Here we go again!

[Charlie G]

I kind of expected the Bush got rained out this last weekend, I'm glad they got to run it.Are the tires on the bike in the fore ground for wet? I haven't seen the tires they use in the rain before. I loved the sound of the classic racers. Thank for the pictures, they look great.

Johnny, you better start looking for a bike for your daughter to ride. I was riding a 8 years old.

cg

 

[Johnny Drummond]

Armoy "race of legends"2012

Armoy "race of legends"2012

Once again it's race report time.The Armoy races have been run since 2009 through and around the village. Sadly this year it was blighted early on by light rain then a steady downpour for 2 1/2 hours,But all 10 races in the programme were run and it was well worth standing in the p***ing rain for!,Michael Dunlop got a hattrick( Supersport-600cc's,Open-600cc to 1000cc and the main race of legends again600 to 1000cc) Ryan Farquhar won 2(Moto 450-450cc single cylinder 4 strokes and the Supertwins-650cc paralell twin 4 stroke)although it was just unlucky for his junior team mate Jamie Hamilton as he was 3/4 of a bike length behind Farquhar on the last lap only to slip off-thankfully walking away.Hopefully here is a video clip from today and there are more on my photobucket page:-johnny237's albums

maybe this won't work but enjoy-oh and look for the clip where you can see the rain falling,then watch it again to see how much daylight is under BOTH wheels and tell me that these guys and girls aren't specially gifted:-\\\.Johnny

 

[Buffalo Bill]

Nice work!

Nice work!

Nice work Johnny, good view of them over the rise.
I could tell the order of the videos, by the cloud mass moving to the right in the sky. As it moved to the right, the road became dryer as well.

Those twins are somewhat ho-hum, compared to the 4's.

Bill

 

[Johnny Drummond]

Hi Bill,the rain was coming from right to left in the videos,and yes the twins are slower,they only put out 85-90 BHP(I think) in race tune which is about the same as a 250 twostroke whereas a 600cc four in race tune makes around 130-150BHP!,they still took off though and the lap times are similar to the 250's as well it's just that they are an easier way to get into racing and are relativley cheap to buy and maintain.Glad you liked the videos and sorry that there are no paddock photos it was just too wet and the bikes were all inside tents.The Dundrod 150 and Ulster Grand Prix are in 2 weeks so I will do my best to get photos then.Johnny

 

[Johnny Drummond]

a thing of beauty(at least it is to me!)

a thing of beauty(at least it is to me!)

I didn't get any photos from the paddock yesterday-sorry folks BUT I did manage to photo this:- a rotary Norton that Robert Dunlop raced in the 1990 season,I was lucky enough to see Robert do a couple of demo laps at the Ulster Grand Prix some years ago.Seeing him ride it even at 60% was fantastic he even got it to flame from the exhaust-magic

And just for Charlie G,the chief fast response doctor's bike-this guy usually follows at the back of the pack for the first lap,and nearly always overtakes 2 riders!this guy is FAST for a non racer,probably the only doctor who can get his knee down and go over the jumps with both wheels off the ground

.Johnny

 

[Buffalo Bill]

A couple questions Johnny:

A couple questions Johnny:

So, where does the Doc carry his black bag?

I don't see any place to stow his kit?

What kinda bike is that, anyway, Honda VFR?

 

[Guest]

Good stuff Johnny, thanks for keeping us up to date

Those guys are mad! But only in the best possible way of course

Bill, that'd be a KTM RC8 I believe...

 

[Johnny Drummond]

A few answers

A few answers

Okay, Bill first:- the doc carries all of the kit he needs on webbing,looks kinda like military ammo pouches, 2 large ones attached to a belt,4 small ones 2 on a chest harness and 2 around kidney level and a backpack.The back pack has a small de-fib unit and plasma etc,he is basically like a mini ambulance and because he is a quick rider and most offs occur on the first lap when the tyres and brakes are cold and the bikes have full fuel loads and a bit unstable he follows along with a collegue just to make sure he is in the right place,3 years ago he gave life saving aid to a spectator who had a heart attack while watching the race-from the marshal called it to race control until he got to the scene took 2 minutes,he stabilised the man and kept him alive until one of the ambulances arrived-the man made a full recovery and thanked him personally 3 weeks later-at another race!!.but it is funny seeing him go over jumps at near race speed and watch all the gear flapping about like a spaniels ears.I have to bow to Pete's superior knowledge on the bike as far as I know it was a road bike that he dropped at a short circuit meeting wrecking the road plastics so the entire paddock clubbed together and bought him the race bodywork and fitted it,as well as hotting up the engine a little as a thank you for all his work.This guy gets no payment to do the work he does he just turns up every season and does all the international,national and short circuit races.He is an ordinary MD(G.P. as the uk readers of this forum would know it) for the rest of the year-a truly amazing guy who was given a royal honour for his services to racing.
Pete:- Actually this is for you as well Bill, if you want to get a hard copy of the newspaper reports with photos just PM me your postal addresses and I would be glad to oblige,I already send these to Charlie G and Leigh from here so it would be no problem,but you will be getting them a month at a time to make postage reasonable(it costs around ?2.85 to send to either the U.S or Australia) so it's not expensive and the wider I can advertise our little pastime here the better-it also freaks out our newsagent staff when you buy 4 copies of the same paper then explain how far they will be travelling hahaha.Look forward to hearing from you,Johnny

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the offer Johnny, very generous! I'm happy just to follow along on here for the moment as I haven't even been able to get into my local Australian Motorcycle News these days since I stopped catching the train to work...

As for the KTM, the tail, tank, and fairing give it away for me as they're quite unique... but the KTM on the right engine cover helps

 

[Johnny Drummond]

Just a thought

Just a thought

UMMM,you do have a library/reading room in your house don't you?,you know the type with one seat,is always warm and has tiles around the walls.Johnny

 

[Guest]

UMMM,you do have a library/reading room in your house don't you?,you know the type with one seat,is always warm and has tiles around the walls.Johnny

Hahhaaha yeah true... no magazine rack in ours though

 

[Johnny Drummond]

You're a handy fella-make one,just tell her indoors that it's for the living room but you need to dry the wood out a bit and the bathrooom is the perfect place.Or you can get those plastic boxes that can stack together or fold down nearly flat,thats what i use(they hold about 40 magazines so you can both use it).Johnny

 

[Guest]

Man you gotta have a much bigger toilet than me! Hahahaha

 

[Johnny Drummond]

Nah mate, about 8 foot by 6.the space between the throne and the basin is enough to store all the reading material.Johnny

 

[Guest]

Aaaah you've got the combined job! The dunny's separate here so 'tis a little bit smaller than your spacious library

 

[Johnny Drummond]

More footage of road race circuits

More footage of road race circuits

Hi Guys. Had the chance to go around the North West 200 circuit today with the video camera,as usual go to photobucket and look up Johnny237's albums,it is listed as "a lap of the North West 200 course"-but obeying the speed limits, 30MPH(60KMH) and 60MPH(100KMH?), the lap took 14+ minutes for the 8.9 miles,under race conditions the riders do it in 4 1/2 minutes.Oh and if you are wondering if all the furniture in the middle of the roads is there on race day- no,racers ARE crazy but not stupid.It's all removable.After the riders get out of the built up areas(after the first swicthback left) and into the countryside the full factory boys will just edge over 200MPH,Hope you don't fall asleep watching this hahahahaha.Johnny

 

[Johnny Drummond]

Ulster Grand Prix/Dundrod 150 2012

Ulster Grand Prix/Dundrod 150 2012

The last international race of the season took place on Saturday,with the national meeting the Dundrod 150 combined with the 125cc race labelled as the 125 U.G.P the Thursday before.For once the weather was good with a track temp of 23 degrees celcius,I took my daughter up to the fastest part of the course and she loved it,even though the Superbikes were going past 3 feet away from us.Sadly the last race of the day was stopped by the serious accident of Lee Vernon-perversly he crashed at a point where there is an open entry to a field,that the farmer had removed not only the gate but the cement posts as well-Lee went through the gap but landed badly.He died from the resulting injuries the next day in hospital-R.I.P mate see you next time.

Saturday dawned bright and clear,and it looked like for the first time in 3 years racing would be fast and competitive, Michael Dunlop won the first Superstock 1000 race from Guy Martin and Ian Lougher(who proved at 49 to still be frighteningly fast and comitted),William Dunlop won the first Supersport 600 race from New Zealand's Bruce Anstey(who still holds the absoloute lap record at 133.98mph average)racing for Padgetts racing,Ryan Farquhar won the Supertwin part of the Supertwin/250GP 2strokes from his young team mate Jamie Hamilton and my daughters 3rd favourite rider Davy Morgan won the 250GP race.Anstey got his own back on William in the second Supersport 600 race mugging him 3 corners from the flag on the last lap-just like William's younger brother Michael had done the year before!.The feature race the "Ulster Grand Prix" was next,it was developing into a good race but it was red flagged(stopped) after 1 lap.The race was re-started over the full distance and after a massive battle the result was decided 2 laps from the end between the runaway leaders Guy Martin and Michael Dunlop when Michael low-sided unhurt at the hairpin leaving Guy to win by over 23 seconds from Gary Johnston riding for Padgetts racing with Martin's team mate Conor Cummins third.Michael got his revenge in the last Superbike race of the day diving under Guy at the hairpin -again on the last lap.
here is a photo to whet your appetite(the rest are on photobucket but only 26 0f 590!!!).Sorry the quality is not great but I only bought the camera 3 days before and the only way I could get any kind of shot was at this range(around 400 yards)-I'll work on the camera and will have better shots next season-honest!!

 

[Johnny Drummond]

Oh and if anyone is interested the bike in front in this photo is NO.7 Guy Martin,2nd is NO.29 Gary Johnston,3rd is NO.9 Michael Dunlop,4th is NO.10 Conor Cummins,5th is NO.77 Ryan Farquhar,6th is NO.6 William Dunlop,7th is NO.2 Dan Kneen,8th is NO.13 Adrain Archibald,9th is NO.16 John Burrows,10th is NO.5 Bruce Anstey.hope this helps!.Johnny

 

[Charlie G]

Notice the front wheel on #6 is off the ground.

I'd label the pictures but I don't want to bewrong with my guesses.

cg

 

[Buffalo Bill]

Wonderful images?

Wonderful images?

Those telephoto shots are good enough for me, mostly.
It just looks like the sun lit up the moisture in the air, and that softened the contrast.
That can't helped, but it gives me a good feeling of the weather.
Marvelous Johnny!