Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

..------------------------------ - - - - - - - - . - - - . ·R A RACE · Isle of Man To u ri~t Trophy OD II~ U By Stephen Burn s Photos by Nigel Kinrade ISLE OF MAN, JUNE 1-7 Wo years ago in these pages this writer lamented in his IT review the grea t dangers that continue to prevail at this, the longest road racing circuit in the world. At that time a fine Irish rider named Mark Fanner, then riding for Joh n Britten, was los t. For mer World Superbike star Bladasare Monti lay in a coma with serious head injuries, and with tragedy also affecting some of the, with all due respect, lesser-known riders, the Isle of Man IT's very existence was unde r the microscope. It is with regret that this review mu st also commence with regret and as such be surrounded by tragedy. Four riders lost their lives at the 1996 IT. Two of them woul d be classed as IT stars. In much the same way that Scott Brayton's death at Indianapolis hit the car racing world hard, SO the deaths of Mick Lofthou se an d Robert Holden in Frida y morning 's penultimate practice session had much the same effect on the IT competitors, organizers and fans alike. New Zealander Holden ironically fell from his production Ducati 916 SP but a quarter of a mile from where his late Britten teammate Farmer had crashed at the Glen Hel en .section, some 10 miles out from the start. Holden, 37, was a seasoned IT competitor. He had many creditable placings on the island, and the older he got, th e more competitive he became. He won his first TT just 12 months ago in the Singles event, aboard a Ducati Supermono . Holden' s team owner, Steve Wynne, who masterminded Mike Hallwood's historic return in 1978, was moved to imm ediately retire from the sport. In a pragmatic but not unemotional p ress statement, Wynne said that H old en "s ta nds alo ngsid e our m o st famou s rid er, Mike Hail wood. I canno t en visage another rider with the same, now old -fashione d attributes, so I will retire with a se nse of satis factio n and achieveme n t, not regre t." The re wer e many who were like-minded in their feelings toward the likable Kiwi. Mick Lofth ou se was one of Britain 's top-three rated 125cc rid ers durin g the last three years. The 28-year-old from Preston, Lancash ire, had so nearly won his first IT in 1995, losing out on the 125cc even t by six-tenths of a second to Mark Baldwin . During this year's practice Lofthouse had easily been the fastest qualifier in the 125cc class, an incredible 56 seconds quicker than the second-placed rider and 14 seconds inside the lap record . Lofthouse's average speed for the la p was 110.18 mph - on a 125. Sadly "Mint," as he was affectionately known, was never to achieve his lifetime ambition. It sa id much also for Lofth ou se' s character and skill th at within hours of his fall there were many flower wreaths and messages of condolence placed at the scene of the accident. Apart from these two star riders, sidecar passenger Aaron Kennedy fell from his outfit on a straight, flat-out section of the course. And Steve Tann ock crashed an RC30 Honda in Saturday's F-J race, suffering fatal injuries. These accidents, including the many (Left) Phil M cCallen leaves Ballaugh. The Honda rider landed a record-breaking four victories during the week of rac ing, Including the • six-lap F-1 TT. (Above) In add ition to McCallen's bit of history' making, TTveteran Joe y' Dunlop - s hown airborn at Ballaugh Bridge on his RC45 - won both the 125 and 250cc Grand Prix races. Dunlop has won races at the Isle of Man a record 21 times. T 22 crashes involving bike fans between pra ctice and races, predict ably provok ed tabloid newspaper outcries for the event to be stopped. The reality is that when you have a nearl y 4O-mile road cou rse lined with walls, hedges, trees and telephone poles, there will always be accidents, some fatal. But on the other side of the coin, while riders want the experience of riding and winning on the .moun tain circuit, then the IT will continue to survive in some fonn. Although every rider expressed sadness and regret over the accidents that prevailed, none of the star riders p ulle d ou t of subsequent events. . The danger comes with the territory and that-danger is accepted by the majority of riders. The entry for 1996 was actually potentially the best in years. On paper, at least. Fonner IT stalwarts and British Champions Jim Mood ie an d Ian Sim pson both returned after a year's sabbatical. British Superbike and 600cc Supersp ort rider Mik e Edwards was rea dy to give th e event his first sho t, as was 1995 World Superbike factory Kawasaki rider David Jefferies. There were also surprise entries fro m form er Gr and Prix riders Bruno Bonhuil and Jean-Michel Mattioli . Naturally, regulars such as Joey Dunlop, Phil McCallen, lain Duffus, Nick Jefferies et al were again on hand. Dunlop in particular was looking for victory as it would be his 20th in the IT. Unfortunately for the organizers (not to mention the riders themselves) a spate of acci dents elsewhere in the racing world deci mated the top order of the entry list in the weeks and days prior to the event. Fonner Honda Britain rider Steve Ward was killed in a test session at Anderstorp, Sweden, three weeks before the TT. Edwards crash ed in a British championship roun d at Snetterton, ruling himself out of contention. Kawasaki rider Simon Beck broke his hip in a fall at the North West 200 in Ireland just pr ior to going to the island. Bonhuil crashed at the World Superbike round at Hockenheim, breaking six ribs and putting himself out of the event, while Mattioli withdrew at the last moment, preferring to concentrate his efforts on the French Thundercat series. From a manufacturer's viewpoint, it was again only Honda that supported the IT in any official fashion, although principle spo nsor Castrol d id not back the team ' on the island. The Honda Britain team comprised Dunlop, McCallen and Nick Jefferies, as well as Welsh road racer Jason Griffiths. Naturally, it was this team that would dul y clean up . Other manufacturers were conspicuous by th eir absence (the Production race aside), although Ben Atkin's Reve team pr ovided and ex-John Reynolds works Kawasaki ZXR for Jim Moodie to ride in the two Superbike races. With the withdrawal of Steve Wynnes' Sport Motorcycle concern, Du cati was represented by Michael Rutter's lone priva tely owned 955. There was a grea t deal of emotion surroundin g the return of a Britten machine to the IT. New Zealander Shaun Harris wa s down to rid e the big tw in in both Superbike/ F-l races. The aim? Just to finish . Th is was th e sole ambition of th e bike's late build er. FORMULA ONE The F-J race has, in recent times, been acknowledged as the premier race of the meeting. But in reality, there is no difference between this race and the last on the timetable, the Senior TT. These tw o events are primarily for Superbike-spec machines, altho ug h you can ru n to F-l regs if necessary. All the leading teams stay in standa rd superbike trim, though the entry list is laced with the od d F-l machine, thus the acceptable entry of the Britten. TT '96 was expected to be a Phil McCallen benefit. The Ulstennan was in the middle of his best season ever. He was lying in second place in the British 600cc championship and had just arrived on the island after winni ng two races at the International No rth West 200 in his native Ireland , wh ere he beat such notables as Niall Mck enzie. James Whith am and Terry Rymer, not to mention the regular road stalwa rts he was du e to meet at the TT such as Simpson, Moodie an d Dunlop. McCallen is also somewhat of a IT specialist, with four previou s wins behind him. The F-l race was expected to be his starting point for more Isle of Man glory in 1996. And so it proved. Somewhat labori- ously we hasten to add. For hal f of the first six-lap race it was relatively close. McCallen was leading by just 25 seconds at the 2G-mile time check at Ramsey . In his wake was the V&M Honda RC45 of Scotsman la in Duffus, with Honda Britain's Nick Jefferies third, but some 10 seconds awa y from Duffus . The race had started in partiall y damp conditions, and most competitors chose to go with an intermediate rear tire, speculating that a change to slicks at the first pit stop wou ld be an appropriate move. The can ny Joe y Dunlop, however, felt that the road was dry enough on the first lap, and tr ied to steal a m arch on his rivals by pitting at the end of the opening tour . Unfortunately for Dunl op, his pit crew w asn't as aware as he o f co nd it ions around the track and were not ready with suitable tires. A wasted stop and a wasted 30 second s. Dunlop was down in eighth place at th e time. It would hav e beer in teresting to see wh at tim e he cou ld have mad e up (he was 42 seconds behind leader McCalle n at the time) with a lap start on slicks over the remainder of the field. After that close 20 miles to which we allud ed, McCallen began to stamp his authority on the race over the moun tain on that first lap. He led Duffus by seven secon d s, with Jefferies 15 more beh ind that at the end of the lap . Up to fourth place was English rider Lee Pullen on a 4year-old FZR750 Yamaha run by the Tillston's team . He was only eight seconds away from Jefferies. 1 The second to u r was so mewhat tedi ou s u ntil the pit s to ps be gan . McCallen stalled his machine on entrance and had to push the bike some distance down pit lane. Once he got there the team changed the rear tire to a slick. McCallen led Duffus by 22 seconds at this point, ye.t th e Sco t's cha llenge w as abo u t to b£ exp unged by a tr oublesome sto p. His crew could not get a new rear slick onto the motorcycle. A wheel nu t had thread, ed and was just spinning on the air tool. The wheel had to be manu ally "cranked" on and Duffus lost three minutes. Meanwhile, Lee Pullen's excellent pe1;, fonnance was also no t short of d rama. H is ride had been set up a t the last

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