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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127949
.. Isle of Man TT whe~~ :;;'d' his youriier broti;~r, Robe';t:" " 'br;he A 8 a ~ 38 tu rn e d up o n the Isl and midway through practice week in much the same ph ysica l shape - i.e., bad! It was Joey 's tu rn to grab the headlines fir st. Monday's 250cc-race start tim e was actually brought forwa rd by 15 minu tes becau se of expected poor weather lat er in the day. The race d isra nee was also cu t from fou r to three laps. However, the weather expe rts go t it wrong . The rain decided to descend on th e Island just as the race s tarted . Tire choice ha d already proven to be a headache; now it would be a lottery. Dunlop , can ny as ever, had opted for in termed iat es fron t and re a r , as h ad ot her ex pec te d fron t-runners Shaun Harris and Gavin Lee. Both, incidentally, were on Yama has as opposed to the favored Ho nda. Du nlop 's Ho nda Britain team mate (and probably the favo rite for the race) Ian Lou gher, got it all wrong, thou gh , opting for cu t slicks. Joey had the race in the bag from the.. start. Even a t the first split section jus t 10 miles ou t, he was already 12 secon ds ahead of McGui ness (on a Ho nda with interme diates) . Mea nwhile, Ha rris was out of the race ea rly; the New Zealander's TZ seized after jus t four miles. A t the en d o f th e opening lap, on w hat was now a soaki ng-wet track , Dunlop had averaged over 100 mph and led by an in cr edibl e 34 se co nds over McGui ness . Lou gh er' s tire choice ruled him ou t of the pic ture completely and he retired early on lap two . As he reached Ramsey for the second time, Dunlop was s ome 52 sec on d s ahead of McGui ness . By this time, how ever, the dri zzly conditio ns had turned into a monsoon and running wate r was everywh e re. The or ganiz ers wis el y d ecid ed to st op the race at the en d of jus t two lap s. Dunlop was declar ed the winner by so me 43 secon ds. It was n' t to be McGuiness in second place, however. Veteran Bob Jackson completed his second lap so me 25 seconds qu icker than a nyo ne else a nd pu sh ed McGuin ess d own int o third place. Dunlop later admitted that he'd had a n inklin g th e race w ou ld be stop pe d earl y. "The pla ce was just so wet ," he said . "I wa s due to stop at the end of lap one for fuel, bu t I knew I had enoug h to do a s e cond la p . In ca se (th e o rga nizers) stopped the race earl y, I just cracked on. I a m g la d it rain ed , because I wou ld never hav e been able to han g on for four laps (in th e dry ) with th ese injuries. I not iced tha t Lougher had go ne for the cu ts (s lic ks) and w he n I pa ssed him ea rly in th e 'r ace, I knew I co u ld win . Ov er the mountain on the last lap, I realized that I had a big lead and eased off a little." As ever , Dunlop was non chalant in victory, but to those observing this was on e of the finest of his 23 TT wins . On Wednesd ay it was hi s brother ' Robert ' s tu rn . The 34 -y ear: ol d h ad cras hed heavil y at the North West 200 in Irelan d tw o weeks prior to the TT. In the process, Dunlop bro ke his righ t colla rbon e and s hin . Indeed , h e wa s onlv passed as fit to ride in the 125cc ra ce ha lfwa y through practice week. In the last qua lifying session, he proved that a little discomfort needn' t get in the wa y and he unofficially smash ed th e cla ss lap record at over 110 mph. The race itself was yet anot her event to be red uced in race d is ta nce, ag ain from four to three lap s. Conditions we re expec ted to d eteri orate and those agonizing decision s over tires we re thought th rough again an d again . Robert gambled on slicks an d it wa s to work ou t to correct cho ice, as the roa ds wer e to remain dry for vi r tua lly th e w ho le race. Gavin Lee also opted for slicks but his Yama ha was not ex pec ted to keep pace wi th the Hondas. The rem ainder of the opposi tion w ent for cut s lic ks or interm ed iat e s . Amon g th em w a s Lougher, who was to be caught ou t for th e second tim e in two d a ys b y th e wrong choice of tires . Perhaps put off by his d ecision to ga mb le on cut slicks in Monday 's p re ceding 250 cc ra ce , h e op ted for intermediates th is tim e. The e le m en ts w ere to w ork a gains t him . again. Dunlop had this race in th e bag by the end of lap on e, his and Gavi n Lee's tire choice p ayi ng div id e nds, but a s e xpec ted the Ya ma h a rid er could n 't keep u p and was al ready 11 seconds down on Dunlop. Lee's race, and the TT, finall y came to a miserable end when he retired at the end of lap two wit h an oil leak. The reaf ter Dunlop had no serious cha llengers ' and went on to w in by 18 seconds. The luckless "Lu cky" Lougher e n ded u p in second pl ace . A no ther Ir ish m an, Owen McNa lly, co mpleted the podium pos itions. . Du nlop was a unders tand ably a little weary at the end of this, his fifth TT victory. "I wa s a little worried about the tires befor e the ra ce," Dunlop exp laine d . "I though t about cha ng in g to cuts at one point but decided to stay with the original d ecision . It wa s pretty grey out there, but luckily for me the rain held off." Dave Morris won the Singles' TT for th e se co nd year runnin g aboard th e Chrysa llis BMW. The Englishman beat the special 650cc Honda of Moodie by 19 seconds . The race was ru n sim ul taneous ly wi th the 125cc even t and con tinues to provid e little int erest to riders or specta tors. In d eed , th e mos t exci ting part of the race was w hen both Mo rris a n d Mo od ie strugg led to ge t t h eir res pectiv e mach in es to start after their pit stops. Thank goodness they did , as the qu ality of rider and machine behi nd Mo odie was a rg uably poor. Mic k [ effreys finished thi rd some 4 minutes an d 39 seconds behind! 600cc (JUNI OR TTl Rutter fi na lly ac hieve d a li felong ambition by joinin g his dad, Ton y, on th e TT roll of hon ors list by wi n ni ng Wednesday afternoon's 600cc even t. Aga in there was a red uced race distan ce of three laps, bu t a t leas t wi th 600cc regul ation s the com pe titor s didn' t h a v e to worry t oo m u ch abo u t t ir e choice . As p er th e s u p e r b ik e r ac e , McCallen's mach ines were passed to Rutt er and Simpson - ri ding u nder the Motorcycle City banner. Ind eed , the end result (Ru tter's wi n) was somewhat of a surprise as Simpson is a renowned 600cc ri der on British sho rt circuits and won the corresponding race at last yea r's TT. How ever, it was ano ther Scot, Moodie, who was quickly into the groove. He had a s ma ll advantage of six second s ov er Simpson at the end of the openi ng lap . Rutt er wa s third a further seve n second s back. Mo odie w as riding for the Sa nyobacked Honda Britain satellite teamand had bo ld ly pred icted a 120-mph lap if conditions were right in the race. How ever, while the conditions held firm on the openi ng lap (Moodie avera ged 118 mph from a sta nding start), they took a decided tu rn for the worse at the start of lap two. "A t the s ta rt of the secon d lap, it s ta r ted to d ri zz le and it jus t became Robert Dunlop, brother of Joey , won the threelap 125cc race. Like his brother, he too had crashed before the event and was only considered fit to ride halfway throug h the week. He promptly went out and broke the lap reco rd for the class. worse after th at ," Moodie said. "I jus t didn't fancy pushing it in the rain." Too tru e - he didn't. Wha t had been a 13-second advantage ov er thi rd-placed Rutter at the end of lap on e had turn ed into a on e-second deficit ju st 10 miles into the second tou r. As they piled into the pits for fuel at the end of the second lap, Rutter still held a narrow lead of two seconds over Simpson . Jackso n was now third, bu t so me 10 se co n ds back on "S imrno. " Moodie had slip p ed to f.fth place and was ou t of the picture. In the pit s, however, Simpson made u p some cru cial time, taki ng jus t 15 seconds to fill up. Rutter took an additional six seconds , and a t Glen Helen on the fina l lap, Simpson was thr ee seconds up on Rutt er. But by Ramsey it was Rutter back in fro nt by fou r seconds . It was a lead he was n ot to relinq ui sh a nd he commanded the race over the Mou ntain for the fina l time to take a maiden TT win by sev en seconds. Ru tter was ecsta tic in th e w in ne r's enclosure, taki ng the oppor tu nity to thank his backers at ev ery op po rtu nity. "It's all thanks to Honda," he said . "T his wee k h a s b e en s po il t b y ba d weather, bu t Honda just keeps winning and that's what we're here for. " I los t so me tim e a t my pit s to p becau se I couldn' t ge t the fuel cap back on properly. Condi tions were prett y bad on that last lap and I had one almighty sli de a t Ball acra in e . Th en I thou ght I may have blown it w hen I go t held up by backrnarkers on the Mountain . This is something I have always d reamed of, a nd no w it ' s ha p p en ed I a m jus t so happy" . The smile on Sim pson's face a t th e en d of the race was a little puzzling considering he'd jus t lost. "To be hon est, I am just happy to be back in one piece," he explai ne d . "Th e co nditio ns on th e la s t lap were poor. Michae l deserved to win it, thou gh. He ro de we ll consideri ng (the weather ). It was tricky ou t there, tryin g to avoid the we t bits." Local Ma nx rid er Paul Dedman completed a heroic last lap to pip Jackson for th ird . Dedman had been struggling in th e 600cc Bri tish Champion ship series a nd thi s result will ha v e boo sted his co nfidence for th e rem a ind er of th e yea r. PRODUCTION TT If you exclude the Sing les TT he ld earlier in the week (everyone else had ), this race was the even t most likely to s p o il the H onda TT ce leb r a tions . Despit e the fact tha t not one CBR900RR qualified in the top six, Rutter, Sim pson ' a nd Moodie were s till very co nfi den t as tha t the CBR could pu ll it off. And cha nce wou ld have it, with race wins coming in ab u nda nce in 1998, Honda stood to win its 100lh TT this day. And in its 50th year, too . s At las t, the fina l day of the 1998 ·TT brought some decent wea the r, and we could look forward to some races over the. normal dista nce - although the PrO: ductio n race wa s only s chedu led for three laps anyway. Moodie had been extremely d isappointed at letting his Sanyo crew down in the 600cc race and was im mediately on the pipe in this race . The Scot broke the class lap record on the opening tour by 6.2 second s (averaging 119.58 mph) abo ard his CBR900RR and led Kawasaki-mounted Nigel Da vies by five se conds. Ru tter was third , another four seconds back. Da vid Jefferi es wa s in fourth pla ce on the first Yam ah a Rl. If the truth we re known, the situation barely altered ove r the fina l tw o la ps. Moodie bro ke the lap recor d (his ow n) on the second l our by an addition al 10 . seconds , becoming the first ma n to lap the TT circuit at over 120 mph on a productio n b ike! Bu t a cha llenge fr om behind never materialized . . Moodi e even tu al ly wou n d up la s w in ne r b y so me 29 seco n ds fro m Davies' Kawasaki. Rutter, third at the fini sh, had turned up th e w ick so me w ha t on th e last lap and was only lr.-3 seconds behind the Welshman . Jeffer ies co n tin ued to hea d th e Ya ma ha ca mpaign and finished a creditable fourth.in only his second year of racin g at the TT. Mood ie was a relieved man at race's end. ., "Af ter Wed nesd ay's 600cc race, I am just so happy for the team to have been a ble to win th is ra ce," M ood ie said. "T he b ik e was a bso lu te ly p e rfe ct , altho ugh I was a little concerned after the (second -lap) pit stop because I came ou t along side Rut ter (w ho had started 30 seco n ds ah ead o f Mood ie o n th e road ) and he upset my rh ythm a little on that last lap. I must admit I wa s glad we mad e it to the pit stop, becau se we had been w orried throughou t practice tha t we might run ou t (of fuel)." Davies admitt ed a fter th e rac e tha t he'd been lu cky to hold on to se co nd p lace. "Starting from so far back (n u mber 16) , I rea lly ha d to ride hard to ge t through the traffi c," Davies explained. "O ver the mountain on th e last la p , I was so tired , and that' s why I slowed up a little." Ru tter was sa tisfied w ith third place. "Jim was certai n ly on fo r m t hi s mo rni ng ," Ru tt er sai d . " It was a ll I cou ld d o to try and get seco nd spo t, bu t I am not unhappy. I had so me fun wi th