Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Isle of Man TT to e By Stephen Burns Photos by Terry Howe ISLE OF MAN, JUNE 4-11 lthough the people who run the event would never admit it, the Isle of Man TI is now surely running out of steam. Like the history of the event itself, most of the people running the TI appear to have their minds long in the past, when the TI was the thing in motorcycle racing. Now, it is only a poor relation to its once glorious past. The race program is simply outdated. The organizers seem obsessed with Vintage parades. There were another two this year, and while the powers that be seem intent on looking for any excuse to curtail or cancel a practice session, or reduce a race distance, you can bet that a vintage parade will continue come hell or high water. This year's parades were a particular joke. There were a number of exotic Honda Grand Prix machines from the 196Os, yet the riders - including the likes of Jim Redman and Luigi Taveri - were only able to run them for five miles in A I .. I U ~ o 42 case the machines were damaged. If you're having a parade on a 38-mile circuit, what's the point in allowing this sort of farce to be part of it? In media terms, the TI also seems to be dipping. The orily British magazine dedicated to motorcycle racing did not send a single correspondent to cover the event. On a wider scale, TV coverage was also severely affected. British satellite-TV company BSKYB has run daily bulletins from the Isle in recent years but declined the offer to show any footage at;ill this year. Apparently there may be some highlights on Eurosport (a pan-European satellite channel) at the end of the month. In this day of TV sports rule, this has to give the organizers some concern that their event is no longer reaching a wider audience than the 20,000 brave souls who travel to the Isle itself. Through all this, the undoubted danger of racing on a near-40-mile road circuit lined with trees, walls and telegraph poles continues to be the main liability of the event. The fact that the TI is allowed to continue in this day and David Jefferies became only the fifth man in the storied 'history of the Isle of Man to win three TTs in the same year. Jefferies won ·the Senior TT, the Production TT and Formula One. Here, he's pictured flying his Yamaha R6 off Ballaugh Bridge en route to victory in the Production TT. age is amazing in itself. There were four deathS during practice and race week this year. This is a continuing trend that can only continue to do halOm to the event, and more importantly to the sport of motorcycle racing itself. 'f.he TI is a historic event and perhaps should always have a place on the calendar, but at what price? Perhaps now is the time to consider moving the event toward what many of its followers arguably desire - a true vintage race. As if to back up the apparent stagnation of the organizers in relation to the future of the TI, the entry for this year's event was virtually the same as 1998. The rider listing continued to be made up of vetetan riders such as Joey Dun- lop, now 47 years old b';'t an institution .as far as the TI is concerned, and definitely an olive branch to cling to as far as the promoters of the TT are concerned. . All in all, when viewed as supposedly one of the most historic and traditional motorcycle meetings on earth, there was little to stimulate your typical race fan. Only seven riders on the entry list could be classed as regular top-flight runners in the British Championship Series. Recently the TI entry has been made up of hardened veterans such as Dunlop, his brother Robert, an ,ick Jefferies (another 47-year-old), and pure road racing specialists emanating main1y from Ireland. The remainder of the entry list is largely made up of once-ayear vacation racers. Practice week was blighted by two key concerns. Firstly, two cpmpetitors were killed during the opening two sessions. The first, a female sidecar passenger, Bernadette B96man, was fataHy . injured when she fell from a sidecar driven by veteran German driver Helmut Lunemann at Kirk Michael. The second incident was more high-profile in that it concerned Honda UK rider Simon Beck, who was killed following a high-speed accident on the mountain during the second session. Beck was 30 years old. The weather was the other aspect that affected practice week. Rain and mist destroyed four of the scheduled eight sessions. Despite the distinct lack of practice and setup time, the organizers declined to arrange any further sessions, even though there was an emergency session on the schedul~ if required. Obviously, only half the sessions being wiped out didn't warrant another session - yet another eccentricity on the part of the TT organizers, who eern more intent on keeping local residents happy with regards to road openings than anything else. Despite the distinct lack of qualifying time, there were still some impressive performances. Jim Moodie was the fastest man of the week at 120.91 mph. lain Duffus was second at 119.89 mph, while teammate David Jefferies gave us a sign of things to come by qualifying third at 119.35 mph. There were also impressive performances in the 600cc and Production categories. Irishman Adrian Archibald topped the former class with an incredi-~6' ble 119.35-mph lap, while Phillip McCallen headed the "Preddie" class at 118.27 mph. FORMULA ONE New regulations, a new winner, and a manufacturer's dynasty toppled. Yes, the last Formula One race of the century provided one of the biggest surprises in recent TI history. David Jefferies, from Yorkshire, not only scored his maiden TI win, but also gave Yamaha its firstever Formula One TI victory since the c':ltegory's inception in 1977, thus breaking Honda's 17-year stranglehold on the class. . Jefferies, 24, had recently taken the V&M team's Yamaha R1 to two "superbike" wins at the North West 200 meeting in Ireland during May, but his relative lack of TI experience (this was just .his third visit) was registered by many as insufficient for him to win this year a view he backed up himself. "To be honest, Uhought I lacked the ,. experience to win here so soon," said Jefferies. "In practice, I felt I was still learning the place. This was a little surprising because before I got heI;e (to the Isle of Man), I thought I knew the course pretty well. But I found during the prac-

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