Motorcycle USA, July 6, 2010, Ian Kerr writes: "Having watched Jimmy Moore the past few years and seen his methodical approach to learning the course and gradually improving his times I think he has the real potential to win a TT race..." Read the rest here(scroll down within his story to the TT coverage to see all his comments).
July 2010
Jimmy reflects on the TT, and highlights
First off, I want to thank EVERYONE who contributed to this effort! And to the USTT Foundation’s: Bradford Duval, Paul Duchene, Sherry Lamoreaux, Michael Cottam, Matt Gougler, Janice Logan, Cliff Baker, Brooks Cooper and Arun Sharma.
I wouldn’t have had such a great TT, without your help.
Although I/we didn’t reach all of our goals this year, we got VERY close, and achieved others in the process.
The weather this year started off really well and then turned “mixed” for race week. Practice week was beautiful. But every evening, I got all four of my practice laps and was able to improve the bikes each time out.
By the first race day, Saturday June 5th, I was well pleased with all three bikes, including the infinitely finicky R1 Superbike, which I was to ride that day. The problem, or should I say, “one of the problems” with the TT is that during practice week, unless you ride one bike all night long, you never get a chance to ride anywhere near race distance. This is a huge problem, because you never get the chance to see what the bike is going to be like after the third or fourth lap, and the two races you ride the Superbike in (Superbike and Senior), are 6 laps long…
The first two laps of the race went all right, I was trying to get into a groove and not “over-ride” the thing, as I knew that if I did, there would be a price to pay. I felt as though I was picking up confidence and speed and came in for my first of two pit stops. Upon stopping, they threw the bike up on the rear stand for a tire change and fuel, and I focused on Tommy, my best friend from Alaska, who was helping me with a fresh visor and water. The re-fueling went according to plan but when it was time to come down off the stand, one of the crewman held me up, indicating that the rear tire wasn’t ready. It was a good thing too, as I had already knocked the bike into gear, anticipating coming down, and almost took Big Neil’s fingers off. Once that issue got sorted, I was off, but the pit stop took nearly 45 seconds too long.
The next two laps went okay and I began moving up the order. The next pit stop went much better. It was within seconds of the Factory teams’ efforts and more importantly, I hadn’t lost any positions in the process. The last two laps went extremely well. I managed to turn my best ever lap of the TT, 124.557 mph, and made up nine positions before the flag. Without the time we lost in the first pit stop, the boys reckon I would have finished 14th. It was a promising start.
The next two races, Supersport race 1 and Superstock, were run on the same day. Traditionally, it’s one of the best days of racing and, if things go well, is usually one of my quickest.
Supersport 1 started off absolutely perfectly. My first lap around on the little R6, saw me in 15th place and I’d posted a VERY respectable lap speed, from a standing start. The next lap was even better and I came in for the pit stop, with a lap speed of 122.575mph, and in 12th place! Then EVERYTHING fell apart. I leaned out of the way, so the team could fuel the bike, and as usual, I just focused on getting water and a new visor. I made the assumption, that the boys had the fuel flowing and everything was fine. I even took a moment to try and spot Kara and Gus in the grandstands, before I threw my hands back onto the handlebars, and blasted down pit-lane.
Much to my surprise though, when I did look down, expecting to see the fuel cap going back into place and everyone’s hands getting pulled out of the way, I saw multiple hands still wrestling with what appeared to be, a fuel cap that wouldn’t come off… It took a breath or two, for me to realize what was going on, and in one very frustrated moment yell: “Get that #%*&#@! thing off!” The boys on the job, Big Neil, and his brother Andy, or “Popeye” as I called him, are not small men. These boys are built like tanks with hands the size of a gorilla. I soon realized, that if they weren’t going to be able to get the fuel cap off, then there wasn’t much I could do about it. My race was over.
When you’ve just completed two laps of the Isle of Man, in anger, it is hard to come back down to earth. It is one of the most intense things a human can do. So if I slipped an “F-bomb” at that moment, I think everyone within a 10-mile radius who heard me, could forgive me. It was not part of the plan.
So the boys wheeled the bike back to the truck and discovered that a small piece of debris had gotten into the locking mechanism and jammed it. It was fixed and ready for the second Supersport race (which wasn’t for another 2 days), within minutes.
With the disappointment of that race mostly out of my system, I began to focus on the Suzuki 1000, that I would be using in the Superstock race. The big Suzuki was such a pleasure to ride, and had been all week. It was insanely fast (nearly as fast as the Superbike) and amazingly forgiving. It seemed to make the TT course, feel “easy”. If you could hang on, with the throttle held on the stop, it would pull you around the course at warp speed.
One of the biggest complaints I had, early on, was that the thing just wanted to wheelie and spin the back tire. We’d solved some of those issues and the bike I raced that day was one of the best bikes I’ve ever ridden around the TT course. I was a bit slow out of the gate though, and my first lap wasn’t as fast as I hoped. But I began to find my groove and coming into for my pit stop at the end of lap two, I was mixing it up with some good company. For the first time this year, the TT organizers changed the pit entry rules from a “stop and go” affair, to a “slow down to 60kph” rule and it caught quite a few people out, including me. I was penalized 30 seconds for leaving pit lane, .200 of a kph too fast…a speeding ticket, at the TT. I didn’t know it at the time, but saw my result slip, when the 30 seconds was added to my total time at the end of the race. My last two laps were nearly flawless and I took the checker with my best ever lap of the Isle of Man, at 125 mph.
For anyone who thinks that isn’t a massive effort, let me tell you: to break the 120 mph mark is insane, and anything above that is even more insane. At those speeds, the task becomes almost Zen-like; it’s what makes the TT so incredible.
We then had a few days off due to bad weather, and to be honest, I was really bummed. Even though it is so physically demanding, it’s almost best to ride the course every day, to stay sharp. And there are WAY too many pubs on the Isle of Man to distract you. (smile)
Supersport Race 2 was held in “uncertain” conditions. My first lap went well, but I felt slightly rusty and had to remind myself to relax. The R6 didn’t feel as “crisp” as it had earlier in the week; that could have been down to the change in weather, or the fact that three days earlier, it simply had had its nuts revved off it. A bike can only take so much abuse before it starts to slow down.
The second lap wasn’t so good though. At the very intimidating, ultra-fast, fifth gear, 150 mph corner of Ballagary, Paul Dobbs had crashed on the opening lap and died. The second pass through “Balla-scary”, as some call it, was like a war-zone. It looked like a bomb had gone off and there was so much debris strewn across and down the road that I had to slow down to a crawl to keep from hitting something, or someone. It was obviously a very bad crash.
Once through the section though, it was back to business. You simply can’t let something like that get into your head, or you’re it’ll happen to you too. That’s the harsh reality of the TT. For the next lap or two, I approached Ballagary with some caution. My last lap was sizing up to be my best and I was really looking forward to completing a lap on the 600 in the 123/124mph range. Approaching Ballagary for the last time, I was cautious but I hoped it wouldn’t affect my lap time much. Once through, I tried to hit every mark just right, and carried as much corner speed as I could possibly justify.
Then, half way around the track at another insanely fast section, the 6th gear sweepers of Quarry Bends, there was another fatal crash and more bomb-like carnage. I was down to second gear, staring straight at a Marshal standing in the middle of the road, waving his arms frantically. I weaved around all the pieces, and by the time I reached the Sulby Straight, I was fanning the clutch to try and get back to speed. At that point, I knew my lap time was ruined and tried to focus on staying fast and improving my finishing position. It was a good lap and I knew that I had given it my all. I finished 15th.
I learned afterwards that several people, most of them in the top 10, had ignored the Marshal’s waving flags, and manage to set new track records on that last lap. Those who were caught were fined, but got to keep their finishing positions. I kicked myself a bit at the end of that race, thinking I had been too cautious through the crash zones but it’s way more important to respect the Marshals in those situations, and do the right thing.
With some highs and lows already under our belt, we looked to the Senior TT on Friday for redemption. It was going to be risky though, as we had fitted a new un-tested and “unproven” rear shock to the Superbike, in an effort to make it more user-friendly in the later stages of the race. It was a big gamble. My first laps however, were as fast as anything I had done during the whole two weeks and our pit stops were flawless. No fuel cap issues, no speeding tickets and the shock seemed to be working well. I had been picking off multiple riders with every lap and seemed to be getting stronger and stronger.
That was until the last half of the last lap. I honestly don’t know what happened, but the bike began to get so violent and difficult to ride; the last rider I had passed, re-passed me, and it was everything I could do to keep him in sight. The shock had finally reached its limit and failed. The bike bucked and jumped and wanted me off, and it tried hard. I eventually slipped into “safety” mode and focused on finishing. It’s not the way I like to end races, but sometimes you have pull back to survive. I took the checkered flag, in 11th place, the highest finishing position for an American in the 103 years of the TT.
We also came 2nd in the TT’s Privateers Cup, which we would have won if it weren’t for the fuel cap issues of the first 600 race.
All in all, the TT was a huge success for us and I can’t wait to improve even more next year.
Thanks everyone!!!
Jimmy
THANKS TO ALL THE SPONSORS WHO SUPPORTED JIMMY MOORE
AND THE US TT FOUNDATION.
STAY TUNED FOR 2011!
Jimmy Moore at the Isle of Man in 2009. Photo copyright 2009, David Collister.
