Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left and above) Though he didn't take the five wins so many had predicted, Phillip MCCallen was still the Man of the Isle. He scored wins in Formula One, Production TT and senior races. By Stephen Burns Photos by Nigel Kinrade 34 ISLE OF MAN, MAY 31-jUNE 7 he British as a whole like to make a big thing of the weather, and, as per usual, the elements played a dominant part in the annual IT festivities on the Isle of Man. This time, how'ever, it wasn't for the normal misty, damp and miserable conditions which are so often prevalent. This year, the Island was bathed with Mediterraneanlike weather throughout the two-week practice and 'race period, with temperatures rarely out of the 80s. While this may be the norm in more sunny climes, for the Isle of Man (and for Britain as a whole, for that matter), these conditions were a welcome change. If there were any agnostic members on the organizing cominittee before the event, there must have been a few "converts" afterward, for this 90th anniversary IT meeting to be blessed with such weather. The conditions gave most people attending the IT a high "feel-good factor" about the event. Crowds were certainly larger than for some years. (Did the fans know something the rest of us didn't?) There were 25,000 to 35,000 motorcycles on the Island attending the festival - that's 10,000 to 15,000 more than usual - and they basked in the sunshine for two glorious weeks. As well as the road racing, there were plenty of motocross events, trials anet stunt-team displays, and the Ramsey Sprint, which alone attracted 25,000 people. Along with the numerous bike rallies and rock concerts, there certainly was more of a festival feel to IT '97 than in recent years. On the racing side, however, things were to remain pretty much the same, It was always going to be the Irish duo of Phillip McCallen and Joey Dunlop who were going to upstage everyone else. McCallen was a heavy favorite to become the first man in history to win five IT races in one week. He had been offered a deal by Honda Britain for the Formula One and Senior races, and was armed with full factory-spec RC45s. Honda also provided works RC45s for Michael Rutter and Ian Simpson, who were riding out of Jack Valentine's V&M Team, Dunlop was also given an RC45 for the Formula One race, but this was more of a standard-spec machine; however, by way of compensation, Honda provided him with an NSRSOOV V-twin for the anything-goes Senior race. Also aboard one of the 500cc twins was Scot Jim Moodie, The Padgetts team had offered Moodie a last-minute deal to ride the bike and, although he was only to receive the bike midway through practice week~ he made an impression on race day. Moodie rides factory Suzukis in the main British championships, but the factory was unwilling to enter a team officially for the IT, The GSXR has as many handling problems as the similar World Superbike machines of Mike Hale and James Whitham, and the Japanese factory was reluctant to be shown up further by Honda on the Island, In the event, after much badgering by Moodie, they finally agreed to send one GSXR for him, but it was very much a low-key effort, Herein lies one of the con tin uing problems for the IT. The competition is scarce. The main race winners were among those mentioned above, and the competition below them ranged from competent to mediocre to downright slow, By the end of race week, McCallen had taken his overall TT haul to 11 seven of which have come in the last two years, He is 33, and it's not hard to imagine him bea ting Dunlop's overall record by the year 2000. The lack of competition has to be a worry for the organizers (well, you hope it is, anyway), The Isle of Man Department of Tourism, which markets and promotes the event, needs to encourage younger and, where possible, highercaliber riders, These riders need to be encouraged to attend from all over the world, as well as Britain, One British championship front-runner and factory rider who was attending his first IT as a spectator thought the event was magnif- icent. But when pressed whether he would ever race at the IT, he replied in the negative -,not because of the element of danger, but because he didn't think it would help his career. In years gone by, this wouldn't have been the case - a IT win was a big thing. The IT's very notoriety makes it a very marketable event. If the right money and marketing were in place, it would be interesting to see how the level of participating interest would be affected, As has already been hinted elsewhere, look at it from the manufacturer's point of view: In recent years, only Honda has continued to support the event - but how much longer will they feel they are getting value out of the event? Who are they beating? No other marque looked close to beating Honda in any of this year's solo races (forgetting the Singles race, of course), and none look as though they'll be showing any interest in the future. FORMULA ONE The hot (literally) favorite for the F1 race was, of course, Irishman McCallen, aboard the factory Honda RC45. Despite this being a one-off ride for McCallen on the 750cc machine (he is contracted to 600cc racing in the British championship during the normal course of the year), he was quickly on the pace during qualifying and'subsequently set the fastest time of the week - some five seconds quicker than another factory Honda man, Michael Rutter. The latter had gone quicker and quicker as the qualifying week progressed, but McCallen was The Man, He never set one of his practice times on a flying lap. Instead, he literally left the pits, did one lap and came straight back in. The rest of the field knew they would probably be racing for second. The Honda Britain team had reallocated some of its bikes during the latter half of practice week. When Nick Jefferies crashed out of the, IT following a high-speed accident, Dunlop asked that he take over Jefferies' bikes, as he had experienced several problems with his own machines. Honda then allocated Dunlop's bikeS (and no doubt the same

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