Celtic Match Races – Mondello Park, Ireland. 25 October 2009

We had planned to go over to Ireland and finish off the season at the Bishopscourt Sunflower meeting. As we were making provisional plans for our trip Libby Paton, the Scottish team manager, phoned and asked if we would be part of the Scottish team and go to Mondello the following week to compete in the Celtic Match Races. This was too good an offer to refuse so we accepted and left the arrangements to Libby.

We hadn’t really thought about where Mondello was until that point and when we looked it up on the internet we found that it was 25 miles south west of Dublin, a full 3 hours travel after the ferry gets into Belfast. It would be quite a road trip. Adrian Clarke, from Inverness, had also been asked to race on the solo Celtic team so we figured we could all travel together in the truck.

On Thursday we packed up all the kit and loaded Adrian’s bike between the bunk beds. His spare wheels slotted into the toilet like it was made for them!! We set off at 5.30 am on Friday with Neil, Maria, Grant and Adrian on board and picked up Norman at Tomatin. We made good progress to Stranraer with only one pit stop, were in good time for the ferry and met up with some more of the Scottish team members at the dock. Stena Line were excellent making sure we could park the lorry next to the lift.

We arrived in Belfast late afternoon and headed out of the city following the signs for Dublin. Mac and Alser were stuck to our tail gate like a sink plunger with car and trailer. We had not taken any jerry cans of petrol as it is not allowed on the boat so we would have to find a petrol station. This was easier said than done on the road to Dublin. We travelled on into the evening without a sign for fuel. Finally we hit a traffic jam near Dublin and there it was a packed out forecourt. We hauled the lorry in and filled the cans. The attendant wasn’t so sure of our credentials and switched the pumps off causing mass confusion. We got sorted out and back on the road only to find that we were quite near our destination. A few more windy miles off the N7 and we were there. Gate 1, Gate 2, Gate 3, all closed. Finally Gate 4 was open and we crossed the track to the paddock in the middle. We had garages so unloaded the bikes, got hooked up to the power and turned in knackered. It had taken fifteen and a half hours to get there.

Saturday was a practice day and was also rather wet. We decided to check the outfit over in the morning and go out in the afternoon session. Grant managed to get us another garage as there wasn’t much room with the solos and sidecars sharing. Gordon Shand moved in beside us as did our stand in team members Tam McReeves and Jock Briggs (aka Tim Reeves previous World Champion and Johnny Briggs World Championship passenger).

 We signed on for practice and got into our leathers. It was quite exciting going out onto a new track. It turned out to be tight and twisty with very little run off. The track was also quite slidey as it is used a lot by cars and they leave a lot of rubber on the surface. That said it was an alright track to pick up. Norman had set up some on bike cameras and the footage is excellent (link to follow).

We got lengthy practice sessions and we made the most of them only having one minor detour at the first hairpin with a little excursion over the grass. Happy with our time on track we called it a day checked over the bike, signed on ready for the morning and had a fine supper made by Maria. We thought the scutineer would be round but it seems they forgot the sidecars. That evening there was a cracking party in the clubhouse with all the marshals in fancy dress trying to raise money to buy their new kit for next year.

The Sunday sessions were warm up, qualifying, the Celtic solos, Celtic sidecars, some support races then the second lot of Celtics. The warm up went well as it was still quite wet and we had practiced in these conditions already. Qualifying also went well but it was difficult to get a clear bit of track with so many outfits and such a short run round. We qualified 9^th out of 20 putting the whole Scottish team into the top ten with Tam and Jock securing pole position. With Scotland in pole Ireland lined up second, then Wales, then Isle of Man. This order continued down the grid putting us into 17^th. This would give us a bit of work to do. Team instructions were to finish and secure points. We had qualified with a 1m 11.312 s lap which was only one or two seconds slower than the next five fastest outfits. Adrian also did well qualifying well up the grid. 

Unfortunately the solo race was not so successful and was red flagged several times. Adrian took a dive on a left hander but as the race was then red flagged for another rider he hot footed back to the paddock to get back out in the restart. The race was red flagged again after only two laps by which time the sidecars were getting a little fed up. The commentator noted that the sidecars were moving out of the garages and that they must think they were getting out. Sure enough the organisers took the hint and put out the sidecar race. It was excellent; we passed several outfits and fought our way from 17^th up to 10^th with a fastest lap of 1m 11.973s. The overall scores were already in Scotland’s favour.

They tried yet again to run the solo Celtic but to no avail. Red flags abounded and the most they ran was about four laps. They called it a result which was a bit disappointing and we reckon they scored it on how many riders were left in the paddock for each team and Ireland won with Scotland second. Apparently the local hospital car park was full of race trucks.

 

In the meantime the track was drying only to catch another drizzle of rain. There was much scratching of heads regarding tyre choice and at the last minute we decided to go from wets with a slick rear to all slicks. Thanks to the boys for getting them changed so quickly and to Tam McReeves for keeping us all calm. We headed straight out on track and quickly realised that the last minute change had been the right choice. There was still limited grip but the track was too dry for the wets. We got a good start off the line and headed up the outside of the track we were being pushed ever wider by an F2 and soon we were well on the grass (footage should be good!) Jen had to remove her right hand completely as it was close to being squashed. The pace was quite a bit hotter but the race reduced to only 8 laps. We managed to get up from 17^th to 13^th with a fastest lap of 1m 05.764s.

The results were in and Scotland the resounding winners over 30 points ahead of the Irish team. Libby was presented with a big trophy and all the team members got engraved tankards. After the presentation the paddock cleared rapidly but we were going to stay till the morning and head for Belfast in the daylight for the 12.15 ferry. We had an awesome chilli dinner thanks to Norman and relaxed a bit packing up as much as we could. Mondello circuit staff were really kind and let us keep Adrian’s bike and our sidecar in the garage over night.

We were up sharp in the morning loaded the machines and set off from the circuit at 7.30 am. We would need diesel for the truck so we were back to petrol station spotting. It was a bank holiday in Southern Ireland so we scooted round Dublin quite quickly. We stopped at the Ballymac services to fuel up and just about grounded out the lorry trying to get in and out. We arrived at the ferry in good time then blethered so much to the other sidecar boys that we didn’t notice all the other passengers had disembarked We were last to the car decks and the lift assistant had cleared off, fed up waiting probably.

We had a clear run back up the road getting passed by Mac and Alser on the Ayr bypass with Alser head and shoulders out the sun roof. Gordon Shand rang just in the nick of time and warned us off going through Glasgow and we followed his directions saving us a good hour – thanks Gordon!!

Eventually reaching Perth Jen handed over the wheel to Adrian who steered the bus home to Inverness clocking in another 14 hour journey. Thanks to Neil, Maria, Grant, Norman and Adrian for their help over the weekend.

That’s the 2009 season over now and we have a few modifications planned for the winter including new suspension, some fettling with the brake system and a move to a K8 engine.

Finally, our young mechanic Rhys has had a disagreement with a wood chipper and suffered a very badly injured foot. We wish him all the best and a very happy 18^th for next week!!