The 2018 Isle of Man TT can only be described as sunkissed throughout. Two glorious weeks of wall to wall, practically uninterupted sunshine!
Now there is a secret to being on the Isle of f Man in such weather, you simply start off by going to Conor Cummings Coffee Shop called Conrods, located in Ramsey.
And when there get yourself a milkshake!
The TT Festival finishes off just like it starts – with a series of races from the Billown Circuit in Castletown and just like the Pre-TT this event is unmissable.
It is a smaller event, in comparison, but a great way to get your final racing fix before ending your TT journey and sailing home, so if you can fit it in your itinerary – do so!
This year saw three hotly contested races, namely the 600cc machines in Race 1, the 250cc / 650cc Twins in Race 2 and 1100cc Machines in the final race. In the same vain as the past fortnight lap and race records fell with new lap records in every race and new over all race records in the 250cc / 650cc Race along with the superbike race!
2018 Blackford’s Pre-TT Classic Road Races Results 26/05/2018 – 27/05/2018 : https://tbni.blog/2018/06/02/2018-blackfords-pre-tt-classic-road-races-results-26-05-2018-27-05-2018/
27/05/2018 Blackford’s Pre-TT Classic Road Races, Billown Circuit, Castletown, Isle of Man – Gallery : https://tbni.blog/2018/06/08/27-05-2018-blackfords-pre-tt-classic-road-races-billown-circuit-castletown-isle-of-man-gallery/
Check out the Southern100 website for all the info, past results and details on all upcoming events right here : https://www.southern100.com
Check out the lap by lap breakdown for each competitor here : https://www.southern100.com/results/2018/posttt/18posttt1_laps.pdf
My trip over to this year’s (2018) Isle of Man TT Races got me there just in time for the final race session from the Billown Circuit, – the Pre-TT in Castletown. This session is generally held on the Monday at the start of practice week however this year it has been moved to the Sunday (one day before). This works well as it means you can sit relax and enjoy the racing without having to worry about getting to your chosen spot on the TT Circuit for the Monday night practice.
Also the Sunday night of practice week was traditionally a bit slack, with very little going on. That has now all changed as we now have racing all day and evening.
The Pre-TT runs in Castletown, Isle of Man on the Billown Circuit on the Friday, Saturday (1st Day of Practice) and Sunday. This year that was 25th – 27th May but to be sure you keep up to date subscribe to the TBNI.Blog Road Racing Calendar – it automatically updates so you will never miss another meeting! https://tbni.blog/road-racing-calendar/
The official website of the Pre-TT Races can be found here : https://tbni.blog/road-racing-calendar/
The Southern 100 series markets itself as ‘the Friendly Races’ and ‘Road Racing’s Biggest Secret’ and that’s a pretty fair representation.
This muti bike start meeting covers classics, junior and senior as well as classic suberbikes and sidecars.
The crowds are not massive (they deserve to be) – the people are friendly the pits are wide open with the riders all working hard and happy to interact with the spectators.
If you like a grandstand there are a couple near to the start / finish line where seats start at the princely sum of £1.00!
Drinks, food, refreshments, souvenirs etc are all there and all reasonably priced – all in all this is a great meeting, very akin to any of the Irish / Northern Irish National meetings and although the crowds weren’t huge it has a very loyal following with plenty of visitors coming from the Emerald Isle (and all over) purely for this meeting and the heading home before the TT proper even gets underway. That in itself is a fine testament to this meeting and it really should make it onto everyone’s to do list.
Check out the results of the 2018 Blackford’s Pre-TT Classic Road Races here :
For the full results of Saturday’s racing (19/05/2018) click here : https://tbni.blog/2018/05/20/2018-vauxhall-international-race-day-results-timings-saturday-19th-may-2018/
After a glorious and incident free Thursday night Saturday Race Day had a lot to live up to!
It did live up to it and then some!
With a reported 120,000 visitors to Northern Ireland’s North Coast the sun came, it was scorching – the crowds came – they were loving it – and the racing came – with the world’s best road racers putting on a show the like the North West hadn’t seen for years.
It was a true spectacle, road racing at its finest and – incident free. Only one red flag, new comer Nadieh Schoots came off at University and thankfully only suffered a badly bruised leg.
This was exactly what the NW200 needed after a few less that perfect years and was a real testament to everyone involved coupled with a little luck (weather) – but we all need a little luck sometimes!
For the full results of Thursday’s racing (17/05/2018) click here : https://tbni.blog/2018/05/18/2018-vauxhall-international-north-west-thursday-race-night-results-timings-thursday-17th-may-2018/
Check out my full gallery of all the action from Thursday (17/05/2018) evening’s racing here : https://tbni.blog/2018/06/03/2018-vauxhall-international-north-west-thursday-race-night-gallery-thursday-17th-may-2018/
(For info these photos were taken on the Coast Road between Portrush and Portstewart – just up from Tides Restaurant on the opposite side of the road).
Enjoy…
As always please feel free to use my photographs for your own personal use, if you want to use any of them commercially then please contact me here : https://tbni.blog/reviews-and-contact-info/.
Remember use them, don’t steal them!
Here are the full results from the 2018 Blackford’s Pre-TT Classic Road Races. Run at the Billown circuit just outside of Castletown the Pre-TT Races are an amazing way to start your TT experience. It is obviously a much smaller event than the full on TT, however it is an excellent couple of days racing. This year race day was moved from Monday to Sunday and personally I think this worked really well, giving visitors some great racing on the Sunday, which was normally an empty day. Classics, superbikes and sidecars this event has it all, and deserves more visitors – so if you are over make sure to check it out and show your support.
UPDATE : 09/06/2018 (Post TT-Races Results Link Added) :
Check out the Southern100 website for all the info, past results and details on all upcoming events right here : https://www.southern100.com
Check out the 27/05/2018 Blackford’s Pre-TT Classic Road Races, Billown Circuit, Castletown, Isle of Man – Gallery : https://tbni.blog/2018/06/08/27-05-2018-blackfords-pre-tt-classic-road-races-billown-circuit-castletown-isle-of-man-gallery/
Check out the results of the 2018 Radcliffe Butchers Post-TT Road Races Results – 09/06/2018 : https://tbni.blog/2018/06/10/2018-radcliffe-butchers-post-tt-road-races-results-09-06-2018/
Here are all the times, all the splits, all the categories and all the results from the 2018 Around A Pound Tandragee 100 Race Day.
A full gallery of images from the day’s action is still to follow, but honestly it was a glorious day with what can only be described as an epic Tandragee 100 Feature Race. I won’t spoil the result – just keep scrolling to see it, but know this, we got a new lap record from the winner at 2:55:11s!
East Coast Motorcycling Club have released the prize fund details for the 2017 East Coast Racing Festival for each of the races.
After a fortnight of exquisite racing the 2017 Isle of Man Festival of Motorcycling comes to an end.
Congratulations go to Michael Evans on his Senior Manx Grand Prix win and of course doubling it up with his Junior win! The first rider since 2011 to pull off the double win.
Add this double to his lap record of 122.866 mph and he has had one hell of a fortnight.
Second place in the Senior went to Barry Evans with Dean Osbourne taking third.
See below for official race timings and speeds
The start list for the Senior Manx Grand Prix has now been published, along with the final qualifying lap times.
In an interesting innovation the full grid will line up in qualifying lap order for the blue riband event, including the top twenty.
Friday 1st September – Senior Manx Grand Prix Race Day
Roads Close at 0930 until no later than 1700 and, if required, 1800 to 2100.
1015: Senior Manx Grand Prix Race (4 laps)
1225: Roads scheduled to open
Congratulations to Darren Cooper on his Manx GP win in the 2017 Lightweight Race. Second place went to Andy Farrell with Barry Evans taking the third spot on the rostrum.
See below for official race timings and speeds.