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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128000
(Lett) lain
Duffus was the
hard·luck rider
of the week.
Here he gets
fuel in the
Formula One
TT, a race in
which Duffus
finished third.
He had bad
luck in most of
his other
outings.
(Right) The
man of the
meeting - David
Jefferies celebrates
along with Joey
Dunlop (left)
after the
Formula One
IT.
to lead on the road and do my own
thing."
Poor Duffus, who had chased Moodie valiantly all day, even lost out on second place. His V&M teammate and Formula One race winner Jefferies had
increased his pace after a slow start, and
in setting the fastest lap of race on the
final tour, the big Yorkshireman
sneaked ahead of Duffus' similar Yamaha R6 machine to claim the runner-up
spot by just over one second.
Unfortunately, the race was marred
by yet another tragedy. New Zealander
Stuart Murdoch was killed following a
high-speed accident on the final lap.
PRODUCTION n
A glorious day for David Jefferies,
and a daY'of sorrow for Honda, started
with the former's somewhat inherited
victory in Friday morning's three-lap
Production event. Jefferies' regular
.: V&M teammate (they were riding for
separate dealers in this race) Duffus had
this race in the bag until his Rl ran out
of fuel just over a mile from the finish.
The Scot had already had a somewhat
difficult week - by his own high standards - but he admitted that it was hard
to accept losing the race in this fashion.
However, the fault may have been with
Duffus' own team. His pit stop at the
end of the second lap (when he was 28
seconds in fron t) was a good six seconds
quicker than any of the opposition. Did
they put enough gas in? At race's end,
Duffus still didn't know.
"I don't know whether it was me
going too quickly, or whether we didn't
put enough (fuel) in at the pit," he
explained. "The fuel light came on as 1
climbed the Mountain on the last lap, and
after that I did everything to conserve
fuel, but it obviously wasn't enough."
An inherited victory it may have
been, but Jefferies was still elated at
winning his second TT of the week though he admitted that he'd nearly
thrown the race away himself on the
second lap.
"I went straight on at Ballacraine and
hit one of the hay bales," he explained.
"1 made a right idiot of myself. 1 used
the same braking marker as I use on the
Formula One (bike), and obviously the
brakes on the proddie bike are not as
good. That's why I lost so much time to
Duffus. It was a little worrying for fuel
on the last lap as well. The warning light
came on at Ramsey and it was a bit of a
risk whether to hold off over the Mountain or go for it. When I seen a signal
that I was closing on lain, I took the risk
and it paid off."
Jason Griffiths and Phillip McCallen
followed Jefferies home in second and
third places, respectively, to make it an
Rl 1-2-3, albeit they were nearly half a
minute back from Jefferies.
SENIORn
The final race of the week brought
two historic events. Jefferies became
only the fifth man in history to win three
TT races in one week (the others being'
Mike Hallwood, Joey Dunlop, Steve Hislop and Phillip McCallen). Again there
was an element of good fortune to Jefferies victory, for Honda's Jim Moodie
seemingly all but had the race in the bag
following the opening lap. The Scof led
by eight seconds and had sensationally
shattered Carl Fogarty's 7-year-old outright course record by se en seconds.
Unfortunately for Moodie, yet another
TT victory was arguably taken from him
as he managed to complete only eight
miles of the second lap.
'1 got into some terrible slides early
on the second lap," he later explained.
"At first I put it down to oil on the track,
but after the third or fourth time I
stopped and checked the tire out. It was
ruined - only the carcass remained."
Moodie's demise left the race entirely
in jefferies' own hands. The big Yorkshireman now found himself with a 17second advantage over Joey Dunlop on
the second of the works RC45s. By the
end of the lap, Jefferies had stretched
out an incredible lead of some:35 seconds, and he effectively sauntered home
to his easiest win of the week. Jefferies'
second lap was some 20 seconds quicker
than anyone else's.
While crossing the finish line at the
end of the six-lap race, jefferies jubilantly raised both hands off the bars. In parc
ferme he barely seemed able to comprehend just what he had achieved this TT
week.
"The whole team have worked so
hard this last two weeks," he said. "1
just can't thank the V&M crew enough.
The whole meeting has been faultless as
far as we're concerned. Today has been
the icing on the cake. The Rl was brilliant, and the Pirelli tires magnificent.
We didn't need to change tires at all
throughout the race."
By contrast, Jefferies' teammate Duffus found his crew changing his tires at
both his pit stops. As if to sum up Duffus' whole meeting, he later detailed
quite vociferously that there had been
no need to change the tires. Duffus set
the second-fastest lap of the race to
snatch the runner-up spot on the
descent of the Mountain on the final lap.
"The steering damper broke right at
the start of the race," he said. "1 was
yelling to them at my first stop that it
was the damper, but they changed the
rear tire. Then they did the same thing
at the second stop (end of lap four).
There was no need to change the tires at
all - they had been perfect."
Duffus' problems with the damper,
exacerbated by his mood at losing the
morning's production race, meant that
his early race pace had been relatively
slow, and he was placed fourth at the
end of the opening lap. After a couple of
slow pit stops (for those tire changes),
he actually found himself down as low
as fifth at one point, but a determined
last two laps gave the resilient Scot
some small success by grabbing that
runner-up place.
"1 feel like 1 have done 12 rounds
with Mike Tyson," Duffus continued.
"My arms and shoulders are aching. It
was bad enough holding on to the Prod- _
die back for three laps, but six laps on
this (an Rl without a steering damper).
(Going down) Bray Hill on the first lap
was a bit scary and I was going to pit at
the end of the first lap, but I knew that
an unscheduled stop would lose me too
much time. I suppose it worked out reasonably well in the end, though."
Ian Lougher completed the podium
places, taking the ex-Borja Honda NSRV
to third place, just over a second behind
Duffus at the finish. The Welshman had
gambled on utilizing a larger fuel tank
on the 500cc twin; thus he would stop
for fuel just once. It worked, too. Down
in eighth place at the end of the opening
lap, he had vaulted to third place by
half-distance, and when the other lead·
ing lights made th.eir second fuel stops,
Lougher found himself in second place.
Only that dramatic last-lap charge of
Duffus' robbed him of the runner-up
spot.
The one-stop strategies of Lougher
and Davies were ultimately to rob Joey
Dunlop of a rostrum place in wha t
might be the veteran Ulsterrnan's final
TT (alth!:>ugh he's been saying that for
the last eight· years). joey had been as
high as second place on the second lap,
and following Lougher and Davies' fuel
stops he was back up to third place. In
reality, though, he was never really on
the leaders' pace this day and he later
admitted that he had found the last two
laps quite taxing.
"The handling was pretty bad
throughout the race, but that's natural
with an RC45," he explained. "Those
last two laps I found pretty tiring. I am
getting too old for his now, and holding
on to that thing wasn't easy."
_
Isle of Man IT
Isle of Man
Results: June 4-11,1999
f..1: 1. Dav;d Jefferies (Yam); 2. Joey Dunlop (Hon):
3. lain Duffus (Yam); 4. James Courtney (Duc); 5. Ian
Loughe, (Hon); 6. Jason Griffiths (Yam).
Distance: 4 laps, 151 miles
A ver..ge speed: 121.35 mph
Ma.rgin 01 victory: 1.5.8 sec.
Fas'es' lap: Dav;d Jefferies. 18:21.~/123.26 mph
250: 1. John McGuiness (Hon); 2. Jason Griffiths
(Yam); 3. Gavin Lee (Yam); 4. Dennis McCullough
(Hon); 5. Joey Dunlop (Hon); 6. Gary Dynes (Hon).
Distance: 4 laps. 151 miles
Average speed: 116.79 mph
Fastest lap: John McGuiness, 19:18.2/118.29 mph
400: 1. Paul Williams (Hon); 2. Nigel Piercy (Hon);
3. Nick Jefferies (Yam); 4. Geoff McMullan (Yam).
Time: 1 hr., 23 min., 4 sec.
Distance: 4 laps. 151 miles
Average speed: 109.01 mph
Fas'es'l.p: Williams. 2O'.25.~/110.79 mph.
SOCR A: 1. Dave Molyneux/Craig Hallam (Hon);
2. Rob Fisher/Rick Long; 3. Tom Hanks/Steve Wilson
(Yam).
Time 1 hr" 41.5 sec.
Disbnce: 3 laps, 113 miles
F••'es'l.p: Molyneux. 20:045/112.76 mph
SOCR B: 1. Rob FisherIRick Long (Hon); 2. Ian
Bell/Neil Carpenter (Yam); 3. Greg Lambert/Leigh
Aubery (Yam).
TlD'Ie: 1 hr., 2 min., 26.3 sec.
F. 'es'lap: Molyneux. 20:8.3/112.41 mph
125: 1. Ian Lougher (Hon); 2. Ow.. McNally (Hon);
3. Gary Dynes (Hon); 4. DaTTa.n Lindsay (Hon); 5.
Robert Dunlop (Hon); 6. Michael Wilcox (Hon).
Time: 1 hr., 24 min., 17.3 sec.
Dislan=