Jack Miller – MotoGP
Showing great consistency and riding with a nice blend of intensity, composure and intelligence, Jack Miller’s two consecutive podiums in August have been a joy to watch. To start with Silverstone, and the Factory Ducati star managed the race expertly, striking the right balance of when to preserve his tyres and when to go for it. Having been in the top three the entire race, Miller eventually claimed third, with Maverick Vinales passing him late to bump him out of second. 

The popular Australian then backed up this ride with another outstanding effort in Austria at the Red Bull Ring by securing third once more. Giving himself terrific grid position by virtue of qualifying third fastest, he jumped out of the blocks smartly to be up with the frontrunners from the outset. From here, Miller further flexed his muscles and underlined what an elite operator he is by pushing the likes of Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo and Jorge Martin, in a race where he even briefly held the lead.

Coming across the line third in the end after enduring tyre issues as the race drew to a close, there was no hiding his happiness at the result, which bagged him his third podium in the last four races. “I’m thrilled with today’s result. I pushed as hard as possible to stay with Pecco until the end, but after I tried to pass him, he brought up the pace, and it was difficult for me to respond,” he gleamed.

“Then, I started to suffer a bit with the tyres towards the end. We fought hard with Fabio and Jorge for second place, and I was hoping to get the better of them, but in any case, it’s our second, third place in a row, and the aim is to continue fighting for the podium in all the upcoming races. It is a great moment for the team, so I hope we can continue with this momentum at our home race in Misano”.

Remy Gardner – MotoGP
Remy Gardner’s challenging first campaign in MotoGP continued, with him notching 18th at Silverstone and 20th in Austria. Battling niggling injuries and struggling with the bike, like many of his fellow KTM riders, Gardner did, however make some positive gains at the British GP, where he felt happy with things on track and enjoyed dueling near the main group. Even though he severely lost edge grip in the closing stages of the race, he left feeling content with the weekend. 

Turning his attention to the Red Bull Ring, and this was a round to forget for the reigning Moto2 champion, for his day was ruined when he crashed before valiantly remounting to finish 20th. Another big takeaway from last weekend came in the form of Gardner admitting that he’ll most likely be out of MotoGP at the end of the season due to there being no open spots for him.

With news emerging that KTM are reportedly not looking to keep him on, a dejected Gardner was frank in his assessment of the situation, stating: “No, it’s not [looking great for next year]. In MotoGP, it doesn’t look like there’s anything… KTM’s done it again!”

Senna Agius – Moto2
Coming in to replace the injured Sam Lowes for the Marc VDS Racing Team in Moto2, Senna Agius, who usually competes in European Moto2 Championship, admirably handled the step up in class.

Chipping away and improving in every session, it was fantastic to see the Australian make the most of his opportunity. Having qualified in a credible 21st, how the 17-year-old then handled the race was wonderful, as he was battling for points before a long lap penalty ultimately dropped him back to 17th. Not bad at all for a Moto2 debut.

“It was a really good race. At the beginning, I made some mistakes that I could have maybe avoided. But it was my first race so it was bound to happen,” a content Agius insisted. “For sure the level in the World Championship is higher and the way these guys go fast is a bit different to what I’m used to. But it’s the way they ride and they’re really fast. I’m learning to do what they’re doing. I felt I learnt a lot this weekend and my riding style has changed a lot from the beginning of the weekend to the end.”

Joel Kelso – Moto3
Having been forced to sit out for roughly six weeks due to injury, Kelso finally made his Moto3 comeback in Austria. Bagging an impressive 13th in qualifying, this was a great effort by the Darwinian to get his weekend rolling.

Come the race on Sunday, there was much to be admired about his determined day at the office, which saw him finish the race in 22nd, roughly 27 seconds back from the winner, Ayumu Sasaki.

Back racing again, expect Kelso to keep getting better and better as his physical condition improves and he regains his comfort on the bike, with him knowing he has the speed to be fighting for top 10s.

Jason O’Halloran – British Superbike
Jason O’Halloran continued his excellent form at round six of the BSB Championship at Thruxton by going 1-1-3.

Kicking off his weekend in style by winning the sprint race, this served as the catalyst for him to shine in race two and three, where he recorded impressive first and third place finishes respectively. Engaging in some captivating battles with Tarran Mackenzie and Bradley Ray, the fans were treated to a real spectacle as the last two races saw the ultra fast trio separated by less than 0.300s.

“We won two races this weekend and took a third, the fastest lap of the weekend and felt really comfortable in all of the races,” the elated Aussie explained.

“I managed the first two races quite well and in the last race I got a worse start so it changed the strategy, I sat behind Taz and Brad for as long as I could and then I probably went to the front one lap too early thinking I had more tyre than I did. Maybe I pushed too much too soon and cooked the tyre a bit, but they were very enjoyable races. I love racing here, it’s more like a cycling race than a tyre race as you’re conserving the tyres and thinking about strategy. It would have been easier if there was two of us, as when there’s three it makes the strategy a bit more tricky. I’m really enjoying it at the minute and looking forward to Cadwell Park.”

Heading into Caldwell Park, the “O Show” holds a crucial 24 point lead over Ray, as his immaculate recent form has propelled him into a commanding position.

Jacob Roulstone and Harrison Voight – Red Bull Rookies & Moto3 Junior World Championship
Aussie talents Jacob Roulstone and Harrison Voight returned to action in the The Red Bull Rookies Cup, with both coming into Spielberg full of optimism. Unfortunately it wasn’t the weekend they’d hoped for despite them gaining some vital experience racing at the incredible Red Bull Ring.

Roulstone recorded finishes of 15th and 17th while Voight went 16-12 in the two races, as the young duo continue to build in this highly regarded competition that’s littered with gifted riders.

Josh Hook – FIM EWC Endurance
In what was a hugely eventful Suzuka 8 Hours race, Josh Hook did everything in his power to help his F.C.C TSR Honda France team claim a hard-fought 10th.

With teammate Gino Rea suffering a horrific head injury following a frightening crash, Hook and Mike de Meglio were forced to compete as a two man team while their colleague was in intensive care. Pushing on bravely in the absence of Rea, who is now thankfully recovering, Hook started the race in fine fashion to sit comfortably in the top five in the early running. Unfortunately, some mechanical issues saw the team lose plenty of time, as they dropped all the way back to 19th before valiantly recovering to finish an admirable 10th.

“The last few days have been very difficult for us and the whole team. First of all, we would like to say that our thoughts and prayers are with Gino. We are thinking of him during this difficult time,” a clearly distressed Hook said afterwards. 

“The race was very, very difficult with only two riders, it was physically demanding, and we weren’t able to perform as well as we had hoped today. But today’s result was definitely the best we could have done. Both Mike and I gave 100% and that’s all we could’ve done at this point. Thanks to everyone in the team for their hard work as always.”

Mitch Evans – MXGP
Although the results haven’t always matched his speed in an action packed month of MXGP, Mitch Evans has illustrated why he’s one of the fastest men in the class. 

Kicking off his August with an exceptional qualifying race win in Sweden, he then had a mixed raceday, where an early mistake meant 10th was the best he could muster in the first moto. But in race two, Evans well and truly put that behind him by snatching his finest result of the season to come home in fourth place.

The subsequent two rounds in Finland and France haven’t gone his way despite him showing plenty of speed in practice and qualifying, as falls and bad luck have cost him dearly in his quest for a podium. After recording moto finishes of 14-20 at Finland, where he suffered two first lap crashes, he crucially picked things up in France to go 7-11 to restore some confidence. “Another weekend where I’m disappointed with how the motos went,” he stated after Sunday’s GP. 

“I was in a strong position in race one, staying in fourth place for the majority of the race and just a mistake near the end dropped me to seventh. I feel like I’m putting a bit too much pressure on myself to get on the podium, so I just need to focus a bit more on just taking each lap as it comes. Race two wasn’t as easy and another small mistake meant I dropped from seventh to 10th, and in the end, I finished 11th. Of course, I want more, and that’ll be the aim when we head to the final round in Turkey in two weeks’ time.”

Jed Beaton – MXGP
Still struggling to find his groove in MXGP in what’s been an injury interrupted debut campaign in the premier class, Jed Beaton deserves credit for battling through the pain to show he belongs at this elite level. Clocking some promising times in practice this month, the problem has been transferring his speed into raceday. 

Recording finishes of 19-18-19-14-15-13 in his six previous motos importantly shows he’s making steps in the right direction in this fiercely competitive, stacked class even if he knows he’s capable of better. With just one round remaining, the F&H Kawasaki pilot will be looking to close the season on a high in Turkey in the first weekend of September.

Jett Lawrence – AMA Pro Motocross
Leading the championship by 37 points with two rounds left, Jett Lawrence is in a commanding position to seal his second consecutive 250 AMA Pro Motocross title.

Although the 18-year-old sensation hasn’t been at his best this month, with some unfortunate crashes when pushing too hard hindering him, he’s still managed to go 7-2-2-3 in the last four combined motos at Unadilla and Budds Creek.

Even though he’s been disappointed with his recent results, it’s important to note how well he’s salvaged his bad days, with his capacity to limit the damage being crucial towards him maintaining his gap atop the standings.

With just Ironman and Pala Two left on the calendar, if all goes to plan, winning another title would be the perfect way to head into the Motocross of Nations, where he’ll be joined by his brother and Mitch Evans to form an incredibly strong, all HRC Honda team for Aus.

Hunter Lawrence – AMA Pro Motocross
After a challenging couple of rounds Hunter Lawrence has slipped back to third in the standings behind sibling Jett and Japanese star Jo Shimoda.

Having endured some mechanical issues, mistakes and untimely tip overs, Hunter has only managed to go 2-5-8-9 in his last quartet of races. There is certainly time to overtake Shimoda in the standings, however, for on his day when everything clicks he’s proven he has what it takes to beat anyone. Knowing there’s much scope for improvement, expect him to come out firing in the final two rounds and put his recent adversity behind him in his pursuit to wrestle back second in the standings.

The post Aussies Racing Abroad: August 2022 Update appeared first on Racing, Riding, Motorcycle Reviews, Race bikes, Tech Tips, Rider Training....

Alex: “After the 2015 debacle I didn’t know what I wanted to do really. I had some unfinished business, but seeing I didn’t finish one race in 2015, there were hardly any teams beating my door down. I wasn’t happy at work though, so when some friends offered me a place to live in the UK I quit my job and headed over in 2015 with a plan to do the TT in 2016. I was living in rural Shropshire but had no money, and despite my trade qualifications could only get a job in a nursery for about $15 an hour. At least I was getting fit though, riding my pushbike to work, running, training and eating well.”

Check out volume two of Between The Hedges here…

Chris: “I think Alex wanted a change of scenery and wanted to prove what he was capable of. We knew he wanted to do the TT again but at that stage didn’t have the means to do so, and neither did we. He was training hard, lost a heap of weight and looked fit. He had a block of land here which he wanted to sell, and he planned to stay in the UK long term. He had a five-year visa which could be turned into permanent residency due to family ties in the UK.”

Alex: “I got my patents to sell everything I had, including my 1970 Dodge Dart, something I wished I hadn’t sold now, this allowed me some financial breathing space and the purchase of a competitive bike. That bike turned out to be the Kawasaki ZX6R ASBK Supersport machine of Luke Burgess. Kawasaki’s Glen Willing had built the engine and it had lots of goodies, including Mupo suspension. We got it at a good price, and dad shipped it over to the UK for me.”

Check out the first volume of Between The Hedges here if you missed it…

Chris: “It didn’t need any race preparation, other than extra lock wiring required for the TT rules, and increasing the fuel tank capacity. I’d read somewhere that you could blow the tank a bit with compressed air and cut out the inside of the filler next so fuel could go all the way to the top. Brad Woodhouse from B & C Motorcycles in Newcastle and I tried that with the tank off the bike. It blew out alright but wouldn’t fit back on the bike. A bit of judicious panel work here and there got the tank bolted back on to the bike, and we tried again. Doing this we got the capacity from 17 to 21 litres.”

“I crated the bike up, with riding gear, spares and a pushbike and off she went to the UK. A couple of months later I got a distraught phone call from Alex saying they wouldn’t release the bike to him. I had applied for the bike to be used as a race bike in the UK but that it would be shipped back to Australia afterwards. In other words I wasn’t trying to import the bike into the UK permanently. I’m not sure what went wrong or if we got stiffed somehow but I ended up paying another three or four grand just for them to release the bike to Alex. My credit card was smoking.”

Alex at last had a bike he could practice on in readiness for the 2016 TT
Alex: “I only had to do a couple of minor things to the bike, like a tail light, and a brake guard, things needed to pass scrutineering in the UK. I then did some No Limits racing which was good fun, and something I needed to get my races up for a TT Mountain Course Licence. No Limits in the UK is like St George club racing in Australia but it’s amazing how much money is there. I turned up with a half worn out Transit van, a caravan with an awning, thinking I’d be IT, but there were semi trailer’s with transporters by the dozen so I was just a wannabe in the paddock.”

“I did alright though and gelled pretty quickly with the ZX6R. I also got to race a CFMoto Supertwin in Northern Ireland on one of the street circuits, which was a big eye opener. I did pretty well there too, dodging hedges, cow pats and other bikes. My girlfriend, now wife, Tayla had come over and we stayed with friends in Northern Ireland, toured around the place and even went to Joey’s Bar in Balleymoney. Now that was cool.”

Chris: “Before we knew it my wife and I were on the plane to the Isle of Man. Alex had a good privateer set up, helped by our friends he’d been living in the UK with. Gaz and Jenny Cranage treated Alex like a son and their organisation really helped him prepare. Our Scottish mate Rob Wilson came over to help with the mechanics and we even had a suspension guy helping. All for free. It was great.”

Alex: “Practice week went awesome. It was the driest TT in years and I had no issues doing my six laps for qualifying. In fact, I think I did about 10 and we decided to sit out the last nights practise session to help save the engine as we didn’t have a spare. Handling was pretty good on the bike and everything was going well. There was a bit of a clash of personalities in the team at times, but it was a bit of a pressure cooker environment.”

Chris: “There were probably too many cooks in the kitchen in the team but we all worked it out with minimum fuss really. By the time the first Supersport race came up everything seemed okay, but in hindsight I think Alex was trying to keep too many people happy, with a number of people wanting his time. His start number was 66 but he qualified in the high 30s on the start line from memory. The four laps went without any major incident and he finished 31st with an overall race speed, including pit stop, of 115.277mph.”

Alex: “Even though I was happy with the handling of the bike during practice week, in the race I wasn’t that comfortable with it. I can’t tell you what went wrong, the settings were the same, but even my mate Dominic Herbertson said the bike was all over the place when he went past me. I had qualified in front of him and I was holding him up on the road, which normally would not have been the case, all things being equal.”

But things were about to get a whole lot worse on a personal level for a number of people including Alex
Alex: “I had become quite friendly with Dwight Beare from Melbourne. Dwight was a sidecar racer and had moved to the IOM to chase his dream of TT glory. We hit it off, he was great fun to go out with and was just a real nice bloke. He was killed in the first Sidecar TT in 2016 and it shook me to my core really. It all went to shit in about a two hour window. Dad and I were talking to Paul Shoesmith, my team boss from the year before, just as he was about to head out for a practice lap. He’d just done the Superbike TT and wanted to sort out his Superstock bike in a special one lap practice session they were running after the Sidecar TT. We didn’t know at that stage that Dwight had passed away as no information had been released. Within 20 minutes later, Paul was dead too. He had a similar issue with a blown out front tyre, like I had the year before, and only about 500 metres before my incident. Unfortunately, he didn’t survive it. So, I lost two good friends within a couple of hours of each other.”

Chris: “That really hit Alex hard. He was ready to pack it in and go home. It was his decision of course, no one can make you do it. In the end he decided to continue but you could see he wasn’t the same. He lined up for the second Supersport race but came in after the first lap, complaining of very poor handling and deciding to pull the pin. I will always believe his heart wasn’t in it that day. His mind was elsewhere and it was dangerous for him to continue. He did the right thing by retiring from that race.”

Alex: “I can’t really tell you what went wrong in the second race. The bike felt terrible but nothing had really changed. I actually asked myself during that one lap, ‘what am I doing here?’. I didn’t want to be out there so I pulled in.”

Alex: “I thought long and hard about actually doing the Classic TT but decided to. I spent some time staying with friends on the IOM and helped get the bike ready. Mum and Dad weren’t going to come over to the Classic TT seeing they had spent a month in the UK a few months earlier. At the last minute though, dad jumped on a plane and flew over which was a great relief for me. He had only missed a handful of my races ever since I started so it was very important for me, for him to be there.”

Chris: “My wife didn’t want me to go, we’d already spent a bomb earlier in the year but how could I not go. My credit card was smoking again but I was going and that was that. You (Stuart) were coming over as well, but your funds dried up with a speeding ticket, didn’t they! My wife understood. There was less stress on me with the Classic TT because I wasn’t working on the bike, just enjoying the sunshine and the atmosphere. Of course, I was stressed whenever Alex was on the bike.”

Alex: “Practice week went great, the bike felt great, and I was in the top 10 every time I went out. We had a small issue with the standard hydraulic cam chain tensioner which threatened to derail us but John Taubman built a fantastic engine and had it sorted. I was given number 41 which was a bit off a slap in the face I thought. There were most of the top TT runners at the Classic TT, riding all sorts of machines. Michael Dunlop was on a Suzuki XR69 ‘Replica’ with a GSX-R1100/Bandit 1200 engine. Dean Harrison and Horst Saiger were on ZXR750s like me, but the lineup of bikes was pretty special, and so were the riders.”

Chris: “There were plenty of slower riders in front of Alex on the start line, which we knew would prove to be a problem for him as they would no doubt hold him up. One of the riders who qualified behind Alex got permission to start further up the field, as he should of, but when the team asked the same for Alex they were denied. So, in effect you had about 25 riders slower than Alex who were allowed to start in front of him. Everyone was pissed off but that’s life I guess.”

Alex: “There were a few classes in the Classic Superbike TT. I was in P2 which meant I was a privateer racing a 750cc production-based machine. I was the fastest qualifier in the class but I was also faster than plenty of other bigger capacity bikes. I started 41st on the road, as per my number, and I blasted through lots of bikes in front of me. Some would hold me up, some not so much, but when I came into the pits for fuel I was sitting in around 15th spot. The bike was running great but as always, the gears were sometimes hard to select. On the last lap I just went for it, basically throwing caution to the wind, even through Ballegary corner where I held it flat in top and the bike threatened to throw me into the scenery but I stayed on. I knew I would have finished in a good spot but when I rode up the slip road after I finished, Paul Phillips, the boss of the TT, guided me into the winners enclosure with a big smile on his face. Paul was always very good to me and my dad and it was nice to see him happy with my result. It was a good result for him seeing he had paid the team for my ride. I later learned that Mick Charnock from TC Racing had told Paul I would win the P2 class when they were negotiating the deal. Well, I did and everyone was happy.”

Chris: “It was a bit of an anti-climax to be honest. It had been a hard slog along the way. Alex finished 11th outright but first in his class. After the race there were some rumblings about illegal bikes. Four bikes were found to be oversize and were excluded from the results. They were all big name riders too. This pushed Alex up to 7th outright in the standings but it never altered his first in class result. To see him up on the podium with TT greats was very special. I later bought the Classic TT DVD which never once showed Alex or even mentioned him. Typically, the film makers concentrate on the top four or five riders. They even deleted the podium shot because two of the four riders on the podium were disqualified. That really pissed me off.”

Alex: “I decided that would be me and the TT done and dusted after the Classic TT. It had dominated much of my life for five years but I knew the realities of the danger. It holds a special place in my heart, as do the Bronze and Silver trophies but life moves on. I would love one day to take my two boys over to the TT to show them what their dad used to do. I’d love to go back and help someone as a mechanic but I can never see myself riding the TT again. Not enough money and too many responsibilities. You never say never”  

Words: Stuart Woodberry 

The post Between The Hedges Pt3: Alex Pickett’s Last Isle Of Man TT appeared first on Racing, Riding, Motorcycle Reviews, Race bikes, Tech Tips, Rider Training....

Alex: “I had become friendly with a local Isle of Man based team when I was at the Manx GP in 2013. TC Racing is a family-based team that specialises in up and coming racers, especially ones from overseas. Cam Donald and Dave Johnson both had their first TT starts with TC Racing. Often, over the years, you’d find the three of us Aussie riders chilling out in the TC tent. It’s a real family atmosphere and they are in fact still like family to me. All decisions within the team are made as a team and they approached me to ride for them in the 2014 TT, getting sponsorship from the IOM government. I had to get myself there and pay for tyres. Everything else was covered.”

Read volume one of Between The Hedges here…

Chris: “TC Racing is not only a great team but a great bunch of people. John and Liz Taubman, their daughters Alana and Sam Taubman and their partners Gas Knight and Mick Charnock. Mick himself was a very experienced roads racer but a couple of big crashes at the the TT stopped Mick’s career. They looked after us like family, even after my mate Dave dropped a brand new Magnesium Dymag rim on the ground. Dave is no longer with us, but gave us some great laughs at the TT in 2014. Little did we know he had a brain tumour at the time and was losing the plot a little.”

Alex had a full schedule at the 2014 TT.
Alex: “I was entered in all five races in 2014. I had a Honda CBR600RR for the Supersport class, a CBR1000RR superstocker and a full house CBR1000RR for the Superbike and Senior TTs. Practice week went ok, but not without a few dramas. The super stocker fried a fuel pump fuse and left me stranded near Sulby Bridge, and I crashed the same bike at Creg Ny Baa on another lap during practice week. I say crashed but it wasn’t as bad as that really. I had been on a flyer of a lap. I couldn’t understand why I was passing bikes so easily, thinking they were going slow. Turns out I was going fast, wheel standing everywhere and having a blast.”

“That bike was so easy to ride but as I hit the brakes for Creg Ny Baa I found I didn’t have any. All the wheel standing and head shaking had forced the front pads back in the calipers and by the time I realised what was happening I ran out of road, nose diving into the air fence at the pub on the corner. The bike plopped back down and fell over, breaking a brake lever. When I got back to the pits the team was jumping up and down, saying I was on for a 125mp/h lap until my little ‘incident’.

Chris: “Alex was going well in practice and qualifying but was struggling with the Superbike. It was a beast of a thing, with a 24-litre tank, lots of horsepower and a front end off Carlos Checa’s world superbike CBR. I think he was actually faster on the super stock 1000. A couple of times he came in with grass on the fairing where he’d nearly ran out of road, so that was a bit scary for me at least. Overall though, especially in the Supersport class, he qualified much higher than the start number the TT organisers had given him.”

Alex: “We were running hard compound Dunlops that year, they could do six laps. The top blokes had quick change rear axles so would change two rear tyres during the race. I had to manage my tyre wear. Turned out it didn’t matter in this race anyway. The six lap race started well but on the second lap I lost the front on a left hander just up from the Gooseneck. I was doing at least 160km/h at the time. I lost the front but managed to keep it upright, but then of course I ran out of road. I ran up the embankment and somehow managed to jump across a two car wide gap in the embankment where there was a gate for the paddock. Somehow, I managed to stay on and rode back to the pits. I was pretty shaken up but still managed a well over 120mp/h lap. There was grass and dirt everywhere on the bike, even between the tyres and the rim. How I didn’t crash I don’t know.”

Chris: “I was watching the pit crew getting ready for Alex’s first stop. Gaz Knight from TC Racing was next to me and said, “There’s something wrong”, as soon as Alex pulled up. You could see from his body language that his race was over then and there. To this day he doesn’t know if he hit something slippery on the road or just made a mistake. Luckily, he stayed upright. It was pretty scary for all of us.”

Alex: “The rest of race week was a shit-fight really. The team bent over backwards for me but we just had issue after issue. I was going great in the first Supersport race until the engine blew. In the Superstock race I was pumped up more than ever before. I was flying on the first lap but the fuel pump fuse blew again. We put a used stock engine from the wreckers in the CBR600RR for the second Supersport race and it held together. I came around 30th out of near 100 riders but I knew I could have gone better. The best bit was dicing with my mate Dominic Herbertson for the entire race. I had qualified one place ahead of him but we were evenly matched. Dom went on to be a well-known sponsored TT racer in the UK. We are both from ‘Newcastle’, on opposite sides of the world.”

“The last race of the week was the Senior TT, the one every rider wants to win. Of course that wasn’t going to happen for me but I wanted to give it everything. It all went well enough on a bike I struggled to tame, but I ended up around 50th place. Then it was all over for that year.”

Chris: “One of the highlights was seeing Alex get some good airtime on the TT coverage. He was flat out and Michael Dunlop eased past him on top of the mountain. The commentators gave him a big rap which was nice. FOX Sports usually runs the coverage of the TT but it’s a huge thing over there. ITV4 does the coverage and you see it each night. There are something like 300 people from ITV4 working on the TT, and the night’s show starts only one hour after practice stops, for example.

“Another surreal thing happened that year and a photo was taken of Alex that went viral. Guy Martin was chasing Michael Dunlop in one of the big bike races and Martin had an onboard camera. They both caught Alex near a big jump at Ballacrye. A still shot was taken from Martin’s bike showing Alex getting big air on the CBR1000RR. Fantastic stuff.”

Alex was disappointed with his results, though much of it was out of his control.
Alex: “I was very disappointed in my 2014 results. I feel I could have gone better, especially in the Superstock race. To this day that CBR1000RR is one of the best bikes I have ever ridden, if not the best. It was so easy to ride fast and I was on a mission that day until it broke down. That one, more than any of the others, really hurt.”

Chris: “Not much was on the radar for 2015 at the TT for Alex until I got an email from Paul Phillips, the head man at the TT, saying there could be something with Ice Valley BMW. We didn’t have the money to do something ourselves from this side of the world, so the deal was not a bad one for us. The ride was paid for by the IOM government and Ice Valley with us having to pay for tyres, getting ourselves there, and crash damage. What could go wrong I though. Lots as it turned out.”

Alex: “This was the team that gave Peter Hickman his start in 2014. He did a 129 or 130mp/h lap in his rookie year so the team had some pedigree. There were three riders in the team, myself, team principal Paul Shoesmith, and French rider Franck Petricola. All of us were on BMW S1000RRs with customer superbike kitted engines. They had around 215rwhp so were fast. It all turned to crap before practice week even started. We were at Jurby Airfield to get a feel for the bikes and I managed to highside the bike big time. I was pissing blood for a week and nothing went right after that. I knew the old man wasn’t happy when I was lying in the back of the ambulance and the door came flying open, him giving me a spray and slamming the door shut. The nurse said, “who’s that?” … “My Dad,” I replied.

Chris: “I could see someone was going to crash that day at Jurby. It was so cold and Alex was showing everyone he was the fastest. I wanted to grab the red flag and stop the session but sure enough, Alex had a massive highside. Sometimes you can see things happening before they do and that was me that day. I still maintain there was no point being out there in those conditions. The risk was much higher than any gains to be had. As they say, you can’t put an old head on young shoulders.”

Some tool time was required…
Chris: “Alex only had the one bike, which was now well damaged. I somehow became his default mechanic and had to borrow tools to get the bike back on track. From then on we chased electrical gremlins, that even factory staff from BMW head office in Germany couldn’t fix. It had a habit of cutting out and then chiming back in. We changed all sorts of stuff to no avail, so Alex had to practice on an older S1000RR while we tried to fix his bike, partly held up from waiting for parts from the mainland.”

Then practice week got worse.
Alex: “We were struggling to get our six laps of practice due to these bike issues and also poor weather. Finally I was able to get out on my bike after the team got it back together. I was running out of time to qualify so out I went. I nearly lost the front under brakes as I was braking for Ballaugh Bridge on the first lap. That was weird I thought and should have stopped to see what the issue was, but being under pressure to get my laps in I pressed on. Little did I realise my front tyre was going down. I got onto Sulby Straight and as I tipped into the right hand kink at the end of the straight I lost control of the bike. I remember just hitting the limiter in top gear as I tipped in, a millisecond before the bike went into a massive tank slapper.

“I was heading for the wall of a house and was about to jump off when the bike hit the kerb and bounced me straight. You can imagine how fast all of this happened, as I had just hit around 300km/h when I had the tank slapper. Somehow I held onto it and came to a stop at Sulby Bridge. By this stage the front tyre was off the rim.”

Chris: “I knew something had happened because live timing showed Alex hadn’t progressed beyond a certain sector of the course. Then he called me from a Marshall’s phone and told me he had a flat. We were able to borrow a van from James Whitham, ex WSBK/TT racer and TT commentator, and I went out with Dan Harrison, one of Alex’s mates from Australia, to pick him up. We had to wait until the roads were declared open and while we were doing this I got a text from Cam Donald, asking if there was anything he could do, just to ask. All good I replied, he’s just got a flat tyre. When the roads were opened up after practice we joined the course at Kirkmichael. As we came onto Sulby Straight Dan said, “someone’s crashed there, pointing to a hole in the hedge.” We only had to go another kilometre or so to get Alex but when we arrived he was very agitated, asking us how his team-mate Franck was (sadly, Franck had died as a result). Little did we know it was Franck who had crashed and created the hole in the hedge, and that was the bike Cam had seen. He thought it was Alex because all the Ice Valley bikes were painted the same.”

Alex: “That was hard to accept. Frank and I had gotten on very well and this was his first big race after crashing at the NW200 in Northern Ireland 12 months earlier. You could tell he wasn’t over his injuries as he was tired all the time. This had happened a couple of times now. In 2014 I had enjoyed a coffee with multi-British Supersport champion Karl Harris. He was a real friendly guy who had noticed me and wanted to give me some tips. I met his wife and kids and they were very nice and helpful to me. Later that day after our coffee together he was killed. We still don’t know what happened.”

“We still don’t know what caused Franck to crash either. In my situation we believe the gyroscopic forces of the wheel caused the valve to pushed down releasing air. In Australia we have to fit steel valve caps to prevent this but at the TT they use rubber caps with seals. When dad looked at the valve on my front tyre he noticed the cap was cross threaded and not on properly. Because I was riding for a well know team, Dunlop technicians would check our tyres before the race. They are no doubt under the pump time wise and to this day I believe that was the case with us. The cap wasn’t fitted properly. I should have stopped at Ballaugh when I had a big slide but I felt under lots of pressure to get a lap in to qualify so I pushed on. Then a photo of me turned up when my front tyre went flat, with me in a full on tank slapper, the actual rim on the road and the tyre only being held on by the fork leg. This caused a major stir around the paddock, including the course secretary.”

Race week was no better
Alex: “I was only doing the big bike classes in 2015 but never got to finish any of the three races, with a breakdown in the Superbike TT, and a crash in the Superstock TT. We’d had no end of electrical problems due to my crash at Jurby and the bike would cut out momentarily while you were on full song, then as you are shutting the throttle it would then chime back in, making it very difficult and dangerous to ride. As I was coming up to Black Hut during the Superstock TT, the bike had a hiccup again, I looked down for a moment and by the time I looked up again I had run out of road. I slipped the wall at over 200km/h and came off. I was apparently knocked out and slid for some 150 metres. I regained consciousness pretty quickly and was able to get off the track without being run over. I was lucky, only hurting my wrist and badly spraining my ankle. The bike didn’t get off so lightly.”

Chris: “That was pretty scary. I knew Alex should have come through by now, so something was wrong. I then saw one of the pit lane officials coming towards me, locking his eyes on me. I didn’t know what to think, but none of it was good. He got to me and said, “your rider’s down but he’s ok, he walked to the chopper and is heading to Nobles Hospital now.” And that was that for 2015. Alex convalesced in hospital for a few days, we flew home via Dublin where we did a tour of the Guinness factory and he managed to set his wrist bandage on fire in a pub. Then came the task of paying for the crash damage. I worked for a few months for free to pay that off.”

Had Alex run over a black cat? It certainly seems this way. He went it alone in 2016 to race in the Supersport class on his own Kawasaki ZX-6R and managed to win his class in the Classic TT that year too on a TC Racing owned Kawasaki ZXR750. Keep an eye out for the next volume of Between The Hedges…

Words: Stuart Woodberry 

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