Manx GP 2007 Race Report
 Hi to you all again, we have all arrived back home again and I am now back at Burrows Engineering this morning, Many thanks to David Carmichael ,my right hand man, as all this racing would not be possible with out his help.
May I just start by wishing Shane Connor a full recovery Following his accident in yesterdays junior race, he’s a real nice lad and I was just speaking to him yesterday morning before his race wishing him the best of luck, the JD team didn’t need that at this time, our thoughts are with his family at such a hard time.
Congratulations to all the Irish lads who have done so well this week, especially to Ryan on his to brilliant rides and Andrew Neil on his third place in the junior ,they both only live a few miles from me. It was interesting to note, that there were no less than 7 riders from County
Tyrone competing at this years Manx!.
Looking back at my own races I was running in 12th on the 500 honda in Mondays senior classic race when the bike let go at the end of Sulby straight on the last lap, its not the best feeling to complete a race round there and stop with half a lap to go, I felt sorry for all the lads that had put the effort in to get me there in the first place but I was pleased when I seen I lapped at 99.65 mph on my third lap when I knew that I was away down on speed, one night I checked the speed trap times and Ryan was clocked at 138mph and I was 114mph that’s 24mph difference, now I reckon if I had them extra few mph what a difference that would make on your lap times!
 Thanks to a kind Gentleman from Sulby, I got a lift back to the pits, so that I could get out in the practice lap for a run on the 350, well I didn’t have much luck there either! as the little 350 only made it to Greeba Castle ,which wasn’t a bad place to retire as the Hawthorn was only a field or two away for a basket of chips and a couple of pints of the black stuff!
Then it was back to the beer tent where we had some hospitality from Ian lougher and Baylon, believe it or not Baylon even put his hand in his pocket! wish I could say the same about Mr Lougher…!!
Wednesday race day, and it was pretty hectic, we only got the 350 through scrutineering , just Ten minutes before the start of the race !
Thanks to Adrain Elwood as he worked into the wee small hours of Wednesday morning preparing the bike, plus we were up the mountain on Wednesday morning at seven o’clock testing the bike and hoping all was ok! but luck wasnt on our side , and I had to retire at the end of the first lap with misfire which was so disappointing for all concerned, none more so than RJ Woolsey who owns the little bike, so all I can say now is a big thank you to RJ, Wallace Seawright, Adrain Elwood, Simon, Stephen and to all that came across to help me out and support me in any way.
 After the 350 race I was on in the pit lane for Trevor Ferguson to change his visor in the junior race, congratulations to him on his 11th place finish and here’s hoping for more of the same on Friday. To all that left me good luck messages on my web site for the Manx and all year. Nobby asked me on one of the messages how much different a classic bike is to ride?, well the saying goes ,its got two handle bars and two wheels, but there is a huge difference between them and the modern day motorcycle, The cornering markers that we would have ,are so much different and you can just hold them flat out in so many places, the brakes wouldn’t just be what I would be used to, but then again your not carrying the same speed into corners as you do be on the modern day bike’s ,but I have to say I really enjoyed riding them round the island and hopefully I will be back for more of the same next year. So its of to Dundalk this weekend on the HM machinery, Baylon tells me that it is a pretty fast circuit, so it will be a shock going from a 500 Honda to a fully prepared Honda superbike,
Now, the behaviour from the pit crew in the island was as bad as ever! we had men sleeping with men, two men and a women on an air bed for the night, and yet again the usual suspects that never made it home! I am going to have to have a word with them over the winter and teach them how to behave for next season..!! Best of luck to all the Irish lads in the senior race on Friday, and lets hope they all bring it home safe and sound..
JB#16 Pictures Courtesy of www.irishracephotograaphy.com
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