Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

tals a chance to make fools of themselves and get to see the track without speed limits. Just how the riders see it. Local hero Richard "Milky" Quale had loaned our group a car for the weekend. It was- n't exactly a Mercedes, more like a minia- ture Geo Metro. We proceeded to take the über-small Fiat around the one-way mountain course right in the thick of things on Mad Sunday, even managing to pass several unsuspect- ing victims, including a work truck entering the Gooseneck - a highly populated corner early on in the mountain section. There must have been 200 people sitting there watching - and they loved it, letting out a roar like we had just kicked the winning goal of a World Cup soccer match. It was a riot to say the least. But the fun wore off as quick as it start- ed, and Toye found himself down on his luck in the Superstock TT on Monday. He had to make an extra pit stop at the end of the first lap when his boot was slipping off the shift lever, dropping him out of the run- ning for the top-newcomer distinction. It turned out to only be excess chain lube that had dripped on the lever, but at a place like the Isle of Man, Toye didn't want to take any chances. "I was really bummed about the Superstock race," Toye said. "It was just one of those things. I felt good out there but when your foot starts slipping off the peg at place that could easily take your life, it was good to play it safe." The Tuesday following the Superstock TT race the roads were open all day and I was lucky enough to get a few laps on a Honda RC51 to get an idea of what the place was like firsthand. A friend of mine by the name of Ben Younger was over in the Isle doing some research for an upcoming movie he's making, and he was able to get me set up with a bike. He also has some serious laps around the island himself and is one heck of a rider (for a movie guy), and he was cool enough to take me for two very high-speed laps. As I said earlier, there really is no way to explain just how intense the place really is. It is so rough, tight, and utterly insanely fast that it's really not of this world. There are spots where I honestly thought I was going to blow up the RC51 because I had been wide open for so long. Regardless, I had a great time and Ben was an awesome guide. And for those of you who will never get a chance to go, Ben is working on something that will blow your mind, so keep your eyes peeled. Enough about me, now back to Toye... Toye was scheduled to have one lap of practice on Wednesday, which would be the only other time he would see the track between the Superstock race on Monday and the big Senior TT Friday. But again Toye's bad luck struck. Sidecars had dumped oil on the track during their race preceding his prac- tice, and you can guess the rest. Yep, prac- tice was canceled. This meant the next time Toye would see the track was the opening lap of the Senior TT on Friday. "Seriously, you just sit around, you haven't been doing anything more than 80 mph in a car for the past three days, and they drop the flag and you got to get it on!" said Toye of his opening lap of the Senior TT. "It's just stupid." But slowly things started to come to Toye. "The first two laps I was like, 'screw this place, I'm doing six laps and I'm out of here for good.' Then by the second and third laps it wasn't too bad. And I swear to God, by the fifth and sixth laps, I was going over certain sections thinking, 'Man, that's the last time I'm going to get to ride that, bum- mer.' It's the strangest thing. I can't even explain it. For some reason the place just grows on you." Toye was able to get going and set a quick lap of 120.5 mph and was once again the top-finishing rookie in 20th. For his efforts, Toye was given the Iceman Award, for the top-overall rookie of the week. "I told myself not to set goals and to just go out there and have a good time all week, but I lied and I really wanted to do a 120-mph lap," Toye said after the race. "I got it. I did 120.5 mph, so I was super stoked." When asked if he had any moments during the 200-plus mile race, Toye said, "Well, not really... wait a minute, screw that, I had 37 miles of moments for six laps. This entire place is a giant moment. All you do for 37 miles is hold on, close your eyes, and pray. I'm just now waking up!" Toye then paused for a minute, thinking back... "Wait, I did have a big [moment]," Toye remembered. "One of the laps I ended up bending the bar from pulling the bike through a top-of-fifth-gear left-hand sweeper. I didn't break it, but I used so much force to get the bike turned that the bar actually bent in my hand. I checked it and it felt fine so I kept going, but if defi- nitely got my blood going. As if it wasn't going enough already." The week was a success in Toye's eyes, first and foremost because he survived, but also because he got his elusive 120-mph mark. And finishing as the top newcomer was the icing on the cake. "I've raced Supercross, motocross, road raced in Macau, supermoto... you name it, I've raced it, and nothing com- pares to this place. It's in its own category. The speed is absolutely gnarly, the road conditions are beyond insane, and add to that the environment and how much people dig this place, and you end up in this twilight zone of a place they call the Isle of Man. "On the other hand, once you start to tame the place, if I dare even say that [knocks on wood], it's pretty gratifying," said Toye. "I've raced a lot of different places, but when this one starts coming to you... well, it's hard to explain. Just the feeling that you get of doing something that you are absolutely not supposed to do - like tipping into a blind corner after having the thing pegged to the stop for as long as you can remember and never letting off, just trusting that the road is going to be there and that you aren't going to lose it into a forest. It's almost indescribable in words. There is just no other place that you can do that, let alone have it be in a legal racing environment." Will Jeremy Toye make a return to the island? "There is a definite addiction to doing this. These people here are addicted like it's a drug. I don't see myself getting this hooked. These racers - this whole island - lives, breathes, and eats this week of rac- ing. This week is their life. I'm definitely digging it, but I don't see myself making a career out of doing this. Then again, you never know..." CN C Y C L E N E W S • JULY 12, 2006 47 Toye receives the Iceman Award for being the top-overall newcomer of the week from 15-time World Champion Giacomo Agostini. Knee down at 130 mph on public roads is standard issue for the Isle. Knee down at 130 mph on public roads is standard issue for the Isle. At the Isle of Man anything less than complete concentration can have disastrous results. "Imagine the craziest racing you've ever done, be it motocross, Supercross, road racing, the Baja 1000 - whatever, you name it. Now take that and multiply it times 100 and you've just experienced the taxi ride from the airport to the track!"

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