All week someone has popped in and out of the hedge after Westwood to show pitboard signals to various riders. After racing today, Wed Jr race day, we bumped into each other. He is a friendly Irishman who has been coming to the Isle of Man for 38 years! He had a good day today with wins and places. Talk turned to past disasters. In particular Wayne Hamilton who crashed fatally on entering the 13th milestone a couple of years back on lap 3 of the Junior having won the Newcomers. Eye witness conclusions are that he became disorientated. This corroborates another account I heard that he did not shut off for the corner. Today's report was that he heard 2 bikes approach, his and Hamiltons. Then he heard his bike sounding normal with downshifts but Hamiltons engine note screamed up and down and he knew straightaway that it was not right. Upon viewing the scene and talking to others it appears that Hamilton realised his mistake, sat up and braked but all too late. Skid marks from tyres were narrow denoting upright braking. The art of the bend is to miss the 1st apex and make the 2nd which never happened.
Also this years Karl Harris TT disaster. Harris had a poor practice at 109 mph. This started him in the 90s amongst slower opposition. He had made up 20 places at 119 mph when he collided with a rider, who was possibly touring. The other rider was lucky to survive as he landed neck down on barbed wire fencing.
As my man said - this is a great sport but a cruel one.
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