The AIR Kawasaki team went to the IOM to compete at this year’s TT races. In practice we experienced handling problems on the ZX10. We took it round to K-TECH who put lighter springs in the front forks, and altered the ride height at the rear. This made a big improvement and took Indie’s lap times from 118 to 122 mph.
On the Thursday night of practice, we put a fresh engine into the 600 Kawasaki, and on Friday night, the last night of practice, his lap times went from 115 to 119 mph. This was again a big improvement, and it looked as if it was all systems go for racing.
The Saturday Superbike race started and Indie went down brae hill and lapped at over 122 mph from a standing start. On lap 2, on his way to ramsey, the bike would not rev above 9000 rpm. He got it back to the pits, only to retire. We later traced the fault to a blocked filter in the fuel pump.
We waited eagerly for Monday as we had to compete in the 600 Supersport race in the morning, and the Superstock race in the afternoon. Again Indie roared off down brae hill on the 600 bike, and was lapping in the 119 and 120s. He finally finished in 27th place out of 78 starters, and received a bronze replica. The team was happy with his overall result and his times.
After lunch, we made our way up to the start to compete in the Superstock race. After keeping a close eye on practice times, I told Indie we had a chance of finishing in the top 20 with a good run and a good pit stop. He completed the first two laps but when he pitted, he asked Alan, part of the pit team, if he could see anything wrong with the front of the bike. Alan said he couldn’t, so Indie started lap three. But at glen vine, the steering damper came adrift, and Indie had to complete the last two laps with no steering damper. His speeds dropped from 122 to 112 mph laps. He was in 22nd place at the time, so a top 20 finish was certainly on the cards before this happened. Indie still managed to finish in 37th position, and again received another bronze replica.
Before racing started on Thursday, there was a one lap practice for the senior TT which was to take place on Friday. Indie took the ZX10 out and after jumping Ballaugh Bridge on his way to ramsey, he felt the bike move around below him. He slowed down, only to find oil leaking from the rear shock. He pulled off to the inside of the course, and made his way back to the pits, as he did not want to be stranded in Ramsey.
The Wednesday Supersport race was postponed to Thursday afternoon due to bad weather. In the Supersport race, Indie wanted to race his 600 Honda as he had brought it all the way from the Czech republic. Again he was lapping in the 119s, but when he pitted at the end of the second lap, the handle bar on the twist grip side had loosened. We eventually tightened it, but it cost him almost two minutes in pit lane which dropped him to 43rd place. But at least he overcame the problems to finish another race.
Friday morning arrived all too soon. K-TECH had left the paddock, so we had no one to repair the burst pipe on the rear damper. After speaking with Ryan Farquhar and Ian Lougher, I took the rear shock out of the 600 and put it in the big bike. We had no way of trying it, so we were in the lap of the gods. We made our way to the start line. I had now been commandeered as part of the pit crew in pit lane when the news came through at the start of lap three, that Guy Martin had crashed at Balleygary, a very fast section of the TT course. We all hoped for the best. Then the news came through that the reason why it was red flagged was because approximately 50 meters of hedge was on fire due to the crash, followed by reports that Guy was conscious and on his way to Nobles Hospital. The race was restarted an hour later, but reduced to four laps. We made some adjustments to the rear shock. Again Indie started off down Brae Hill. When he completed his first lap from a standing start, it was 123.86 mph. His second lap was going to be even quicker, around 125 mph. His light came on to indicate that he had arrived at Signpost Corner, but he never arrived at the pits. We found out later, that he had run out of fuel at Govener’s Bridge, half a mile from the end of the lap. This was due to him lapping faster than he had ever done before, which caused him to run out of fuel. Indie was disappointed to say the least, but he said the bike handled to perfection, so at least we have gained some knowledge as to what dampers work best on the ZX10.
On Saturday we went to the Manx’s Telecom races at the Billowen circuit near Castletown. We took the 650 twin and the 600. This meeting was totally different to the TT. The organizers were very helpful, and the whole event was so laid back. We practiced on both bikes, made some alterations to the gearing on the 600, and replaced the rear damper with the help of a couple of the Black Horse lads from Ian Lougher’s team who were watching. We finished 3rd in the 650, and 3rd in the 600, and in return received £650 in prize money, which we badly needed as we had used a lot of money to compete at the TT. I then remembered it was by birthday, so we had a few drinks!
