Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Isle of Man Tourist Trophy th e start, leading by eight secon ds at th e 20-m ile time check on the opening lap. The V&M crew had based its strategy on stopp ing one lap earlier than most of the field so as to get in a "flying" lap on the fina l tour (that is, no stopping or starting for pits). Ho weve r, this was to backfire. McCallen broke the class lap record from a stan ding start. His average speed was 118.94 mph . Qui te a remarkable accomplishme nt considering this w as a 600cc machine with treaded tires. With Duffus stopping at the end of the first lap, he tem porarily put himself out of conte n tio n (until the ot h er lead in g lights h ad com ple te d their pi t stops, which most took at the end of the second lap). With Duffus' early delay it Vias left to V&M teammate Ian Simpson to try to pressure McCallen. But he was 33 seconds behind the Irishm an halfway round the second lap . Jim Moodie at this stage w as holding a stea dy third. Duffus w as seventh. McCallen's p it stop went off without a hitch and all eyes in the pit area looked to see if Duffus would be on terms as he comp leted his secon d lap , all p it stops havi ng been taken. It wa sn't to be. The Scot trailed by 17 second s going into the final tour an d McCallen had the race in th e bag . The p ac e remain ed constant throu gho ut the final lap and the Ulsterman won his second race of the week by 18 seconds. McCallen was deligh ted to beat Duffus in this 600cc event, as th e Scot ha d lambasted him over alleged reckless riding in last year 's event. "1 th ink it wa s best to stop late," said McCallen . "You don't have to worry about getting all the fuel into the tank. It's a bit of a splash and dash. It worked for us." Duffus w as visibly disappointed, but he had to admi t that McCallen had rid den brilliantly. "I still hate him though," said the Scot afterward, only half tonguein-cheek. Duffus' V&M teammate Simpson completed the podium finishers with a su pp osed ly trouble-free rid e to third place. PRODUCTION TT 24 Then penultimate race of the 1996 IT was a return of the previously controv ersial standard Production race. The last time such a race wa s held on the island was in 1989, and it had been blighted by the death of two contemporary IT stars Phil Mell or and Steve Henshaw. James Whitham, who had witnessed Mello r's accident and then crashed with Henshaw later in th e race, but got up unhurt, vow ed never to return. He had been as good as his word. In truth, the production bikes of 1996 are a much more stable entity than the '89 versions, which wer e admittedly too big, too heavy and too unwieldy. For th is year' s even t, the ruling had ori ginally been for an engine capacity of 750 cc, which suited Yamaha, Su zuki a n d Kawasaki down to the ground. Unfortunate ly, Honda did not feel that the standard RC45 w ould be competitive and politely argued a case for a raise in capacity. The organi zers bowed to the pressure. Honda, after all, is the only manufacturer ' that backs the IT in il:ny official capacity these days. So a 1010cc maximum capacity it would be. Now, w hat did Honda have that would fit into this category? Oh, yes, the CB R900RR Fireblade. Na tura lly, Kawasaki a nd Suzuki weren' t too impressed, the former deciding no t to actually bother after rider Simon Beck's North West 200 accident. Suzuki, however, decided to continue, providing official machines for New Zealander Shaun H arr is and Scot Jim Moodie. Meanwhile Yamah a w asn 't too w or ried ' abo ut th e . n ew capacity rul e as they h a d th eir YZFI000 Thundera ce to fall back on . An d when little-known rider De nnis Winterbott am quali fied one in first place at an average spee d of 116.97 mph, the Tuning Fork men were ecstatic indeed . Still it was thou ght that the CBR900RR wo uld be the tool to have, and most of th e lead ing ligh ts had access to the m, incl u di ng McCall en, Rutter , Jeff eries, Duffus and Simpson. Of course, McCallen was on track to become jus t the fourth inan in history to win three IT races in one week. Early in the race his weeklong riva l Duffus w as the Ulst erman ' s target, and it was the V&M Fireblade of the Scot wh ich led by three seconds at the end of the opening lap. McCallen w as secon d, with Welshm an N igel Da v ies on the first of th e Thund eraces jus t four seco nds back in th ird . Colin Gable was fourth on h is Honda, Tim Leech fifth and Lee Pull en sixth. H alfway rou n d the second o f three laps McCallen made his move, an d by lap's end he headed Duffus by three sec. on ds. Pu llan, however, comp lime nting his .fine ride in the F-l race, was having another fanta sti c outing an d h ad hi s Thunderace up to third, still 34 seconds adrift of Duffus. This was somewhat of a false dawn, though, as Nigel Davies, the th ird -place rid er at th e end of lap one, had pitt ed at the end of that lap, and his time wo uldn 't equali ze ou t until the first time checkpoint of the final lap. Sure enough at Glen He len on the last tour, Dav ies w as back in third , but like Duffus before him in the 600cc event, the early-stop gamble didn't payoff. He was some 15 second s beh ind the fro nt tw o, who remained neck and neck for the lead. So it was head-to-head , bu t for Ramsey on the final lap the w rit ing was on the wa ll with McCallen stretching ahead now by 4.5 seconds. At the finish he wa s six seconds in front, and elated. "This is the best sportb ike in the world," exclaime d McCallen in victory lane. "I had to take it easy on the first lap because we had made some susp ension chariges overnight, and to be honest we went a bit too far the wrong wa y. So I took it easy initially. Once I got the feel of the bike, though, there was no problem." Duffus was his usual disconsolate self after the race. "I couldn't stay with him (McCallen)," he explained. "I didn't want to push too hard, because wh en you start to do that round here you can get very ragged." . . Prior to the race there had been much talk of the Fireblades not having the fuel capacity to make two laps, yet it was the (Below) Real road racing: A rider leaves Ballaugh Village with homes - and walls on either side. Four death s this year underlined the unforgiving nature of the 37.73-mile Mountain circuit. (Right) IT regular lain Duffus rode to an Impressive second behind his rival McCallen In the shortened, three-lap 600cc race. Yama ha tha t see me d to h ave the fuel problems. Early fifth-place runner Leech ran out completely on lap two, and Nigel Davies had to play with the Thun derace's throttle to ensure he had enoug h fuel to finish. " I ra n ou t com plete ly abo u t threequarters of a mile from the finish," said th e Wel shman . "We just h ad enough momentum to get the thing hom e." A s ex pected, the Suzukis w er e nowhere in sight. Eleventh-place finisher Ian Lougher w as the first GSXR rider to cro ss th e lin e, ju st on e place ahead of Moodie. So it was H onda's day of day s, although everyone knew that it would be anyway. SENIORTT (SUPERBIKE, F-l , 600CC, AND 250cc GP) And so IT '96 finished with motorcycle racing's version of Formul a Libre, the Senio r IT. Despite the array of machinery, it is alw ays the Superbikes which dominate. Phil McCallen ha d his easiest wi n o f th e week ab o ar d the Honda Britain RC45. Alon gside Dunlop's 20th and 21st IT wins earlier in the week, this too was a histori c IT moment, as the 32year-old McCallen became the first man to win four races in one week. He won by one minute, 13 seconds in front of Dunlop himself. " It was fai rly trouble-free," sa id McCallen. "Although when I caught Joey on the road on the fifth lap I started to lose concentration. I seemed to be saying to myself that here I wa s on the way to winning four IT races in one week. You can't afford to do that rou nd here . It can come back and bite you." Dunlop came through the field from ninth place to score a fine runner-up placing. "I just couldn' t get into the race early on," exp lained the IT veteran . "I seemed to move up as others dro pped ou t and I stared to push a little harder. But it was a bit hairy on the last couple of laps. I d id the wh ole (six-lap) race on the same slick an d it was sliding rou n d a ll over th e place: ' Nick Jefferies made it a Hond a Britain pod ium . The Englishman ha d looked to be on for runner-u p spo t with but a lap to go. But his RC45 developed severe handling problems on th e fina l lap and he had to ease off. Still, the Yorkshire man was happy with his second podium position of the week. la in Du ffu s rounded ou t what he thought was a miserable week when his RC45 bro ke a crank on the opening lap. Fell ow Scot Jim Mo odie h ad been McCallen' s nearest challenger for the first four lap s aboard the Reve Kaw asaki. A sn app ed p lu g lead put him out of the race . Mich ael Rutter w as also out after four laps, a broken clutch p in ending his race. Veteran Bob Jackson finall y put his race face on to finish a good fourth on his Kawasaki ZXR (and topp ing the speed trap figures at 180 mph for goo d measure). Lee Pullan finished a steady fifth on th at 4-year-old FZR750, while Shaun Ha rris brou ght the Britten home for its first IT finish in 23rd p lace. Am erican Tommy Montano's 15th place shouldn't be overlooked as the Californian was on a standard CBR600 and averaged 113 mph for the six laps. Despite the hi story-making antic s of McCallen an d Du nlop, the 1996 Isle of Man IT will alas be remembered more for the accidents than for the races. Yet th e cro w d s continue to pour in to th e island (40,000 spectators in a place where the normal population is 70,000), and the riders continue to appear to want to ride on the Isl e of Man. There is probab ly nothing to be don e about the danger element . The course is too long for that. But one supposes that as long as someone w ants to orga n iz e it , and men and women want to race, there will be a IT. 11\ Mountain Circuit Isle of Man Results: June 1-7, 1996 F-l : 1. Phillip McCallen (Hon); 2. Nick Jefferies CHon); 3. M ich ae l Ru tter (D ue) ; 4. lain Du ffus (Han); 5. Jaso n Griffiths (Han). Average Speed: 116.18 m ph. Fastest Lap: lain Duffus. 120.84 mp h. 2S0cc I. Joey Dunlop (Han); 2. Jim Moodie (Han); 3. Jaso n Griffiths (Hon ); 4. Phillip McCallen (Hon ); S. Nig el Davies (Yam), Average Speed: 115.31 m ph. Fastest up: Phillip McCa llen,. 116.94 m ph. 12Scc: 1. JO€'y Dunl op (Han); 2. Gavin Lee (Han ); 3. Glen English (Han); 4. Ian tougher (Apr); 5. Bob Heath (Han). Average Speed: 106.33 m ph Fastest Lap: Joey Dunlop. H17.62 mph. SGL: 1. Jim Moodie (Yam); 2. Dave Morris (BMW); 3. Bob Jackson (BRS); 4 . johanne s Kehrer (MZ); 5. Craig Mclean (Due~ Average Speed: 108.19 m ph . Fastest Lap: Dav e Morris, 109.05 mph. 6OOcc:: 1. Philip McCaBen (Hon ); 2 lain Duffus (Hon) ; 3. Ian Simpson (Hon); 4. Colin Ga bl e (Han); 5. Jas on Griffiths (Hon). . PROD: 1. Phillip McCalle n (Han) ; 2. la in Duffus (Hon); 3. Ni gel Davies (Yam ); 4. Colin Gab le (Han); 5. Lee Pu llan (Yam). Average Speed : 117.32 mph. Fastest Lap: Phillip McCal len , 118.93 mph. SR: I. Phi llip McCa nen (Han); 2. Joey Dunlop (Han); 3. N ick Jefferi es (Hon); 4. Bob Jackson (Kaw). 5. Lee Pullan (Yam ). Average Speed: 119.76 mph. Fastes t Lap: Phillip McCallen. 122.14 mph.

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