Tough love

I guess like me you have watched the tragic events of the last few weeks unfold in real road racing, in thett, on Ireland’s narrow lanes and at the Southern 100. One tragic loss of young man at the top of his game after another caused me to think long and hard about my passion for pure road racing. Again, I guess like so many more of you, I questioned the morality of racing between the walls and if the ultimate price is worth the thrill, but once again I have come to the same conclusion. Our sport must, and will, go on! No one made any of us face the greatest challenge in sport, and although we ignored it, we all knew the ultimate price. As Dan Kneen’s father Richard said after his tragictt crash, “You couldn’t have stopped Dan racing.” In fact no one could have stopped those young men from starting any given race.they dedicated their lives to something they were very good at and which gave them the thrill and recognition they sought. Personally, the more people pointed out the dangers involved the more I enjoyed the buzz. I was doing something that not everyone got the chance to do, and enjoying every minute. I am not being in any way flippant or underestimating the pain the families are suffering. I have lost some special friends to our sport. And I survived by sheer luck. One debate that has grabbed many an imagination is the speed of today’s bikes – are they too fast for the circuits now? Interestingly, and purely by chance, I was working in the archive recently and came across a headline in a 1926 copy ofthe Motorcycle which screamed: “Machines too fast for the course?” It was talking about thett. In one terrible year at the TT in the 1970s, when no one questioned the speed of the bikes, six riders lost their lives, when only one machine, Giacomo Agostini’s MV, made more than 60bhp. I send my personal and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those that we have lost and thank them for the pleasure they have given me and the thousands more watching them in action. And I hope for a speedy and full recovery to all those who are injured. Malc Wheeler