(5).
This was my first win of many at this circuit. The race lasted around 30 laps and we had to come in for a pit-stop to re-fuel. This was nothing like Formula One car pit-stops but we did have a quick-filler, which could half-fill the tank in around 10 seconds. (One of my mates kept it as a souvenir) The race was during Grand Prix weekend, so there was a massive crowd at the circuit. I was riding an RC30, semi-supported by Honda UK, and sponsored by Appleby Glade. At the time Steve Hislop was leading the championship, having won in the Isle of Man after the opening round in Japan. The race was an absolute cruise after qualifying on pole.
The champagne must have been disgusting as we all spit it out after taking a swig.
This was a strange circuit, set in an industrial estate where nearly every corner was a right angle, although the Finnish crowds were really enthusiastic. The key to a good lap, and to staying on the bike, was dodging the manhole covers in the middle of the road. It was actually pretty safe, as the industrial units themselves were behind a kind of ditch, but you would never catch me going round there now! I was much quicker than the other guys, including a quick Finnish rider called Jari Suhonen, and easily qualified on pole. I was now leading the world championship and had only to turn up in Ulster and finish in the top six to clinch my second world title …
Getting down to business, exiting Quarter Bridge on the first lap.
This was my first major TT win and the first time that I had my hands on one of their massive trophies. When I won the production race in 1989, I had been gutted when the trophy I was presented with was much smaller. I also won the Senior race this year but it was the FI win which counted as a world title victory, albeit in the newly invented FIM World Cup. The series had lost world championship status due to a lack of the required minimum number of races. I was team-mate with Steve Hislop (who was tragically killed in a helicopter crash in 2003) for Honda Britain. He had been getting all the attention for his achievements the previous year, when he won three races at the TT, including reaching a new record average speed of 120mph. I had to make myself hate him so I could beat him, especially as I was worried by the muscle I had pulled in my arm during practice. Riders set off at 10-second intervals and I was 20 seconds behind Steve, which unnerved him. I had caught up with him by the second lap and, going into the tight right-hand Sulby Bridge corner, we both braked way too late. I managed to get round the corner but Steve ran straight on and retired on the next lap, claiming there was a problem with his brakes. Then all I had to do was cruise around for the next five laps.
Exiting Brabham Bridge corner, pulling the RC30 hard away from the kerb.
I am either squinting because the sun is in my eyes or because I am so fired up.
A tradition at the Isle of Man was to line the first three bikes up – myself, Nick Jeffries and Robert Dunlop.
Another lesson in how not to wear a winner’s cap
I can’t remember exactly what I said to Jamie out of the side of my mouth, probably something about a girl in the crowd, but he obviously found it funny! I have still got that set of leathers.
Jamie Whitham and I were invited out to the Macau Grand Prix, not part of the official GP world championship, to ride Yamahas. It was a two-legged race and I did all the hard work in the first leg. Jamie and local star Toshihiko Honma, who had both competed there before, were swapping the lead in the early stages while I sat behind collecting a set of dead flies on my visor. Once past those two, and after narrowly missing Jamie who had tried to out-brake me and had bounced back into the track after crashing into the straw bales, I had a clear run. The track was really bumpy and it was a dangerously tight street circuit, but I set the fastest lap of the race and built up something like an eight-second lead from that first leg. In the second leg the bike cut out whenever we were on a section of the track coming back down to sea level, so it must have been running rich. We all came to the finish together and, although I had finished third in that leg, I was comfortably overall winner. So technically that makes me the only rider to win a World Superbike race, a Formula One TT, a World Endurance race and a GP!
This is late on in the race, when we were leading. I had changed leathers to let my Kawasaki set dry out. The bike was always bottoming out, as can be seen from the scratches on the fairing.
This was my first 24-hour race so I was a bit wet behind the ears. My team-mates were Terry Rymer and a Belgian, Michel Simeon. My first mistake was forgetting to hit the start button after sprinting across the track for the start, so I was left for dead. But I managed to claw my way back to second, behind the other Kawasaki France team of Alex Vieira in the first 50-minute session. The next mistake was tucking into the hospitality food during my breaks, so I felt sick throughout the race. And the third error was to fall asleep, which left me feeling crap when a mechanic woke me up with the warning that it would be my turn in 10 laps. I have a lazy eye at the best of times but, just waking up, it was even worse and I nearly fell off twice in the first couple of laps.
The other Kawasaki team had snapped a cam-chain and broken down and our bosses were worried
