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2020 Isle of Man TT Prize Breakdown : Race Winners’ Payout

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2020 Isle of Man TT Winners’ Payouts
2020 Isle of Man TT Winners’ Payouts

It’s 2020 and we are now in almost into the preseason. Chat and rumours are flying about who is moving where? Who is staying put? And who do we still not have a clue about? Then there is the reason you are here – what is the 2020 Isle of Man TT Prize Breakdown?

If you need to catch up have a read at the TBNI 2020 Road Racing Pre-Season Rumour Mill post here : http://tbni.blog/2020/01/01/2020-road-racing-pre-season-rumour-mill/ and then make sure to stay up to date with happenings moving forwards by following the TBNI Social Media Accounts and of course this website!

One of the most read posts annually since 2017 on this site is the Winners’ Payout Details (with over 45k unique hits at the time of writing) and since 2017 I have updated annually it with the latest information from the current Regulations Booklet. You can read the entire 2020 book here : (may not be available after 2020) :

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/iom-tt-races/tt_regulations_2020_v1-2.pdf

But if you are just here to see the 2020 Isle of Man TT Prize Breakdown and how much the competitors stand to win in each class then please read on.

Read more2020 Isle of Man TT Prize Breakdown : Race Winners’ Payout

Paulo Gonçalves : 12/01/2020 : Statement from the Dakar

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January 12 th 2020 – 10:36 [GMT + 3]

Paulo Gonçalves 2020
Paulo Gonçalves 2020

Paulo Gonçalves, racing on motorbike no. 8, has passed away from a fall sustained 276 kilometres into today’s special. The organisers received an alert at 10:08 and dispatched a medical helicopter that reached the biker at 10:16 and found him unconscious after going into cardiac arrest. Following resuscitation efforts in situ, the competitor was taken by helicopter to Layla Hospital, where he was sadly pronounced dead.


40-year-old Paulo Gonçalves was taking part in his 13th Dakar. He made his debut in 2006 and had finished four times in the top 10, including an impressive performance as runner-up to Marc Coma in 2015. Paulo Gonçalves, the 2013 cross-country rallies world champion, was sitting in 46th place overall after stage 6 of the 2020 Dakar.


The entire Dakar caravan would like to extend its sincere condolences to his friends and family.

Read morePaulo Gonçalves : 12/01/2020 : Statement from the Dakar

2020 Road Racing Pre-Season Rumour Mill

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Welcome to 2020 and the countdown to the start of the 2020 Road Racing Season. The winter break is now half over so I thought I would put together a quick post of some of the rumours (and facts) that have surfaced over the last couple of months.

If the news and gossip continues to come in at a similar I will need to do another one of these before April because there is a lot of interesting news to get through, unfortunately once you get past the positive and exciting stuff there is some really devastating news out there too, but more on that in a minute.

Happy New Year 2020 : May it be a great one for you all, and all of yours!

Happy New Year 2020

Read more2020 Road Racing Pre-Season Rumour Mill

NORAD Tracks Santa – Follow the big lad as the presents get delivered!

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NORAD Tracks Santa
NORAD Tracks Santa

As soon as Christmas Eve kicks off (in Samoa and Christmas Island) Santa gets busy to get all the presents delivered to all the people of the world.

If you are lucky the Santa might be brining you a new bike, bike parts or if not it may be a bag of coal for you!

Whatever you hope for and where ever you are I wish you a very Merry Christmas and I hope Santa is good to you.

To make things easy for you I have spoken to NORAD and Santa and TBNI / T80GSA will be live streaming Santa and his trip around the globe. So if you need to know where he is, maybe to get the kids off to sleep, or maybe to get your overly excitable other half to bed we’ll be right here keeping you all up to date from the early hours of Christmas Eve.

Happy a good one! Merry Christmas!

Motorcycle Live 2019 : Gallery

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Motorcycle Live 2019
Motorcycle Live 2019

Motorcycle Live returns to the NEC, Birmingham in 2019 from 16th – 24th November 2019, so at the time of writing you still have time to visit the show and I can easily recommend that you do visit the show.

Official Motorcycle Live Website

I have reviewed the Motorcycle Live Exhibition a number of times of already – so have a look at them if you are undecided on your attendance. In summary though I have been going since 2014 and that trip requires getting up before 3am to make my flight and not getting home to around 11pm. That should be enough to make anyone think it is worth checking out – but let’s put it simply – it is a day walking about looking at bikes, talking about bikes, spending money on bikes or at least thinking about how you would spend money on bikes – how else would you rather spend a cold, damp November’s day?

Just for reference in case anyone – cough BMW Motorrad cough – is feeling generous this is now top of my wish list…

BMW R Nine T GS Urban 'Option 719'
BMW R Nine T GS Urban ‘Option 719’

Previous MotorcycleLive Resources :

Motorcycle Live 2014 : Includes the first pics of the new Africa Twin – that was exciting and a dyne testing of the Kawasaki H2

Motorcycle Live 2015 : A gallery

Motorcycle Live 2017 : MCL in a Day – from Northern Ireland : A detailed review on the event as a traveller – getting flights, getting fed, getting round the show and getting back to Northern Ireland all for about £50 – and this is still the method I use.

Motorcycle Live 2018 : A detailed review on the event with some highlights picked out – from Best Display – to Most Wanted – to Bike that Got Me Thinking.

Back to Motorcycle Live 2019 :

At the bottom of this post you will find my full Motorcycle Live 2019 Gallery, but it is worth checking out my Instagram for a regular boost of Motorcycles | Technology | Photography – I would really appreciate the follow.

TBNI.Blog Instagram
TBNI.Blog Instagram

A few other bikes really caught my attention – this Suzuki DR800S has 5 miles on the clock!

Suzuki DR800S
Suzuki DR800S

Read moreMotorcycle Live 2019 : Gallery

Apple TV+ 1 Year Free Trial Not Showing Up?

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Apple TV+ launched on 1st November 2019, and if you purchased an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod Touch or Mac (iMac, MacBook Air / Pro, iMac etc) after 10th September 2019 then you will be eligible for an Apple TV+ 1 Year Free Trial!

NOTE : You only have a limited time to take up this offer. I believe that limited time is 3 months so do not hang about too long.

However some users are reporting that when they go into their Apple TV app on their device it seems to only be offering 7 days of a trial – then the billing starts at £4.99 / month.

There is a very easy work around for this issue (I was one such user who experienced this).

Apple TV+ 1 Year Free
Apple TV+ 1 Year Free

Read moreApple TV+ 1 Year Free Trial Not Showing Up?

2020 Isle of Man TT Schedule

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The 2020 Isle of Man TT Schedule has been released and we have all the important dates and times to help you plan your trip, or if you can’t make it to the island at least you will know what time to tune into Manx Radio to ensure you don’t miss a thing.

Peter Hickman at the Isle of Man TT Races
Peter Hickman at the Isle of Man TT Races

Two things of note though.  The first may actually benefit you if you are heading over for practice week from Dublin – the first scheduled practices are now on the Sunday of Practice week. Traditionally the first day of practice was Saturday, however the first 2020  session will now be on Sunday 31st May afternoon – so if you are on that Dublin sailing think sharp – get off the boat and you will hopefully catch some Sunday qualifying.

Secondly – and sadly – there will be no TT Zero qualifying or racing in 2020 and 2021.  The class has been dropped for two years, allegedly to ‘allow development’.  TT Zero has been running for a decade and the electric machines from Mugen are responsible for a 121.824mph lap.  I get that the entry is low and also that the Mugen will win, but still, TT Zero showed innovation and look at that lap time!  I fully understand that many argue passionately that a TT Zero win shouldn’t really be counted as a TT win.  I am all for opinions, but that opinion is one I’ll just have to disagree with. It may ‘only‘ be 1 lap – but that one lap is potentially 120+mph and considering the lap size of 37 miles then it really isn’t to be sniffed at.  That one lap is still more than most full length Irish and Northern Irish National races.  Hopefully come 2022 more teams will be in the field, on the track and ready to race!

Finally – this schedule is subject to change and given the weather we have had over the last couple of years this schedule will change.  At the time make sure to follow : 

And of course don’t forget the TBNI Road Racing Calendar – that will keep you up to date with all the Irish / Northern Ireland and Manx Road Racing Schedules.
 

Read more2020 Isle of Man TT Schedule

STATEMENT ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE MANX MOTOR CYCLE CLUB : Chris Swallow

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The Manx Motor Cycle Club regrets to confirm that Chris Swallow, 37, from Wellington, New Zealand died today (24th August 2019) following an accident during the Classic TT Races on the Isle of Man. The incident occurred at Ballaugh Bridge during the Senior Classic TT Race.

Chris was an experienced competitor. He made his debut in the 2007 Manx Grand Prix and was a regular competitor in the Classic TT Races. He achieved two runner-up places in the 2012 Classic Manx Grand Prix – the 350cc and 500cc Races – and was fourth in last year’s Senior Classic TT Race.

The Manx Motor Cycle Club wishes to pass on their deepest sympathy to Chris’s family including his father Bill and his wife Jen and children.

Chris Swallow 2019
Chris Swallow 2019
Chris Swallow 2019
Chris Swallow 2019

2019 Ulster Grand Prix Results : UPDATED

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Let’s cut to the chase here – thanks to Peter Hickman – the Ulster Grand Prix is once again the Fasted Road Race in the World!  Well done Peter Hickman and your amazing 136.415 mph lap!

2019 Ulster Grand Prix : The World's Fastest Road Race
2019 Ulster Grand Prix : The World’s Fastest Road Race : Credit @ulstergrandprix Twitter

Thursday 8th August 2019 : Thursday Evening Race Session :

CIRCLE K AIRPORT ROAD SERVICE STATION SUPERBIKE RACE (1)

CIRCLE K AIRPORT ROAD SERVICE STATION SUPERBIKE RACE (1)
CIRCLE K AIRPORT ROAD SERVICE STATION SUPERBIKE RACE (1)
BELFAST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LIGHTWEIGHT RACE 4 LAPS
BELFAST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LIGHTWEIGHT RACE 4 LAPS
DGH RECOVERY SERVICES ULTRA LIGHTWEIGHT RACE
DGH RECOVERY SERVICES ULTRA LIGHTWEIGHT RACE

SHOEI HELMETS SUPERSPORT RACE

SHOEI HELMETS SUPERSPORT RACE
SHOEI HELMETS SUPERSPORT RACE
CASTLE MALL SUPERTWINS RACE
CASTLE MALL SUPERTWINS RACE

After a pretty grim Wednesday Practice Session that was effectively ruined by rain it was over to Thursday and the promise of a much more road racing friendly wether forecast.  

The promise was fulfilled and the Dundrod skies were bright, maybe a little cloudy at times, but generally blessed with plenty of sunshine.  All of which raised the expectations and crowd numbers for the Thursday evening race session.

In previous years the Superbike Race (1) was the last event on the Thursday but due to the fact that in recent years the race did not get run the organisers made what, I believe to be, a great decision and moved it up to the first race of the session.

There was also a ‘little‘ bit of pressure on this race; looking forward to Saturday the weather forecast was / is not looking positive.  That meant that if the Ulster Grand Prix was to take back its former crown and title of being the ‘World’s Fastest Road Race’ then the only real likelihood of this happening in 2019 was in Superbike Race 1.

Read more2019 Ulster Grand Prix Results : UPDATED