It's that time of year again!!!!!

Can you smell the race gas in the wind? The 2010 IOMTT is upon us and you're probably wondering where the heck Jimmy is. Well, he's already at the IOM! Jimmy touched down yesterday, capping an epic journey that took him from the WERA Endurance Round at Miller Motorsports Park all the way across the big, blue pond to his beloved isle.

For this year's event, Jimmy has teamed up with Brandon Cretu, another American Roadracer who made his "real" roadracing debut at the Ulster GP last year. They have pooled their collective resources and formed Prestige Worldwide Racing.

So where can you follow the action of PWR? Easy! Just check them out here on the interwebz at:

http://www.prestigeworldwideracing.net/

You can also follow the boys on their respective Twitter pages:
JimmyV - http://twitter.com/jimmyv138
BrandonC - http://twitter.com/BrandonCretu

Good luck boys!!! Do us proud over there!

-Stillie

JimmyV is home

Just wanted everyone to know that a jet-lagged yet extremely happy Jimmy V returned home safely yesterday as of 3:10pm EST. I'm sure we'll take a moment and reflect on what has been accomplished here in the future but for now we'll just be happy to have Jimmy back in one piece.

The usual suspects from Ashburn gathered yesterday for a welcome home dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse yet no one thought to take a picture of the affair. You'd think it would have been a no brainer, especially with 5 iPhones and one Blackberry present.

At some point I will put together a long post thanking people who helped me make the trip possible for Jimmy along with a total of all the donations we received a long the way. I'm sure Jimmy will put something up here as well for friends, family, and fans. I also think a proper welcome home BBQ is in order but that will have to wait for now. Virginia International Raceway is calling and we're accepting the charges. :-)

Superstock TT Is In The Books

I competed in the 4 lap Superstock race yesterday, and it went a bit better than the 6 lap Superbike race on monday. It started out well, with my opening lap being my fastest lap yet at 114.2 mph. From there I just wanted to take things easy and bring it home in one piece, and we did just that. My average race speed including pit stops was 110 mph, which is not too bad for a newcomer. I came across a few crashes while I was out there. There was a newcomer from Japan competing this year, and he had been doing pretty well up until this race. I came across his bike laying in the road right after the "black hut" turn. The bike was pretty beat up, but fortunately the rider was ok. I think he ended up with a few broken bones, but no major injuries. 

I do want to make sure that I'm very clear when I say "These people are flippin CRAZY!!!!". That goes for the majority of the people competing in this event, as well as spectating. Here's an example... My teammate, Craig Atkinson, ran into a slight problem 4 laps into the 6 lap Superbike race... His front tire went flat. Not completely flat, but less than 10 psi flat. He finished the last 2 laps (75.5 miles) on a FLAT TIRE!!!!!!! He said he knew there was a problem when he had to keep the bike from crashing in the slow corners by putting his foot down, but it seemed ok through the fast corners. Now what I really want to know is, if the bike barely makes it through the slow corners, what makes you think it's going to be ok to take through the fast corners? Hence the saying, "these people are flippin CRAZY!!!". 

So I have one race left, and it's 6 laps long (226 miles). I have been thinking about it for a few days now,  and I don't feel that I have enough in me to safely do 6 laps at a competitive pace. There's a pretty good chance that I'm going to sit out this last race, just simply for the fact that I don't want to make a half ass effort, and I've reached my goals for this year. I've accomplished what I came here to do, which is to proper qualify, and get some finishing medals. I'm pretty happy with things at the moment, and am looking forward to achieving more next year.

So, it looks like my racing is about done for the week, but I still have a few days on the island. I'll continue to update this blog till I get back to the US. 

Cheers!

TT Superstock and some Discovery Channel stuff

Jimmy completed the 4 lap TT Superstock event yesterday and finished 51st. Unfortunately I have no other details as I haven't talked to him or anyone else who is visiting the Isle. I just happened to catch the event on the TT Live Timing site and know that both he and Critter finished the race.

Now some TV stuff for the US visitors. According to Critter's post on the WERA forum, Discovery HD will be airing segments on the 2009 TT starting in July. Much of the footage was shot in HD and should be spectacular. There will be special on-board stuff along with segments dedicated to the American riders.

Here's a schedule but be sure to check your local listings.
7/6/2009 TT Preview
7/13/200 Superbike race
7/20/2009 Sidecar race 1
7/27/2009 Superstock race 1
8/3/2009 600 race 1
8/10/2009 600 race 2
8/17/2009 Side car 28/24/2009 senior TT
8/31/2009 2009 Highlights

Wow That Was A Long Race...

So I finished my first official TT today. 6 laps of madness is what that was. I started out running a very relaxed  pace so that I would be able to make it all 6 laps. Well, that pace got even more relaxed on the last 2 laps.  My goal for today was just to finish, and that's what we did. When I set out today, I could honestly care less if I got dead last, so long as I was able to ride the bike across the line. I was mentally drained after the first 4 laps, and I started making some silly mistakes. This is not a place that you can afford to make any mistakes, no matter how small. I was fortunate enough to keep thing together till the end, and after seeing the amount of people that retired during the race, I was pretty happy about bringing it home. 

 I hope to try for a decent result in tomorrow's Superstock race, but the bottom line is I just want to make it home in one piece. I honestly think that I can safely up the pace a bit for tomorrow's race, but we'll just have to see how things go. They will be starting the race tomorrow evening at 6:30, so the sun will definitely be a factor. The first couple of laps should be fine, but when the sun starts to come down during the last 2 laps things will get a bit more difficult. There are a few turns that will be almost impossible to see due to the sun, so we'll just have to take things pretty easy through them. 

Well... In the words of my new Protégé... That's all I got to say about that.

Cheers! 

TT Superbike is in the books

Jimmy has finished the rain-delayed TT Superbike race in one piece. Unfortunately I was slacking and not watching the live timing so I don't have lap times or the final results. But I do know he finished the race and is concentrating on the Superstock race tomorrow.

I'll update this post as more info becomes available.

-Stillie

Rain, rain...Go away....

I haven't heard from Jimmy this morning so I'll assume that the internet is still down. Jimmy was scheduled to run the TT Superbike race today at noon but inclement weather has postponed all racing on the Isle until next week. There was hope that they would be able to kick things off tomorrow but unfortunately high winds and heavy rains are on the forecast for Sunday as well.

Here's a link to the story straight from the IOM site.

Click for story

I'll try to keep everyone posted about the racing action as it unfolds since I have a TTLive account. You will most likely be able to get updates from the TT Forum if that silly thing called "work" interferes with my racing updates.

-Stillie