Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1503939
FEATURE I 2023 ISLE OF MAN TT: PART 1 P78 I've had bikes drop out of gear before but never in a knife-edge place like Gree- ber Castle at the Isle of Man TT. For a moment, I consider these might be my final seconds playing out as the white house looms ever so large in view. My good friend David Johnson, a full-house TT star and roommate for these two weeks of TT 2023, gave me some advice earlier that week that invertedly saved my life. "If it drops out (of gear), just commit like hell to the corner. At that stage, that's all you've got left." You don't grab the brakes hard in a situation like this. Keep the brake force firm but deft—the last thing you want is to lock the wheels and skid into the trees. Or the stone wall. Or the car in the white house's driveway. Subconsciously thinking about Davo's words somewhere in my psyche, I commit to the approaching left with no engine brake, the CBR just a rolling bicycle at 90 mph. I don't even think to grab the clutch. I'm somewhere between frozen with fear and full dynamic mode. Praying the Honda won't kick back into gear and send me sideways into one of the waiting obstacles, I get around the first left, pass the marshal and his waving yellow, ride halfway into the second left and then… crrru - unncchhh. The CBR drops into third gear, but thankfully after I've got control of the situation, clutch lever now fully wedged against the left handlebar. It is the scariest moment of my life. Two more times this happens, once at Doran's Bend—the same corner that ended Guy Martin's TT career on the same model of Honda with similar gearbox is - sues—and the third and final time at the bottom of Barregarrow, the famous corner where you see all the bikes bottoming out next to the stone wall on the left. At this point, I've had enough. I pull in at Kirk Michael Village and off the track. It's Thursday night of practice week and I tell myself I'm not riding this bike ever again. I call team owner Darren Gilpin to come and pick me and the bike up from a residential estate somewhere in Peel. My 2023 Isle of Man TT is over. THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS The van ride back to the pits is about as fun as a root ca- nal with no numbing agent. No words are spoken be- tween me, Darren and Alan, the team's lead technician. The only noise comes from the Mercedes Sprinter van's suspension as it bashes over the one-lane roads. I see my sponsor and great friend, Oscar Solis, in the pits and tell him what happened. "Let's just get your stuff and head back to the house," he says. "We'll figure out the next move." He always knows the right thing to say. We've won lots of races together but more than that, he's a racer and knows what goes on in my head, even if I don't. Later that night, with a few old and a few new friends, we descend upon a Chinese restau - rant in Douglas. A bunch of MSG and a few beers later, I'm feeling slightly better about the situation and, although I know my TT is all but over before the final night of practice tomorrow, I call the TT & Motorsport Development Manager, Paul Phillips. He's the TT's big cheese and at this stage there's nothing left to lose. Paul's seen it all and knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. We chat for a while, and although I've only managed five laps so far all week thanks to a motor blowing on the first lap of the first day on Monday, the seat Arm pump issues during practice week meant Rennie got some new webbing from the physio department.