It’s the Pits

So far, I haven’t really shared anything much to do with the reason that we are over here now – motorcycle racing.

It’s been going on for nearly a fortnight.  We first visited the Pit Paddock on the Friday before practice started, when it was still rather quiet, but a good opportunity to have a wander around.

There are big, flash teams.  This collection of Yamaha reproductions are all owned by the one man and until now have never been raced. He has now sold them all and after this fortnight they will all be serviced and are going to their new owners. 

Kawasaki also have a rather flash collection.

I liked the decal on the tail of this bike.

The name “Ollie Linsell” didn’t mean much to me.  He actually went on to win the first race of the week on this bike.

As we wandered around, I just looked at what was nice, not really knowing which bike was for which rider.  It turns out that this is the bike destined to be ridden by Guy Martin.  The only problem was that Guy didn’t turn up to ride it until Thursday of practice week and you had to have completed two laps of practice by the end of Wednesday’s practice session.  Therefore, he was ineligible to ride in further practice or the racing. Quite disappointing for everyone involved, as well as the spectators.  Much controversy, but the rules are the rules.

 

Then there are the rest of the racers, who go with the  help of friends and family and some local sponsorship. We watched the start of practice next to the family of this racer.  They all pitch in to help.

Of course, Mick found the Aussie tent.  There were quite a few Aussies competing, other that Cameron Donald, who is one of the favourite racers, both in ability and personality. 

It is good to see a group of racers travel all this way without the big sponsorship and backing of the major riders. They had about ten bikes here, which was a great effort.

It was also fun seeing the range of accommodation for the riders and their teams.  From the grandiose.

To the humble.  Complete with Aussie flag.

Here are a few more random pictures.

 

Now we were ready for the racing to begin.