Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

tice week tha t some sections were still catching me out." The race had been dramatic from the start. Saturday morning had dawned bright and sunny, and the weather looked to be a big improvement on the awful conditions prevalent during practice week. However, just an hour before the scheduled start time (l p.m.), the start-finish area was drenched by a typical Isle of Man shower. While it was hoped the roads would have enough time to dry before the race started, the track was still pretty damp and slippery for the first mile or so. Unfortunately, _~e riders were not warned of this prior • to the start. Honda NSR500V rider John McGuiness and lain Duffus on a Yamaha R1 were both lucky to escape without crashing on Bray Hill on the first lap. Duffus in particular was especially angry. "We should have been warned before the start that the road was so wet," said the Scot indignantly. "I don't know why we weren't, but I'd like to find out." Not so fortuna te was Pa ul Orritt, who was starting number 34 some 5 1/2 minutes after Duffus. Orritt lost control of his Honda CBR900 at the bottom of Bray Hill (a mile from the start) and crashed heavily. The rider luckily Honda NSRV-mounted Ian Lougher, and eventual winner Jefferies. By the end of the first lap, Dunlop stilll~, and onIy 10 seconds covered the top six. It was on the second lap that Jefferies made hi first push up the leaderboard. He lapped orne ix econd quicker than anyone else and vaulted into second position by the end of tile lap. At the one and only pit stop, Jefferies trailed Dunlop by just three seconds. But by the time they exited the pits, Jefferies was ahead for the first time. The V&M team was happy that the Pirelli tires had not degraded sufficiently to warrant a tire change; Dunlop's rear tire (another Dunlop), on the other hand, was shredded, and the team had no choice but to change. The initiative was now in the Yamaha rider's own hands, and Jefferies seized the opportunity. At the end of lap three, he had the race in the bag by 14 seconds. Far from easing off on the final tour, Jefferies upped his pace and set the fastest lap of the race at 123.26 mph, just two seconds outside of Carl Fogarty's 7year-old lap record. There were emotional scenes as Jefferies rode into Victory Lane at race's end, as family, friends and the media swamped the Englishman. "It's just unbelievable - fantastic," he said. '1 can't believe it." (Above) What would the IT be like without Joey Dunlop? The all-time IT winner negotiates Tower Bends on his CBR600 during the Production IT. (Left) Jim Moodie won the Junior IT on his Honda CBR600. In the Senior IT, Moodie set a new outright Isle of Man IT lap record of 124.45 mph. escaped serious injury; his machine, however, did not. Debris littered the track and the organizers took an unprecedented step and stopped the · race so the circuit could be cleared. -Unfortunately, by the time the stewards miWe this decision, 40 riders had already started the race, and the leaders were already halfway around the circuit before they were red-flagged. Getting everyone back to the start line for the restart on a 3 -mile circuit is not the work of a moment. But in fairness to the race stewards, in this instance they had everyone back and raring to go for a restart just an hour later, albeit with a reduction in race distance from six laps to four. Missing from the restart, however, would be fastest qualifier and race favorite Moodie. His works RC45 lost all revs after just five miles of the first portum of the race. There was no spare machine available for the Scot, so he had to sit out the restart. It was the remaining works Honda of Joey Dunlop that took up the mantle from the start. The veteran Ulsterman led from Duffus by three seconds at Ramsey on lap one. Duffus, it would · later turn out, was somewhat de-tuned . after his "first race" experience, and the fact that he'd had to psyche himself up for another TT start (a han:owing experi-ence at any time, but twice in a hour ... !). ld 250cc lap record, and on the second lap he broke his own record by another four seconds. There was no one else in the race, yet only over the Mountain on the final lap did McGuiness allow himself to ease up a little. After two third places in the previous two years, McGuiness was atypically emotional after the race. "This is a dream come true for me," he said. 'Tve been coming here to watch or compete since 1982 and I always dreamt of winning a TT, and now it's come true. I can't explain how good this bike that Honda have provided for us is. It was superb. I really went for it at the start, and I caught Owen (M ally) and Gavin (Lee) fairly early on the first lap and.I knew then that I was in with a chance of winning. I was confident before I came here that I could win and I am pleased to repay the faith everyone has had in me." After a slow start, Welshman Jason Griffiths became McGuiness' nearest challenger aboard Dennis Trollope's Yamaha. He had worked his way up to third place by the end of the opening lap and, with Moodie's demise, he remained unchallenged in second place - his best-ever TT placing in what was his first 250cc ride of the year. 125cc While this event was certainly one of 43

• Cover