28th August Ballasholague Farm, Isle of Man
Kms today 74
Kms to date 10,149
There were extra races today because of delays. We decided to watch just before Kirkmichael at Douglas Rd Corner. Then we could get away quickly to ride to Peel to see the House of Mananin; recommended by Betty. We got a good position and could see the bikes coming down from Barregarrow, site of Guy Martins fiery crash in 2010, and swooping into the village of Kirkmichael, which they passed through at high speed before heading off to Ballaugh.
The Manx GP is for riders who are new to the Isle of Man and have not won a major race. The bikes are pretty pedestrian with Kawasaki ER5 Twins and Suzuki SV650 V twins the hot ticket, plus a few Yamaha R6's - not very inspiring. There were a sprinkling of Honda VFR400's and two strokes to keep the pack interesting. The classes were complicated by newcomers races as well as Junior and Senior races, Lightweight and Ultra Lightweight classes. In the newcomers B there was a rider from Bogota in Colombia and a woman rider from Czech Republic to keep us interested. Top lap speeds were 116 mph for A and 109 for B so they weren't hanging around.
After the race we headed off down the laneways to Peel, which had many narrow streets to confuse us. We managed to find a nice café for lunch and a place to park the bikes. I bought some seasickness pills for the return journey. The Museum was near the harbour and there was a display of bikes along the sea wall. The display included some Kawasaki 2 stroke triples raced by Kork Ballington.
We bumped into Laurie Johns looking at the bikes. The House of Mananin was a large audio-visual display of the history of the Isle of Man. the prehistoric inhabitants believed in a god Mananin, hence the name. In the middle ages the IoM was occupied by the Vikings who controlled a string of islands from the Orkneys, Shetlands down to the IoM. They stayed for centuries fishing the rich waters of the Irish Sea and were finally ousted by King Harold in the 11th Century just before he was defeated at the Battle of Hastings. The IoM was eventually sold to England in the 18th Century.
In more recent times the IoM made its money by being a home for dodgy banks prior to the GFC. Now it is a centre for on-line gambling. Motor cycle racing was given a big boost post GFC too. It has a population of 85,000 and its own parliament called the Tynwald and makes its own laws. There are a lot of big houses around Douglas for the rich tax exiles that use the financial benefits of the IoM. We had dinner later with Laurie, Sandy, Jim and Ruby in Douglas.
Kms to date 10,149
There were extra races today because of delays. We decided to watch just before Kirkmichael at Douglas Rd Corner. Then we could get away quickly to ride to Peel to see the House of Mananin; recommended by Betty. We got a good position and could see the bikes coming down from Barregarrow, site of Guy Martins fiery crash in 2010, and swooping into the village of Kirkmichael, which they passed through at high speed before heading off to Ballaugh.
The Manx GP is for riders who are new to the Isle of Man and have not won a major race. The bikes are pretty pedestrian with Kawasaki ER5 Twins and Suzuki SV650 V twins the hot ticket, plus a few Yamaha R6's - not very inspiring. There were a sprinkling of Honda VFR400's and two strokes to keep the pack interesting. The classes were complicated by newcomers races as well as Junior and Senior races, Lightweight and Ultra Lightweight classes. In the newcomers B there was a rider from Bogota in Colombia and a woman rider from Czech Republic to keep us interested. Top lap speeds were 116 mph for A and 109 for B so they weren't hanging around.
Veronika Hancokyova from the Czech Republic in Newcomers Race on a Kawasaki ER5
After the race we headed off down the laneways to Peel, which had many narrow streets to confuse us. We managed to find a nice café for lunch and a place to park the bikes. I bought some seasickness pills for the return journey. The Museum was near the harbour and there was a display of bikes along the sea wall. The display included some Kawasaki 2 stroke triples raced by Kork Ballington.
Kork Ballingtons Kawasaki 750 triple at Peel
In more recent times the IoM made its money by being a home for dodgy banks prior to the GFC. Now it is a centre for on-line gambling. Motor cycle racing was given a big boost post GFC too. It has a population of 85,000 and its own parliament called the Tynwald and makes its own laws. There are a lot of big houses around Douglas for the rich tax exiles that use the financial benefits of the IoM. We had dinner later with Laurie, Sandy, Jim and Ruby in Douglas.
Dinner in Douglas with Jim, Ruby, Sandy, Laurie and Alan
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