2005 Manx Grand Prix Preview

The 2005 MGP kicks off in under a weeks time with practicing starting on Saturday 20th. This year again sees a good Greeves entry, with all Last years riders in action once more. The Junior Class will see John Loder in action once more aboard his Very quick Oulton. John will also be in the Senior Classic event aboard the Nourish Weslake, and will surely be one of the top three favourites again. Emilio Toone will again be on George Ridgeon's Oulton, on which he took to a creditable finish last year. Joining them in the Junior this year instead of the Senior will be Ian Rycroft, who has swapped the bigger Griffon motor for a 350cc unit this time around. He will also be out in the Senior but aboard a G50. The Lightweight Classic, sees regular 250 runner Mervyn Stratford on his Premier Adhesives backed Silverstone. Merv also has two rides, he is also in the Senior on the Ellis Seeley G50. Regular 50cc rider Steve Bedford makes his Greeves debut in the Lightweight on another Silverstone, he also has a second ride with a RS125 Honda for the Ultra-Lightweight.

With this years promising line up lets keep our fingers crossed for some good results. Full practice and Race round-ups to follow!

Hopefully as last year up to date Practice results will be available at www.iommgp.com

20/8/05 Saturday Eve Practice

The first practice session got off to a slow start, as the session was delayed because a farmer had spilt grain on part of the course. Whilst this was being cleared news of a further delay came through, a garden bomb fire at Kirk Michael got out of control and spread to a nearby field, so the session had to further delayed to allow fire engine access. When the session finally got away in sunny conditions there was only time for one lap. The session saw two Greeves machines in action, Ian Rycroft completed one lap on his 350 in a time of 29m 26.4 (76.895mph), as did Mervyn Stratford on his 250, but with the clutch slightly slipping at times. His time was 27m 15.77 (83.036mph).

22/8/05 Monday Eve Practice

This session was also delayed for 30 minutes due to parked cars at Parliament Square, so this limited some riders to only one lap if they were not in the first few away. Conditions were again sunny, and three Greeves were in action. Steve Bedford took out the Silverstone but unfortunately only got to Quarter bridge, because of 'rubbish' in the new fuel tank. John Loder took out his Oulton, but he only got as far as Union Mills when the Primary broke. Emilio Toone was out on George Ridgeon's Oulton, also retiring due to problems with the gear linkage.

23/8/05 Tuesday Eve Practice

This session did not look promising as it had been raining earlier, so the roads were wet and there was still mist on the mountain. After 2 half hour delays the session was eventually cancelled.

24/8/05 Wednesday Eve Practice

Tonight's session got away in overcast conditions, and with it wet over the mountain by the second lap. Three Greeves completed laps. John took his Oulton out for a lap after completing one on the Nourish Seeley. His lap was 24m 11.07 (93.605mph). Mervyn was out on his Silverstone for two laps although only just making it round for the second, as the engine went sick at Union Mills and he only ended with an egg cup full of fuel in the tank, due to being in low gears for most of the lap. His best was26m 30.9 (85.378mph). Steve got two laps in on his Silverstone with a best of 32m 07.91 (70.453mph), although he said it was over geared.

25/8/05 Thursday Eve Practice

Bright conditions for this session although it was wet in places under the trees. Steve had an unfortunate spill at Quarter Bridge when his front brake locked up, but fortunately he was ok. John got another lap in on his Oulton in a time of 24m 23.43 (92.815mph). Ian had two laps tonight although he was suffering with vibration problems. His best was 30m 12.87 (74.924mph).

26/8/05 Friday Eve Practice

This session look as though it would be pretty wet, but it had dried out in most places before the practice started apart from the end of the mountain and the Douglas area. Three Greeves ventured out this evening, Ian got another lap in on his 350 in a time of 31m 53.87 (70.97mph), with Emilio doing two on the Ridgeon machine and a best of 28m 33.75 (79.258 mph). Steve again had an eventful practice lap. He was black flagged at Bishopscourt for a flapping exhaust bracket, which he removed and continued. However the exhaust was also split, so he had detonation problems through the lap, and also he lost all the oil from the chain case, which in turn destroyed the chain and clutch!! But he still managed to get it round with a time of 36m 05.04 (62.737mph).

Sadly tragedy marred the practice session as John Loder lost his life in an incident on the mountain. Our thoughts are with John's family at this sad time.

27/8/05 Saturday Eve Practice

The final practice session of 2005 was held in good conditions with overcast skies and light winds. Only two Greeves were out tonight. Emilio took out the Ridgeon machine once more for two laps to qualify for the race, with a best of 27m 44.79 (81.589mph). Mervyn was out for one lap on his race engine with a time of 26m 36.89 (85.058mph). Ian had swapped his Greeves for a Seeley 7R, on which he also qualified. Steve was unable to get his Silverstone fixed for this session, so without a lap in the qualifying time he is unlikely to start the race on Wednesday.

31/8/05 Junior/Lightweight Classic Race

The combined Junior and Lightweight event saw just two Greeves line up on the Grid, those of Emilio Toone and Mervyn Stratford. The Start of the race was delayed due to mist on the mountain, and eventually got underway an hour and fifteen minutes late at 11:30 am. First away was the Junior class led off by Chris Mcgahan and Wattie Brown. Unfortunately Emilio's race was over before it even started, as he pulled off the grid 30 seconds or so before his scheduled start time with oil coming from the gearbox. So Mervyn was left as the sole Greeves with Emilio officially a non-starter. The Lightweights were led off by Bud Jackson and Ewan Hamilton, both Suzuki mounted. At the halfway stage and pit stop time Merv was holding 10th place on corrected time, but said the bike was 'slow', this was reflected in the lap times as they were down on last year. He continued on to finish the race in 6th place only .14 of a second down on 5th, with a time of 1hr 47m 49.44 (83.981mph). The Lightweight race win went to Ewan Hamilton with Peter Wakefield (Suzuki) 2nd and Dave Smith (Yamaha) 3rd. Chris McGahan (Honda) took the Junior win.

Sadly celebrations were somewhat dampened by the news that two riders, Tim Johnson and Eddie Byers were fatally injured in separate incidents in the closing stages of the Junior race, again our thoughts go to the riders families.

That concludes this years Manx Grand Prix coverage, in what will be one remembered for all of the wrong reasons with the loss of six riders.

RS

Last years Greeves riders below were all in action once more, Photos courtesy & © www.iomguide.com