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| TT News Scene - 2002 ISLE OF MAN TT RACES |
| 2002 ISLE OF MAN TT RACES | Submitted by: Bill Snelling Jun 1, 2002
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2002 ISLE OF MAN TT RACES
FORMULA ONE AND FIRST SIDECAR RACE PREVIEW
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SATURDAY JUNE 1ST 2002
Can Suzuki get back to Formula One winning ways, and can the Sidecar 20 minute lap be broken are the two main questions for today?s opening day's racing at the 2000 Isle of Man TT Races.
Only twice since its inception in 1977 has Honda not won the Formula One, but David Jefferies or Ian Lougher stand an extremely good chance of taking the win for Suzuki this year.
Jefferies was one of the two non-Honda winners when he was victorious for Yamaha in 1999. The lone previous Suzuki win came in 1981 when New Zealand's Graeme Crosby took the honours.
But Yorkshireman Jefferies and Northern Ireland-based Welshman Lougher
have been flying in practice and look set to be right in the hunt providing
their bikes prove reliable. Jefferies went faster than ever last night at
129.95mph on the GSXR Temple Auto Salvage Suzuki and took half a minute
off the Production 1000 record for good measure.
A win won't come easy though. Adrian Archibald from Northern Ireland is
hungry for a first TT win, the 32-year-old has consistently demonstrated his
ability on the Mountain Course, no less so than when he set the fastest lap in
the 2000 Junior TT at 121.15mph. His overall fastest lap came in the 2000
Senior Race at 121.78mph, but practising for today's race, he has gone even
quicker - unofficially taking the Red Bull Honda UK Fireblade round 10.6
seconds faster at 122.95mph taking third place.
Archibald's team-mate John McGuinness, from Lancashire, will also not be
far away. He has two TT wins already and now that he is back to full fitness
can be relied upon to challenge hard. He finished third to Joey Dunlop and
Michael Rutter in the 2000 Formula One. He was second fastest in practice at
123.32mph.
Yamaha?s teamsters are Scotsmen Jim Moodie and Iain Duffus. Moodie has
seven TT wins already under his belt, and Duffus two. But their experience is
at least the equal of their nearest rivals and Moodie is the second fastest
ever rider at 124.45 from a standing start in the 1999 Senior race. Duffus has
done 123.87mph and is joint fourth fastest in the league table.
Other challenges may come from Jason Griffiths from the Isle of Man, Richard
Britton from Northern Ireland, and Bruce Anstey from New Zealand. But
realistically, it looks like being one of the Big Six to win. The race starts at
two o?clock and is over six laps.
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In the First Sidecar race, which starts at five o'clock and is over three laps,
Dave Molyneux and Colin Hardman re-unite for the first time since their win
in 1989, when the race was for 750cc machines. Dave is the three-wheel lap
record holder at 112.76mph from 1999 when his passenger was Craig Hallam,
who this year ballasts for John Holden.
Molyneux has eight wins to 2000 double winners Rob Fisher and Rick Long,
and it is the Cumbrian pair who look the biggest threat to the Manxmen.
However, in practice, Ian Bell and Neil Carpenter from Bedlington have set
the pace at 109.22mph, 39.1 seconds off Molyneux's lap record though 2.2
seconds faster than his previous best.
Other challenges may come from Holden and Hallam, Greg Lambert and Neil
Langrick, Gary Horspole and Kevin Leigh, Steve Norbury and Andrew Smith
and 1997 winner Roy Hanks, who has 1991 double winner Dave Wells in the
chair. But keep an eye on local newcomers Nick Crowe and Darren Hope.
They could finish on the podium.
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