Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Leftl Marshals pass on the word that the b linding sun is out at Glen Helen and Governor's Bridge. (Abo ve) David Jefferies as t he other hero o f this year's TT. He won t h e Se n ior TT, the Junior TT and the Production TT and also broke t h e outright lap record on the Island, la p ping at 125.69 mph. McGui ness brought the second , a lbeit sta ndard -spec, RC5 1 into a fine thi rd p lace. This was the yo ung Lancas tria n's first TT race on a fourstro ke a nd his (and the te a m 's ) expectation s we re exceeded. "I just go t my head down fro m the start" , sa id McGuin es s . "I expected to finish in the top s ix, but to get a podium is a hu ge bonus." Lough e r was a n excellent fourth on th e p rivate ' R7I '. T he We lshman is losing his ta g as a small bike specialist rou n d t he Is le o f Man. Th is result backed up his fine th ird p lace in the 1999 S en ior TT . "Very ple a sed with that I am, " said Loug her in typi c al Welsh b ro g ue. "I had a co up le of terri ble slides early on which was frightening as I am still getting used to the bike . I am not all there co nf idence-w ise with this th ing [the R71] so I am p leased with the res ult. " J im Moodie was a nondescript (for him) fifth aboard the Honda 929R. He was never a factor all afternoon and his post ra ce demeanor said it a ll. "We haven 't reall y had e no ugh tim e t o set the bike up " , h e s a id . "T he we ather disrupted most of pra ctice. " S o Honda has re g a in ed thei r F I mantle in TT hist ory, and th e m an who ga ve it to th em wo n his first F I ra ce for th e te am some 17 yea rs ago . Dun lop cla ims he will go on and on at the TT for he lov es it th at mu ch , but will we e ver see such a victo ry a gain ? 250ccTT The brillian ce of Dunl op a ro und the tortuou s 38-mil e course co ntinue d o n Monday when the Irishman scored h is 25th TT win , in thi s his 25th year of racing on the Island . Prior to Saturday's F I ra c e th is would not have been a ra c e we expected Dunlop to fig ure in at all. In q ua lifying , he had lapped at just over 110 m ph , 74 secon ds slower than the fastest q ualifie r (Jason Griffiths) . Now , we reasoned, after Saturday anything was possible. Th e te rrib le wea ther continued to torme n t th e ri ders and organizers a like. Th ick, slo w moving mist on the mo u n tai n se c tion mean t the start time for th e race went thro u g h a series of no less than eight postponements, resulting in the ra ce eventua lly gett ing underw a y some four-and-ahalf hours after the schedu led start time . Tra ck conditions we re mostly d ry, but those sections under dense , tree-lined areas were very damp and ti re choices were mixed, although most e lected to go with slick rear and intermediate fron ts . In light of the lat e start time (and with o ther events to fo llo w), race distance was reduced from fou r to t hre e laps - this wou ld ma ke for differ ing p it strategies. Dunlop was never challenged from the off , whi ch is the way he like s it (how often has Dun lop won a TT ra ce co m ing from behind) . By Ramsey, on lap one, he was alrea dy s eve n seconds a hea d o f 1999 win ne r John McGuine ss , a boa rd Pau l Bird 's similarly 'A' kitted RS250 . The ga p rem a ine d th e sa me a t th e end of t he opening lap, a nd b o t h Du n lop and Mc G uiness o pted to stop immediate ly - this was a slig ht g a m b le as it wou ld m e a n a le n gth ier sto p tha n the ir p u rsue rs (w ho, as at it a ll t urn e d out, would sto p a fter two laps ) who wo uld ha ve a distin ctl y shorter stop to put in le s s fuel. As it turn ed out it ne edn 't ha ve m a tte re d - e ve n c arryi n g m or e fue l Dun lop was st ill 27 seconds ahead of the th ird plac e man , New Zea lande r Bruce Anstey, at th e e nd of th e o pening lap . Eve n McGuiness couldn' t hold a candle to Dunlop th is day . By the end to the Isle of ye r Maun (the italics being a Co. Antrim refer ence to Dunlop). Dunlop wa s his usua lly exuberant se lf during the post-race inte rviews. "The wee bike was brilliant today", he said. "This is th e best 250 I've e ve r had her e and it ran 100% a ll day. We had no moments at all cons idering we had a few prob lems in pra cti ce ." '125ccTT of the second lap he was half a m inute behind Dun lop, and further trauma was to hit the young Englishman just a mile into the final lap when his Honda se ized at Quarter Bridge. McGui nes s was hurt at the way the race panned out. In 1999 he had won the Daytona 250 ra ce, the TT 250cc and the British 250cc Championsh ip. In 2000 he already had Dayto na in the bag again, and is in comma nd o f the National Championship again. The TT , however, had spoiled the script. "I was losing water on the first la p at Creg Na Baa", said McGuiness, in a s omewhat crestfallen mood. "I had a huge slide and nearly fell. When I pit ted I told the crew I thought I ha d a problem but they sa id they cou ldn't see anything. On the second lap it just got slow e r and slower and the n it seized at the start of the last lap. I'm very d isappointed because th is was m y best chance of a win this week." Anstey now found himself in new he igh ts a s he inherited second p lace b eh ind Dunlop , wh o by now was a m inute and a qu arter up the road . An stey was n' t und er a ny p articu lar pressure for the runner up s po t ha s he led fellow Kiwi, Sh aun Ha rris by 18 seconds at Glen Helen on the last lap . Harris , h o wev e r, was coming un de r pressure fro m Ia n Lou gh er for the fina l podium pos ition. Loug her had started q u ite we ll, but a co uple of sl ides on the opening la p had detune d him a lit tle and he had slipped down the leader board . Now he was fighting back a nd was bu t a secon d b ehind Harris a t Gle n He len , a nd by Rams e y h e wa s five seconds a he ad . And so a fa irly une xciting ra ce finish ed without further pl ac e ch a nges a nd Dunlop a winner again , his eighth on a 250. As one wag put it: "We 'll have to change the na me of this place c U c I e The incredible week of Dun lop victor ies co n ti nued with Wedne sday m orn ing ' s 125cc win . T h is was t he U1ste rma n's fifth victory of the 26 he ha d no w ac hieved and we wondered if anyone e lse was go ing to get a look in this week . Dun lo p 's yo unger brother, Robert, was expected to be his main rival, bu t great things were also expected o f another Irishm a n Dennis Mc Cullo ugh , as we ll as two- time 125cc TT winner Ian Lougher. Fo r the second race in a row th e organizers pulled the ride rs off the grid with bu t m inutes to go before the start. Th is ti me it was to allow a pa s sing shower to clear. While the inte ntio ns were good , the decisio n d id n 't do m uch for th e rider's m oo ds , psyched up as they were . McCu llough indeed spoke for many when he asked : "Why wait until we ar e on the grid an d he lmets on . It' s been like this [rain ing] for 10 minutes. There 's not going to be a mi racle within the ne xt five minutes!" Well , in this instance , McCullough was wr on g and t h e r ai n st opped a lmos t im me diate ly. Devine inte rven tion ind eed. Dunl op the Elder had this ra ce won from t he s ta rt. With s o m e sl ightl y d am p p atch e s s till lu rki ng a ro u n d, J oe y Dun lop fitte d a c ut s lick on th e fro nt to c o m p liment th e fu ll s lic k o n the rea r. The co m bination wa s ad va ntageous over most of the com petit io n who had opte d for slicks a ll rou nd. Dun lop led from McCullou gh by 18 seconds at the end of the op ening lap , and by 23 at th e e nd of th e s econd. Therea ft er he eased off s lig htly and allowed McCullough to get to as close as 16 seconds at the end of the four laps. Uke Monday's 250cc race , this seemed to be a fairly easy exercise for Dunlop . n e .... S • J UN E 28 , 2 0 0 0 33

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