Well, what did you think of it?
I take on board all that has been said about it not being a "real" TT as it was not on the Mountain course, but I think it was a brave and valiant effort to get 125s and 250s back here as requested by so many of you.
As far as the rigour of the Southern as opposed to the TT Course... the Southern is 4 1/4 miles of constant, demanding work, with not a second of respite while the TT is 37 3/4 miles, with some more restful stretches (at unbelieveable speeds, of course!).
The TT is a time trial, with space between riders, too, unlike Billown, where the awesome sight of everyone crowding into Ballakeigan on the first lap takes your breath away.
12 laps of that is absolutely exhausting.
Chris Palmer, 125 TT winner on both courses, said, after doing both 125 and 250 on Saturday, that he wouldn't... nay... couldn't do the Steam Packet race, because he was completely knackered after the two races. I still remember him jumping with delight when he won the 2003 (?) 125 TT... he was too weary for jumping on Saturday, so it is not a lesser race... just different.
Personally, I think 4 of the races this fortnight will stand out for me for many years...
1. The second sidecar.. one of the all time greats... at least 6 brilliant performances and what about Martin Hull (not Matthew Hall, Charlie W... that's a building firm!!)
2. The Billown 250... what an amazing race
3. The Senior
4. The Billown 125.. Dan Sayle... a top sidecar passenger and now a top 125 rider.
We are still also left with the question... how many of those who raced on Saturday would have entered for the Mountain Course, and, given the perceived unreliability of two-strokes, how many would have finished? As the biggest criticism of this year's races seems to be the number of retirements, that's important.