Kerry riders discover how hard it is to race on the Isle of Man
PLEASE NOTE A SEPARATE REPORT ON ANTHONY O’CARROLL’S SENIOR MANX GRAND PRIX RESULT WILL BE PUBLISHED IN DUE COURSE
Anthony O’Carroll has described his Isle of Man debut as the biggest learning curve of his career.
The Ballyduff road racer competed in two different classes at the Manx Grand Prix last week.
He was one of two Kerry-based racers to tackle the famous 37-mile closed-road TT course for the first time.
It was a busy week for O’Carroll, he arrived on the island two weeks ago. His first task was to complete Isle of Man newcomer’s laps on his first Sunday on the island.
With the preliminaries out of the way, O’Carroll had almost a week of practice and qualifying sessions before his maiden race on Saturday afternoon.
However, the unforgiving nature of the Manx roads, brutal on both man and machine, meant he failed to finish the Junior Manx Grand Prix.
His Kawasaki 650 SuperTwin suffered an electrical problem at the Ginger Hall section of the course.
He was lying in 24th place overall – an exceptional position for a newcomer – when the mechanical issue first raised its ugly head.
He was able to restart the bike, albeit with a severe time loss, but it could out for good near the Bungalow section and he failed to complete the first lap of his maiden race on the island.
“The twin broke down at Ginger Hall, got it going as far as Keepel Gate and that was it Unfortunately Gutted is an understatement,” he said.
O’Carroll was given a chance to redeem himself on Monday morning. He was also competing in the Senior Manx Grand Prix on his 600 cc Kawasaki.
However, that event got delayed over wet conditions and the result was not known at the time The Kerryman closed for press on Monday evening.
“It was, without doubt, the biggest learning curve of my career,” he added.
“We will be back.”
Ardfert’s Stephen Walsh had an even more difficult experience on the island. His Honda RD 350’s engine expired during his newcomer’s lap on Sunday evening. A trojan effort by his mechanics and friends had the bike back into race condition again.
He did, eventually, get out for a newcomer lap on Wednesday and took part in the qualifying sessions on Thursday.
Unfortunately, the new engine developed another fault just ahead of his race on Saturday morning.
It was leaking oil and race officials decided he could not start.
“I was set to race, that is one good thing, helmet on and ready but I did not get to race.”
“I loved every bit of it and we will be back next year,” he said.
“Everything went wrong, I was gutted but I understand the decision, 100 per cent I will be back next year.“
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