain and hoped that after all the waiting around that the race wouldn’t be interrupted. Fortunately, it cleared up.
Fortunately, there were no incidents during the race and Michael Dunlop went on to win quite comfortably. This was his second win and he is only 23.
Keith Amor and Guy Martin had quite a tussle all the way around.
In then end John McGuinness came second and Guy Martin came third.
There is no racing tomorrow, but weather permitting, we still have plenty to do.
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