Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

probl~ms) to privateer Marc Flynn, who had blown up his own RC45 engine in qualifying. The weather was certainly a worry before the race for 45-year-old Dunlop. Looking for a 22nd IT win (and hiS first Fl victory since 1988), the Irishman actually passed up his pre-race cigarette and took on board an energy-juice drink instead. It must have done him some initial good, as the veteran actually held the lead at the firSt split check. However, it was McCallen who turned up the wick for the remaining 27 miles of the lap, and he led Dunlop by four seconds at the end of the opening tour. Rutter was third, but he was falling away from Dunlop and having to keep a close eye on Simon Beck aboard a Kawasaki. Former British Champion Ian Simpson held fifth place on an RC45, and Flynn completed the top six on the first la'p. Only Beck was holding a candle to the Honda challenge at this point. There had been some hope that Jim Moodie would be a threat also, but, as explained, the Scot's regular factory GSXR had been flown to the Island quite late in the week. As expected, the handling problems had not been eradicated, and the Isle of Man is no place to bring a bike which doesn't handle. Moodie bravely rode as hard as he' could, and was actually running eighth on the first lap, but the handling was becoming more compromised as the race wore on and he called it a day at the end of the third lap, claiming that he "couldn't hold on to the bike for much longer." Up at the sharp end of the running order, Dunlop was still keeping McCallen in sight and ended the second lap just 11 seconds arrears. Beck Was now up to third, and Rutter, down to fourth, was already beginning to suffer from the heat. However, the running order changed completely following the first set of pit stops (at the end of the second lap). Dunlop stalled his bike in the pit and the machine was stuck in neutral. This left his mechanics with a huge problem in removing the rear wheel for the planned tire change. Dunlop's stop took 83 seconds. However, McCallen had his pit dramas, too. The Honda crew could (Right) So long a dominant rider on the famed Mountain Course, Irishman Joey Dunlop has had better weeks. This year he took a single win, in the 250cc class, to up his career total to 22. (Below) Michael Rutter in vain pursuit of McCallen during the F1 race. Rutter never caught the Irishman, but hung on to second piace. not replace the fuel cap, and fuel was spilling everywhere - his stop took 49 seconds. The man to benefit from all this confusion was Rutter. The V&M Honda team turned their man around in 31 seconds and, as he left the pits, he was the new second-place rider - just six seconds behind McCallen. Beck just held on to third, but Dunlop was now down to fourth - equal to Flynn, who, like Rutter, had benefited from a good pit stop. Rutter; however, was in no fit state to challenge McCallen. In addition to the heat, Rutter was struggling with the effects of broken ribs attained in a car accident just prior to the IT, and it was, all he could do to keep his concentration and hold on to second. At the end of the third lap, he trailed McCallen by 17 seconds. Dunlop was now falling away, with a mixture of exhaustion and frustration following his slow pit stop. , McCallen was now controlling the race with some ease, and he increased his lead to 32 seconds by the time of the final pit stops at the end of the fourth lap. If there was a "race" at this point, it was for second place, as Beck was rapidly catching Rutter. There was more drama to come, however, as the Kawasaki ran out of fuel about a mile from the pits. Beck is not a small man, and he had to push the ZXR into his pit - this lost him a bunch of time, and the chance of a podium finish. He eventually got to his pit for fuel and finished in ninth place. Beck's misfortune had elevated Flynn to a very creditable third place - but he too had trouble at his pit. Normally, Flynn rides a Kawasaki, and the Honda was a little bit of an unknown quantity to him. Although the pit stop itself went well, Flynn and his crew couldn't get the engine restarted. ' "There's a unique way of getting an RC45 started, and we forgot what to do in the heat of the moment," Flynn said. Flynn'S error dropped him down to fifth place, and veteran Bob Jackson, who had been steadily progressing up the leaderboard on his Kawasaki, was now in third place, and became the latest rider to put some pressure on Rutter's second place. While McCallen continued to race away on his own, Jackson cut four seconds off Rutter's advantage on the fifth lap - and, halfway around the final lap, he had taken olit another 12 seconds and trailed the Honda rider by 18 seconds in total. However, while Jackson was catching Rutter, he himself was being caught by a flying Simpson. Simpson had dropped off the pace a little during the middle of the race but, after his final pit stop, he was feeling l]Iuch more confident in the bike, and was the only man on the track who could match McCallen's lap times. McCallen, meanwhile, continued to draw away from Rutter, and set himself up for an easy win. At the end of the race, he finished one minute, 36 seconds ahead of Rutter. Naturally he was delighted - especially as he had won his third Fl IT race in a row. "I am very pleased for Honda to win today," McCallen said. "This race means a lot to them - and me. We had no problems at all all day, apart from a little drama on the first pit stop. I toot< it quite easy at the start so I could .settle into a rhythm. It was very hot out there, but the tires were good, although we changed the rear wheel at both pit stops to be on the safe side." Rutter was absolutely shattered at the end of the race and was barely able to speak. "I had a bit of a charge at the start," he said. "But the weather and the effects of my car accident the other week took their toll as the race wore on. For the last two laps, I was just holding on, to be honest, so 'I have to be happy with second place." Jackson had cut Rutter's advantage over him at the end of the race to 11 seconds, but he finished just two seconds ahead of Simpson. Nevertheless, he was delighted with third place, and he had stopped a Honda 1-2-3 in the bargain. "The weather was a real problem for me," Jackson said. "On the last two laps, I could feel the heat of the engine also, and it was very tiring. I had a very big scare at Brandish Comer on the fifth lap and nearly crashed. Simpson was catching me on the last lap, but I couldn't really respond. Luckily, we managed to hang on." Simpson had taken 16 seconds out of Jackson'S lead on the final lap, and admitted he had really upped his pace when he knew he had a chance of third place. "The more the race went on, the more confident I became with the bike," explained Simpson, who has only been riding 600cc machines this season. "I had two great pit stops and signals, so I have to thank the guys for that. To be honest, it was getting a bit out of hand on that last lap, and I had one almighty moment coming into Ramsey: it was the biggest tank-slapper I've ever had in my life, and I thought to myself, 'I need to cool down:" Despite losing a possible rostrum place because of his previous enginestarting problems, as well as a broken exhaust, Flynn finished a very creditable fifth. D.unlop continued to battle through the heat to finish sixth. But as he stormed off to the Honda transporter immediately after dismounting the bike, it seemed unIikely that he was impressed. A winner is a winner, and that's the mantle McCallen is taking possibly taking over from Dunlop himself. 250Cc Monday's four-lap 250cc race was expected to be a tough affair. Lap-record holder Ian Lougher was back on form, and back on a Honda after soldiering on with a previously unreliable Aprilia in recent years. While the Welsh rider headed the practice times, that man McCallen was in there again, qualifying second on a privately entered RS250. Moodie, who only got hold of his RS250 for the final qualifying session, was third at the ~nd of practice.

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