Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

At the end of the second lap, it was Moodie wh o had ed ged out a 2.5-second lead over Duffus, with Simpson another two se conds back. It was Duffu s, though, who ha d the edge after the pit stops at the end of this lap, exitin g the pits three seconds fast er than Moodie, an d four better than Simpson. Now th e exci te m en t really se t in . First Moodie wen t missing between the start/finish and Glen Helen. Ironically, he had fallen at high speed at the infamous Black Dub, exact ly the sa me spot where his Yamaha teammate Farm er had been fa tally injured in practice. Moodie was very lucky, the high-speed accident resulting in nothing more. than a broken thumb. It was left to Duffus, now, to take on th e mantle as race lead er , and he led Simpson by so me six seconds at Glen Helen. By ,Ra ms ay, the gap had increased to 10 seconds and it remained that wa y until they finished their fourth and fin al lap. At th at poin t, Simpson beg an to fade in the race. "It was the sa me as last year," Simpson expl ained . "I lost my contact lens n ot one th is time, b ut bo th of them. What's more, ram sure that I actu ally swallowed one of them. For those last two laps, I cou ldn't see at thing:' H e still managed to kee p the CBRs behind him, even tually finishi ng tw o seconds ahead of Ward. "Despite the cliche, it's a dr eam come true," Duffus said. "The bike was just per fect , and I have to th ank my longtime engine b uild er H ara ld Cross for doing such a great job w ith the motor. It was a real close race with Jim and Ian, but I felt com fortab le a t the pace we were going and felt confident I could finally win here. I actu ally saw Jim by the side of the road jus t after his accident. He gave me the thumbs up , so I knew he was okay." Down the orde r, the Ca lifornians were battling away once mo re and it was McLean a nd Montano who wer e again literally u p eac h other 's exhau st pipes. Both finished with Bronze replica trophies -(awa rded for finishing within a certain ti me of th e ra ce w inne r) a nd we re separated by a "massive" .2-of-asecond - this time in Montano's favor. The effervescen t Mr. Boyd was in 31s t, w hile Joe O'Sullivan an d Kevin McCrea o pened their IT forays with 66th- an d 67th-place fi nishes after a multitude of problems. ...ere severely broken, and it seems his -adng career may be in jeopardy. Dunlop's teammate Michael Rutter ",as perhaps saved from the same set of :ircumstances when his rear wheel was 'ound to have similar cracks on the hub. I'he team changed the wheel on the fou rth lap, possibly saving the 21-yearold from a serious accident. American rid ers are becoming more and more of a presence in the Tf paddock with each passing year. This year there were eight of them in the Fl race. Tommy Montano was suffering somewhat this year as a Daytona crash in March left him with a damaged wrist. He finished 25th overall in the Fl race on h is Honda CBR600, just behind friend and compatriot Craig McLean, who was most impressive in his second Tf visit. The margin between the two after six laps and 226 miles was just .6of-a-second, and they both averaged 107.40 mph for th e race. The colorful Wayd Boyd, an entrant in every IT event (includ ing grasstrack, motocross, and the classic parade), came in 34th on a CBR600 at 105.5 mph . The race was one of high attrition. The lone Britten of Nick Jefferies was eliminated on the third lap when the machine went onto only one cylinder. Jefferies had been as high as sixth, but dropped back when the engine gremlins set in. 600cc S UPERS PORT There have been rumblings at TT (Oppo site page) Steve Hislop navigates his way through Creg-Na-Baa en route to one 01 his two Isle 01 Man wins. (Right) Joey Dunlop won tw ice. (Below) lain Dullus runs through Braddan Bridge on the way to his 600cc Supersport win. time in r ecent ye a rs that the 600cc Supersp ort class should be the main race of the even t; that the ceiling on capacity for any bike at the Tf should be 6llOcc. Previously, some of the racing in this class hasn't been too absorbing, but this time around the 600s produced probably the best race of the week - and one of the unlikeliest Tf winners. lain Duffus has been a regular at the Isle of Man for eight years now, and pre viously his best finish had been a ru nner- u p placing behind fellow Scot Jim Moodie in last year's 400cc Supersport race . It was Moodie, again, with w hom Duffus was to fight for honors; a fight tha t turned into a three-way Scottish civil war with the emergence o f British Championship leader Ian Simpson. From the start, it looked as if w e could ha ve a rea l five-man battle with Englishman Steve Ward and UIsterman Philip McCallen both within just six sec- onds of the flying Scotsmen. However, by the end of the first 38-mile lap, it was Simpson leading Moodie by a little over a second with Duffus easily hanging on to th ird place, another second behind. W a rd had dropped to si x seconds beh ind and McCallen was' lo sing ground to Ward. The latter two riders were both Honda CBR600-mounted against the three Scots who were aboa rd the more dominant, under British regulations, Yamaha FZR600. SENIOR Tf The Senior Tf was mu ch like the Fl race - it was a rather dull p rocessiona l. In fact, everyone outsi de of Hislop 's pit would have been a little worried abou t the ease w ith which the Scot won hi s 11th overall Tf race. Though not as dominan t as in the Fl event, Hislop led by 19 seconds at the end of the first lap. McCallen, however, unlike in the Fl race, was being harried by Joey Dunlop . At the end of the second lap, Hislop was out of sight, leading McCallen by 30 seconds, who still had Dunlop bre athing down his neck, four seconds behind. At the end of the lap , pit stops came into pla y. All three Castrol Honda men changed tires and s pe d off on their merry way, leaving Jason Griffith trailing in fourth place by some 17 seconds. The Britten b y this time had been parked, w ith the twin shearing a primary gear. Jefferies had the bike up to seventh at the time, but his non-finish rounded out what had been a miserable week for the Kiwi team. At the end of four la ps the ord er read : H islop, McCallen (68 seconds back ), Dunlop (minus 39 seco nds), and 19

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