I was first and third, only to be brought back down to earth in the wet at the end of the year when I could only manage 14th and 5th. So now I was due for another high, and it was probably one of the highest points in my whole career when I won both races there in 1995.
The races at Donington in 1996 on the Honda were crap, as they were practically for the whole of the year; with all the fans’ expectations weighing heavily on me, I could only finish ninth and seventh. Things picked up in 1997 when I won my first race back on a Ducati and then my results were bad again the following year. So it was only right that it all ended on an upbeat note when I won in 1999. It was so weird how the results always managed to fit perfectly into that sequence.
This is how, without fate playing a part, I would try to ride the perfect lap there. I’m in fourth gear through the start–finish; I always tried to set the gearing up so that I didn’t have to change up to fifth on that straight, because I didn’t want to have to change down three gears into second for Redgate. This is a good place to pass by going up the inside of another rider and spoiling his line. There are a few different lines into the corner and riders tend to peel in from different angles.
Then it’s hard on the gas as the track drops down through Hollywood and through the Craner Curves section before you hit a heart-stopping downhill left, the fastest corner on the circuit, in fourth gear. It’s a classic spot where people are often caught out. It’s often cold at Donington for a start. That’s normally good news because otherwise the track is hard on the tyres and they can easily overheat, but for the first few laps the tyres aren’t working properly on the left-hand side when you flick it over into that fast bend. In fact, on a 125cc bike you’re flat out all the way through and it’s not much of a corner. I’ve crashed there flat out in fourth gear and I don’t recommended it.
When I crashed there in 1993 I was leading the race – another fall which probably cost me that year’s title. This was a case of the tyres not warming up properly by the third lap. When I threw it to the left, the rear came round on me, so down I went. It flicked me off so quickly that the bike carried on in a straight line. When I stopped sliding, I started to run after the bike but when I got there it was mangled and covered in mud. Having said all that, I’m usually one of the quickest through that section and I’m usually in a position to get up the inside of riders going into the Old Hairpin.
This is a right-hand third-gear corner which is downhill until the apex, when you start to go uphill again and change to fourth. If the bike’s set-up was good I would try and keep it in fourth gear under Starkey’s Bridge, which is a flat-out left-hander for which I might roll the throttle slightly before getting straight back on the gas again. I might just touch the limiter for fourth gear through the long, sweeping Schwantz Curve and into McLeans. It was touch and go whether to change up to fifth, but I always tried to leave it in fourth all the way round Schwantz. My line into McLeans, a second-gear right-hander where the front end is often upset by a few bumps, might be a little bit tighter than the others, as I like to get in early and use the whole of the road on the exit to the corner. Then it’s hard on the gas uphill to Coppice Corner, which is a blind corner on the brow of the hill.
I change up to third well before Coppice and leave it in that gear for the corner. I know a lot of other riders didn’t do that, instead changing up to third halfway round, but I like to keep it smooth. It might mean it’s a bit long through the corner, but by the time I pull out onto the straight I am at maximum revs, right up someone’s backside and can pass them without much of a problem.
Accelerating hard out of the Melbourne Loop at Donington, with so much power that it’s hard to keep the front wheel down during my 40th WSB win – the first back on a Ducati in 1997.
There is a bit of a leap along Starkeys Straight, just as you reach top speed under the bridge before the track drops away. Then it’s back on the brakes as I shift down from fifth to first for the best corner on the track – Fogarty’s! I opened that section in 1999 but I wish it had been called Foggy’s. This was another place where I could pass people, and I was always pretty good on the brakes here. It’s hard to keep the bike stable going into Fogarty’s as the downward slope means that the back end is up in the air. So, again, I leave a small gap between third and second so that it’s not too much all in one go. It’s a pretty straightforward chicane, but you have to be careful not to go too silly on the exit as it’s slightly uphill again, and as you change up to second gear it’s quite hard to keep the front wheel down. You would often see me clambering over the front of the bike to keep the weight forward.
Then it’s up into third and I just touch fourth before going over the hill and dropping down to the Melbourne Hairpin on the brakes. It’s easy to spot the rear end of the bike sliding around here when a rider is changing down to first. Obviously I always tried to keep it stable but it was very difficult, and even my rear would sometimes slide at that point. The track again slopes uphill into another first-gear hairpin, Goddards, another point where you can try to pass up the inside if you’ve got a good drive coming out of Melbourne. My line tended to differ here: I preferred to keep the bike tucked in whereas others peeled in from the outside or the middle of the road. It is without doubt my least favourite corner on the track because it’s a bit bumpy and off-camber. A lot of people have high-sided there and I often struggled to get on the gas and usually lost a bit of drive down the finishing straight.
Worst Crash: When I came out of the Craner Curves, leading the second race in 1993. It was fast but I wasn’t hurt. Best Moment: Winning both races in 1995. Closest Finish: Russel beat me by 0.6s over aggregate times in 1993 when the race was stopped. I thought I had won because I was 1.0s clear going into the second part of the race. Best Rider: Me! Apart from me, Scott Russell always seemed to go well and was very good in the wet in 1994. Corser also does well here. Worst Moment: Hitting Kocinski’s coolant in the British GP when I was up there with the best 500cc riders.
The last thing you want to do, having just stepped off the overnight ferry from Heysham to Douglas on the Isle of Man without having had a wink of sleep, is to throw a bike around one of the most dangerous circuits in the world. But that is the kind of thing you have to put your mind and body through if you want to give yourself the best possible chance of finishing the TT course in one piece.
It was 1985 and I had already been to the Isle of Man the week before the Manx Grand Prix – the first time I raced on the island – just to drive round the course in the car. Then we returned to the mainland and raced at Mallory Park, where I finished 11th in an ACU race. We probably arrived in the Isle of Man at around 4am, absolutely knackered after a three-hour drive from Leicestershire and a four-hour ferry journey. But I had to make the most of the time available by doing that extra couple of laps early on the Monday, when the roads were closed to the public.
The fact that I was the favourite to win the newcomers’ race made my preparation even more important. After an hour and a half I was dead on my feet, and at 6.30 in the morning I went back to the hotel to try and grab a few hours’ sleep before more practice, even though I always found it difficult to get to sleep after riding early in the morning.
One of the main things to learn on a new circuit are the braking points for the corners. We had of course driven round the course in a car the previous week to get a feel for the track, but it’s a lot different when you put your helmet on, jump on a bike and produce some speed. It’s also a lot different when riding a road bike because
