24th August 2018 - Ballasholague Farm, Isle of Man

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Kms today 0
Kms to date 9,902

We rocked up at Betty's place at about 7 am after getting off the boat.  She had a big breakfast ready for us, but I was still feeling decidedly queasy after the hammering we took on the crossing and could not do it justice, but Alan had a good feed.  We both had a sleep before Alan went down to Ramsey and got some day passes for the electric railway to Douglas.  The line passed right by our digs.

Ballasholague Farm: our home on The Isle of Man

We walked up to Paddock from the terminus in Douglas and found a cornucopia of bikes, and the workshop of the Winfield Team where John McGuiness and Mike Rutter had their bikes including a Paton for McPint.
Replica MV 3, which never appeared on track
 
He was recovering from a very nasty broken leg and wasn't going to be performing any heroics as the last thing he needed was another crash. He had to grow back his leg bone by using a special gel and having it stretched as the bone formed - yuk!  We picked up our tickets for the Hillberry Grandstand for the next day and proceeded to the RC30 tent.  What bliss is this I thought with very conceivable version of the RC30 from Fred Markel's Team Rumi bike that won the WSBK in 1988 and 1989, to one of Joey Dunlop's RC30's from the TT.  There was even a cross-sectioned RC30 to gape at.  I found Tom Sweeny the organiser of the 30th anniversary parade lap coming up the next Monday and bought a celebratory T Shirt.
 One of Joeys RC30's and Fred Merkel's WSBK wining RC30

The rain had caused havoc to practice week and new practice sessions were scheduled to allow riders to complete the mandatory 2 laps before they could start in a race.  We walked down to the bottom of Bray Hill for the Classic Superbike practice and waited patiently for the bikes to arrive.  Arrive they did at 150 mph, through the bump at the bottom and swung right to head off to Quarter Bridge with a bit of a wheelie on the way.  These were the fastest bikes on the island and they were quick.  The Senior bikes were practicing too and we saw McPint on his Paton going pretty quick as well.

We headed back to Betty early as we were both knackered and needed a rest.

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