RETURN OF MOUNTAIN MADNESS
This year the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy witnessed the return of the lightweight class, blisteringly fast electric bikes and cancellation of the Senior TT
PAChEa tITH A iOT Oc crN, THE 2012 ISiE Oc MAN Tourist Trophy was just as spectacular as it has been for the past 105 years. rnlike every year, this year the championship saw no rider fatalities, although there was a mishap involving a crench fan, who was killed while riding hard on the mountain course. aespite this sad incident the races took place and some breathtaking action was witnessed. Most of the races had to face nature’s wrath as the weather just deteriorated from bad to worse, which resulted in annoying delays and even cancellation of the most awaited race: the Senior TT. Here’s a brief report from the world’s most prestigious road race.
Dainese superbike TT
Crowd favourite gohn McGuinness set the fastest pace in practice and qualifying, which continued even on race day. The Englishman went to win the first 1,000-cc race of the week. His win did not come easy, though, as he had to fight for it with Cameron aonald, who was the third fastest during qualifying.
At the start of the race Cameron aonald was quick enough to pull away from the rest of the pack and take the lead. gohn was right on his tail throughout lap one. The order by the end of lap one was Cameron aonald – gohn McGuinness – Guy Martin – Gary gohnson – Bruce Anstey. The gap between aonald and McGuinness was just 0.2 seconds. On lap two, however, McGuinness zipped past aonald to take the lead. Meanwhile, Guy remained in the third place with Bruce Anstey overtaking Gary gohnson, moving into the fourth place. Now the order was McGuinness – aonald – Martin – Anstey – gohnson. But in the penultimate lap Anstey made his move on Martin, overtaking the Tyco Suzuki rider to slip into the third place. As the chequered flag
came out at the end of the sixth lap, it was gohn McGuinness who won the race, closely followed by Cameron aonald in second, Bruce Anstey in third, Martin in fourth and Gary gohnson in fifth.
MOnsTer enerGY superspOrT raCe One
The second event of the TT week was the Supersport race one that witnessed some real drama. In qualifying, tilliam and Michael aunlop topped the timing sheets. However, on race day things turned out differently for Michael aunlop. Michael was leading for the first two laps with a 10-second lead. On lap three his bike had mechanical problems which forced him out of the race. At the end of lap three the order was Gary gohnson – Bruce Anstey – Cameron aonald – tilliam aunlop – gohn McGuinness. It seemed that Gary would eventually win the first Supersport race. However, his bike also developed mechanical problems, forcing him to retire on lap four. This gave the lead to Bruce Anstey, who rode to victory with a lead of just 0.TT seconds over Cameron aonald, who finished second. tilliam aunlop was able to finish in the third place, 22 seconds behind the leader. Meanwhile, gohn McGuinness finished fourth with games Hillier completing the top five.
rOYaL LOnDOn 360 supersTOCk
gohn McGuinness returned to the podium for a second time by being the fastest rider in the Superstock race. gohn, who was the fourth fastest in qualifying, was seen to be at a much faster pace on the race day as he overtook the first three racers in the very first lap. Thereafter he simply continued to pull away from the rest of the pack to win his second race of the 2012 TT.
A lot of action took place behind McGuinness. Particularly involving Michael aunlop, who had a bad start and was running eighth by the end of the first lap. However, Michael soon got his pace back and moved up four places by the end of lap two. On lap three he overtook Bruce Anstey, slipping into the third place, and in the final lap he eventually moved to the second place, overtaking Ryan carquhar, who was consistently running second for the first three laps. gohn McGuinness won the
Superstock race, followed by Michael aunlop in second Ryan carquhar in third, Bruce Anstey in fourth and Guy Martin completing the top five.
ses TT ZerO
In 2012 the electric bike class of TT Championship entered the history books when the top three finishers broke the 100 mph or 160 km/h mark. Michael Rutter of Team Segway Racing MotoCzysz was the man who achieved an average speed of 104.056 mph (16T.46 km/h), which made him the fastest man in the electric class. At a point his average lap speed was recorded at 118.T30 mph (191 km/h). Apart from winning TT Zero, Michael Rutter was also given a reward of £ 10,000 (Rs 8.65 lakh) by the government of Isle of Man.
McGuinness, who rode a Mugen Shinden by Team Mugen, managed an average speed of 102.215 mph (164.5 km/h), thus becoming the second person to complete the race at over 100 mph. cinishing in the third place was Mark Miller, Michael Rutter’s team-mate, who managed an average speed of 101.065 mph (162.65 km/h).
sure siDeCar
The Sidecar class this year witnessed Manxman aave Molyneux clinch his 16th win and also a double win for the fifth time. aave and his partner, Patrick carrance, rode consistently fast to maintain their lead over others. Their efforts paid off as they crossed the finish line in one hour and four minutes after completing three laps of the mountain course. They were followed be the team of Ben Birchall and Tom Birchall, who finished the three laps in one hour and 26.63 minutes.
Race two of the Sure Sidecar again saw aave Molyneux and Patrick carrance take the top honours. However, this time they had to fight for it with the team of Tim Reeves and aan Sayle, who were in the lead for the first two laps. Tim and aan had to eventually settle for a second-place finish while aave zipped past to victory. Ben and Tom Birchall, who had finished second in race one, were able to finish in the third spot in race two.
MOnsTer enerGY superspOrT raCe TWO
After being forced to retire in race one Michael aunlop returned to the
second race of the Supersport category with more determination and a quicker pace. After the first lap itself Michael had gained a 5.5-second lead over Cameron aonald, who was running in the second place. At the end of lap one aunlop was leading, closely followed by aonald in second, Anstey in third, McGuinness in fourth and Ryan carquhar in fifth.
On lap two aonald was able to close in on Michael, reducing the gap between the two to just two seconds. At the front on lap three aonald was going around the mountain course faster than Michael, posting a faster lap timing than Michael. Ryan craquhar, who was running fifth at the end of lap two, managed to move up into the third place on lap three by being faster than both Anstey and McGuinness, who were now running in the fourth and fifth place respectively.
On the final lap Michael managed to overtake aonald and finish the fourth lap seven seconds ahead of him, eventually winning the second Supersport race of the week. aonald tried his best, but he had to be content with a second-place finish. The third place was secured by Ryan carquhar, who was consistently fast throughout the race. Meanwhile, Bruce Anstey and gohn McGuinness finished fourth and fifth respectively.
LiGHTWeiGHT CLass
This year witnessed the return of the lightweight class wherein riders like Michael Rutter, Cameron aonald, tilliam aunlop, Ryan carquhar and many others participated. The 650-cc class witnessed some nice action from Ryan carquhar, who led two of the three laps, ultimately winning the lightweight class with a total time of 59 minutes and 29.5T seconds. cinishing second behind Ryan was games Hillier, who crossed the line just 29 seconds after Ryan. And five seconds behind Hillier was Michael Rutter, who finished third. Cameron aonald, Russ Mountford and tilliam aunlop finished in fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively.
OVeraLL
This year’s TT was an exciting and incident-free event so far as the competitors were concerned. However, the most awaited event, the Senior TT, did not take place due to bad weather that initially forced its postponement and later its cancellation as the track conditions were not favourable for racing.
The week ended with gohn McGuinness winning the championship with T4 points and extending his TT wins to 19. The second place went to Bruce Anstey, who scored a total of 6T points. His TT win tally now stands at nine. Cameron aonald, who has matured in the past few years, was able to finish in third with 66 points. Completing the top five were Michael aunlop with 51 points and games Hillier with 39 points.