Dominic Cann

The Senior race is due off at 10.15am, with the Ultra Lightweight to follow, both races reduced to 3 laps. Roads close at 9.30am.

UPDATE #1: 8.30AM - The races are delayed. The roads will now shut at 10.00am and the race will start at 11.00am.

UPDATE #2: 9.30AM - The races are delayed again. The roads will now shut at 11.00am and the race will start at 12.00pm.

UPDATE #3: 10.30AM - The races are delayed yet again. The roads will now shut at 12.00pm and the race will start at 1.00pm.

UPDATE #4: 11.30AM - The races are delayed once more. There will be an announcement made at 12.30pm with a view to closing the roads at 1.00pm and racing starting at 1.45pm. There are reports coming in that suggest that clouds/mist will clear soon - although the webcams on the Mountain suggest different - click here

UPDATE #5: 12.30PM - Roads will close at 1.00pm with the intention of starting the 3 lap Senior Manx Grand Prix at 1.45 pm, followed by the 3 lap Lightweight race. The fog has lifted!!!

Maria’s race should kick off at approx 4.00pm, hopefully.

Todays races have been cancelled!

We got up at 7.30am to get the bike through scrutineering and were all ready for the 10.15am start (along with 70+ other riders). At 9.00am they announced that the roads would stay open and a further announcement would be made at 10.00am. It’s been dry for 24-hours and the forecast was for more dry weather today. At 10.00am the organisers cancelled the races for today and will give a further announcement at 6.00pm as to the likelihood of the races being run tomorrow.

The Mountain at 12.55pm today - spot the fog and mist!?!?

The weather is still dry and bright. The Mountain webcams are showing clear skies and dry roads and other riders have been out in their vans and returned to say that the course and weather is in perfect conditions are perfect. We’re all a bit puzzled really.

We think that its more likely that the races were cancelled due to a lack of marshals. The organisers have requested more volunteers to marshal tomorrow. The earlier races were run in far worse conditions, with the Newcomers races even going ahead despite the helicopters not being able to fly to the mountain.

It’s been a very testing time for everyone (including the organisers no doubt), but we’re both feeling drained now and looking forward to coming home. It’s been a loooooooooong 3 weeks.

———- UPDATE ———-

7.00PM - The organisers changed their minds at about midday (funnily enough just after 200+ people signed up to be marshals) and decided that the weather was now OK and that they would now try to run a race this evening - the Senior race. So the plan was for the roads to close at 6.00pm and the race to go off at 6.45pm.

All day the weather has been lovely - from when the organisers cancelled the races due to poor weather, right up until they were going to close the roads again to start the racing - then the fog and mist descended and they had to cancel it all over again!

The races will hopefully run tomorrow (Saturday) now. If they don’t run tomorrow then that will be it - the end! The Senior will now go first and the Ultra Lightweight will follow. I’ll eat my shoes if Maria’s race gets run.

9.30AM - The weather is rubbish today. The Junior race and Lightweight Classic races are delayed due to fog on the Mountain - and the roads are wet!

After a long chat last night, it was decided that Maria will not contest the Junior race today, but we will instead concentrate all our efforts on the Honda 400 in the Ultra Lightweight race on friday.

Hopefully there will still be the 1 lap for practice on the 400 at the end of todays races - if/when they run. In the meantime though, we’re off for a cycle instead.

12.30PM - We just went up with the 400 for pre-practice scrutineering and todays practice has been cancelled. That’s the 5th session out of 9 to be cancelled. The races will go off at 3pm and will probably be reduced laps. It’s a grey old day.

7.00PM - Newcomer Daniel Kneen, made history today by becoming the first newcomer to win the Junior race in the same week as a Newcomer race.  He’s also in Fridays Ultra Lightweight race with Maria, I wonder what the odds are on him making it a famous treble?

Maria and I had lunch at the MSPCA and took another Staffy Terrier for a walk. What a nutcase! We then drove south to Castletown and went for a cycle around the Southern 100 course. Afterwards we headed back towards Ballacraine to watch some Junior race action.

10.30pm - This evening we went for another meal with Mark Mann. This time we were taken to Ciappelli’s in Douglas, an Italian Sea Food restaurant. I think it was the best food I’d ever tasted. I had a Calamari starter, Monk fish and Duck main course and then Maria and I shared an ‘Indulgence’ desert. Super yummy!!!

Night night!

Today was a rest day again, but we had plenty to do to prepare for tomorrows Junior race and Ultra Lightweight (1 lap) practice. We took a stack of 8 wheels and 12 tyres to Formula Fast Fit. We had a bit of a wild goose chase around Douglas looking for an oil filter and oil for the Yamaha, before being relieved of £8 for the filter and £30 for the oil (they wanted £65 for the oil to start with!).

Whilst the tyres were being fitted, we popped back out to the MSPCA for lunch and to see Stitch again - but they’re closed on a Tuesday. Great. On the way back to Douglas we stopped at Eden Park garden centre for some food, but it was a bit expensive, so we went to Tesco instead and bought some DIY lunch, which we finally ate at 4pm!

After a quick trip back to Formula Fast Fit to collect the tyres, I spent the next couple of hours in the awning preparing the bikes for tomorrow. Mark Mann came over again and we had a good chat over dinner - Spag Bol in the motor home.

The weather looks rubbish again!

Today was the first day of racing, but it didn’t get off to a good start - or a good end.

Poor weather delayed the start of racing and it eventually the Newcomers went off at 4.30pm (should have been 10.15am) for a 2 lap race (reduced from 4). The Kneen brothers won the two races, Daniel on the 400 and Ryan on the 600 - both are Isle of Man natives.

The Senior Classic was next off, again reduced to 2 laps. This was won by all round road racing star, Ryan Farquhar, on a Paton 500. Sadly though, the race will be remembered for the loss of one of the Manx GPs biggest stars, 67-year-old, John Goodall. The 2008 MGP program cover man crashed at Ballacraine and died later in hospital. He’d raced at every Manx since 1983 and was the winner of the inaugural Senior Classic race, and winner of 40 replicas (which you get for finishing within a certain time of the winner). RIP John Goodall.

Maria was due to go out for practice on the 600, but the conditions were rubbish so we packed it away and went for dinner instead. Mark took us out for a meal in an Italian restaurant, it was yummy!

So today was a rest day and we’ve done just that really. We met with David Sutton and Isla Scott for lunch at the MSPCA (The Manx Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). The food was really good, I just hope the sausages were made from a pig! After lunch, Maria and I stayed behind and walked a dog called Stitch, a 3 1/2 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross.

After a short stop at the motor home, and a visit from Maria’s friend Sarah, we shot off again to do a bit more sight seeing. Hanging about in the paddock for 2 weeks can take it’s toll, and we have a third week to go! We went up to Douglas Head and then across to see the Steve Hislop memorial.

Tomorrow is the first race day and Maria should get another practice session in too - Maria (and everyone else) certainly need it.

Todays final practice session was rained off. Only 4 of the 7 scheduled practice sessions went ahead this week, leaving everyone short of setup time.

The Honda 400 has never been far off and so that doesn’t pose a problem. New tyres will be put on for the race, but other than that it’s good to go.

The Triumph 675 has proven to be a headache all week, pogoing it’s way around the course and knocking Maria’s confidence and because last night was cancelled, we still don’t know if the suspension changes made on Friday will work.

The Yamaha 600 handles great but is a very different beast to the Triumph and will take some getting used to IF Maria decides to race it (instead of the Triumph). This would be my choice for her to ride as it’s the only bike that handles properly and she did her fastest lap of the week on it - without trying!

Sunday is a welcome day off and then the racing starts on Monday. After the Newcomers [10.15am] and Senior Classic [1.15pm] races on Monday, there is an extra 1 hour practice session for all other classes. Hopefully Maria will get a couple of laps in on each of the Yamaha and the Honda.

Maria’s races are on Wednesday afternoon [Junior] and Friday morning [Ultra Lightweight].

We arrived at Dave Hagen’s workshop at 10am today and dropped off the Triumph AND the Honda for further suspension work. We also had a walk around Ramsey and a fry up, yum!

Tonight the 400s went off first (the 600/750 have been first away all week) and Maria did another single lap and pulled in. It was her fastest lap of the week on the 400, 102.1mph, but she was feeling a bit down in the dumps still. The rest of the team were delighted. Evomoto had made the bike better too.

Mark Mann, had brought his TT race bike, a supersport spec Yamaha R6, over for Maria to ride and that’s exactly what happened. The Triumph stayed on it’s stands and Maria went out for a lap on the Yamaha - she came back beaming! The Yamaha handles superbly and is FAAASSSTT!!! Maria, not even trying, did her fastest lap of the week so far - 105mph.

Hopefully Maria can feel a bit more confident with her riding and along with a possible switch to the Yamaha will give her better chance in the Junior race.

We went to Dave Hagen’s Evomoto workshop at Ramsey with the Triumph as it hasn’t been handling well at all. On the way we rescued a ferret - yes, a ferret! (it’s a long story!)Dave made some changes but ran out of time to do a full job. It could be better or it could be worse, but at least it would give him a direction to work in.

It turned out to be worse. Maria did 1 lap and came in, a bit deflated too. We lost yet another day to the ill handling 675. Not good.

Maria then went out on the 400 and set another 100mph lap, but I think the Triumph had knocked the wind out of her sails a bit and on arrival at Ballacraine (7 miles in) on her second lap, she pulled over and parked it.

So all in all a bit of a crappy day, although David Sutton (Maria’s training coach) arrived today and that will be great for Maria. We’ll also be heading back to Evomoto tomorrow.