Friday - Lightweight

Nine f***ing laps - that's all I could think of when I woke up in the morning. Nine laps of racing around the Mountain Course makes for a long, hard day although I never mentioned it once to the guys in the house - not strictly true but they weren't giving me any sympathy so I kept trying!!
 
I wasn't really looking forward to the Lightweight race as I wanted to concentrate on the Senior but we'd made a few more changes to the Paton, which made it a whole lot better. The guys in the team told me to rev it a lot more than what I had been in practice - basically, they said rev it until it stops - and as soon as I got to Quarter Bridge and Braddan Bridge it felt good. The more I revved it the easier it was to ride. I felt like I was going well but not the pace for a podium position. I didn't have any signals so when I got waved into the winner's enclosure I couldn't believe it.
 
I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. I'd have been happy with a top ten finish so to finish third and almost lap at 120mph was unbelievable. It was nice to be back on the podium and fair play to Ivan for winning. I followed him for a bit when he came by and he was really neat and smooth. On the podium, he asked not to be sprayed with champagne as we had the Senior straightaway but I looked at him and said 'F*** that, you've just won a TT, I'm going to cover you' - so both James and I did!
 
Friday - Senior

After the Lightweight, it was a mad dash to get ready for the Senior. By the time we left the press conference, we only had something like 30 minutes before we were underway again. There wasn't much time to think about anything and jumping on a Superbike after riding a 650 is difficult - I can't begin top describe how fast the Superbike feels.
 
We made a few more changes to the bike, adding some more padding to the seat to push me forward a little and stop me from sliding around, plus some suspension changes. After a lap and a half the race was red flagged and I got stopped at Ramsey Hairpin so when I got back to the pits, we added a bit more pre-load to the rear and increased the rear tyre pressure a bit. It stopped the bike weaving and made it easier to ride.
 
In the re-start, Bruce came by me going into Ramsey on the first and I thought 'brilliant, I'll tag onto him' which I did but he didn't seem to be going as well or look as comfortable as what he did in the Superbike. It was a lot easier for me to stay with him so I stuck with him foe the entire race. I was surprised to have finished tenth though and with the pace I was running, I thought it may have been around sixth. When I found out I'd lapped at more than 131mph as well, I just thought 'what else can I do?'. The pace in the race was unreal - to lap at 131mph and finish tenth is hard to get your head around.
 
After the race, we had the prize presentation at the Grandstand and then it was straight down the pub to get hammered.
 
Saturday

Woke up feeling like crap and started to load up the van. The TT's a hard two weeks but when it's all over, it's a massive anti-climax and I feel totally lost. It's like someone's flicked a light switch off.
 
Looking back, I'm happy with my TT. I finished every race, which is a mssive achievemtn for all the teams, and I had some pretty decent results plus a podium which I never thought possible. I'm well happy with what I achieved this year so a big thanks to all the teams - Penz13.Com/Batham's BMW, SMT/Carbridge Racing and ILR Paton - for their hard work.
 
I've no real thoughts yet on next year but a few people have already spoke to me so there are some options and I'd like to be back for definite.
 
Thanks for taking the time to read the diary, hope you've all enjoyed it and thanks for the support at TT2015.
 
Cheers
 
Michael