MANX GRAND PRIX 2000
Practice Summary
Welcome to Race’s coverage of the 2000 Manx Grand Prix. We here on the Isle of Man have generally been blessed with favourable weather conditions throughout the week and some fast times have been posted by several riders, promising much for the actual races. As has been the trend over the past few years, entries have been well up on last year, with several classes being over-subscribed.
Tragedy has
befallen this year’s Manx in the very first practice session. Burscough’s
Kenny Munro parted company with his machine on the fast exit to the Ginger Hall
section of the circuit in Sulby, suffering fatal injuries. Mr Munro was a
Newcomer to the Manx last year, gaining a 2nd place in the
Newcomer’s “A” Race and 19th in the Senior Race. Race wishes to
extend our heartfelt condolences to Mr Munro’s family and friends.
Newcomer’s
Race
The Newcomer’s Race promises to provide
us with potentially one of the most exciting races of the week, with several of
the top Irish and Northern Irish Support riders in attendance this year,
including Victor Gilmore, Seamus Greene and Martin Finnegan. Unfortunately
Moira’s Gary Jess is still recovering from serious injuries sustained at a
short circuit meeting in Northern Ireland, thus will not race this year.
Topping the 1000cc class is Michael Skene from Laurencekirk with a blistering lap on Thursday afternoon at 113.85mph, knocking some 13.6s of the class lap record. Michael has been steadily improving throughout the week, and must surely fancy his chances if he can reproduce laps like this in the race. Not if Letterkenny’s Seamus Greene has anything to do with it. Seamus, who at 111.60mph is the second fastest in the class reckons there is a lot more left in him yet, and it should be interesting to see who emerges victorious.
In the quarter-litre class, Lusk’s Martin Finnegan had been making up all the running up until Tuesday evening, when Steve Kuene took the bull by the horns and put in a lap a little over 102mph, relegating Finnegan to second place on the leader board. Thursday afternoon’s session saw Davy Morgan up the pace to 106.12mph, with Kuenne also going faster at 105.50mph. Finnegan, with a best lap of 101.52mph, remains in third spot and clearly fancies his chances come race day, “The 250 has been running well all week and I’ve been concentrating more on getting the laps in on my 600 machine,” said Martin when Race caught up with him earlier in the week. “I may only have 101mph on the leader board, but I think I could go to 110mph. I’m saving that for race day”. Dark horse: watch out for Ramsey’s Tynan Pritchard.
The
Newcomer’s 125/400cc class has been a week long battle between local men Paul
Corrin and Chris Dowling, both on 400cc machines. This leading duo are streets
ahead of their nearest rivals with laps at 104.44mph and 104.54mph respectively.
Neil Pearson is next on the leaderborad, some 90 seconds down on the local duo,
although being 125cc mounted this is not too surprising.
Senior
Classic Race
The Senior Classic Race is one of the most
open races of the week. With eight riders recording laps of greater than 100mph,
the Classic boys promise to deliver some exciting racing. Leading the way as
ever is Huddersfield’s Bill Swallow at 104.72mph. He is closely followed by
Wattie Brown and Glen English, who both recorded laps of 103.02mph. English, who
has suffered such dreadful luck in recent years with breakdowns and mechanical
failures, genuinely believes he is in with a shout of upsetting favourite Bill
Swallow. In interviews with the local press this week, the likeable English has
bitten the bullet and predicted a race win is on the cards. John Loder, John
Goodall and France’s Bruno Leroy, who have all lapped at over 100mph may have
a word or two to say about that, but English is a determined man and will be a
hard act to follow.
Junior
Classic Race
Stirling’s Wattie Brown at 97.59mph and
Ramsey resident Jason Griffiths at 97.16mph have topped the leader boards.
Griffiths, on what is becoming an annual classic outing, was the pre-practice
favourite to take the honours, although the addition of Brown to the equation
certainly livens things up. Hard on their heels are John Goodall at 95.80mph and
Chris McGahan at 95.49mph. It is difficult to see anyone living with Griffiths
and Brown, however, and we expect it to come down to a straight duel between
these two experienced runners.
Lightweight
Classic
Kendal’s Bud Jackson and local man Barry
Wood are at the head of the practice leaderboard for this class. Jackson
(96.52mph) will be looking to make up for the disappointment of last year’s
race, when he was forced to retire due to mechanical problems. Last year’s
winner and slight favourite Wood (95.94mph) is fresh from a cracking victory at
the Skerries road races in July, and will be all fired up to take on allcomers,
including third fastest man Bill Swallow (94.43mph), Karl Hayes (94.21mph) and
Blackpool’s Roy Richardson (94.10mph).
Junior
Race
In form Alistair Howarth, who has been
absolutely flying all week, tops the leaderboard in this class with a lap of
116.08mph set on Wednesday evening’s practice session. Hot on his heels is
Keith Townsend at 115.19mph and Ryan Farquhar at 114.03mph. Howarth, 2nd
in this race last year to Milky Quayle, must start as favourite, although you
can bet your life that Townsend, on the 600 Pendle Honda and Farquhar on the 600
McAdoo Kawasaki will be snapping at Howarth’s heels every inch of the way. No
quarter will be asked for - and none will be given.
Lightweight
Race
Sulby’s Brian Kneale, hot favourite for
this race, has been making all the running in practice, and his efforts have
paid off, as he is the fastest in this class with a lap of 111.84mph, set on
Thursday afternoon. Third last year, Brian has been knocking on the door for
some years now, and this must surely represent his best chance to achieve a
life-long ambition and win a Manx. “The bikes’s been running well. At least
it’s not seizing this year!” joked
Brian, referring to last year’s dreadful practice week, when his 250 machine
seized on no fewer than five occasions. Pushing Brian hard will be a number of
riders, including another local man, Nigel Beattie. Beattie has not been able to
match Kneale’s pace in practice, and at 31 Kneale has considerably more
experience than 22 year-old whipper-snapper Beattie. We at Race predict a win
for Brian Kneale. See you in the Sulby Glen for celebrations afterwards.
Ultra
Lightweight Race
Red-hot favourite to take the honours in
the 125/400cc race is Kirk Michael’s Norman Kneen. Riding the pants of his
Lloyd’s TSB-backed 125 Honda, Kneen has been consistently quickest in the
class throughout practice, culminating in a lap at 103.54mph on Wednesday
evening. There are no 125-mounted men within a mile of Kneen, although several
400-mounted men have broken the 100mph barrier. Quickest of these, and second
placed overall is another local, James Muir (102.88mph) on his 400 Kawasaki.
Muir, who was second in last year’s Newcomer’s “C” Race, has maintained
a good pace throughout the week, and should be in with a good shout of a podium
place. Close behind Muir is Belfast’s Joe Philips, with a lap at 103.81mph.
The Blue Ribband event of the week, the
Senior MGP, promises to be one of the most exciting races of the week. Expect a
straight duel between Dungannon’s Ryan Farquhar and Keith Townsend. On
Thursday afternoon, Farquhar became the second quickest rider ever over the Manx
Grand Prix course. His lap of 117.23mph aboard the McAdoo Kawasaki set the
benchmark time for the week, which nobody was able to better. Farquhar, who has
matured as a rider towards the latter half of this season, was a Newcomer
to the circuit just 12 months ago and is surely odds-on favourite to take
the victory. Keith Townsend (116.41mph) on the big 996 Ducati might have
something to say about such an observation, but with Ducatis not the most
reliable of bikes around the Mountain Circuit in recent years and Farquhar with
youth on his side, it is hard to see Townsend living with the young pretender
Farquhar.