Road Races
Our 2015 Road Racing Season: Faugheen 50
The weekend of the 15th of August we were going to the last race of our road racing season. There was another one in Killalane (north of Dublin) in September but we had a wedding in Asturias…
So on Friday we left at about 5.30pm to county Tipperary, at about 1h30 from home, the closest road race of the season. We stayed in a B&B at some 12km from the circuit. As I thought that Juan would go out of work late I had prepared sandwiches. But we arrived at 7.00pm, so after a tea/coffee in the B&B we went out to look for a place to eat our sandwiches.
We were at about 30km from Kilkenny, we thought of going there first, but we finally turned at some cross road before, stopped in a village to buy some drinks and went on. At the end of the village, three Asian people were hitchhiking. We stopped to ask where they were going to and they said “at 5 minutes” drive, so there we went. They were from South Korea, volunteering in the village (I think with elderly people but I’m not quite sure about it). After a while we left them at their accommodation. One of the girls told us that we could go to “Kells”, so when we saw the signs indicating Kells, we followed them and we arrived to a place with a carpark, some picnic tables and a view to a rampart and towers of what used to be a priory. We ate our sandwiches with the last sun rays and then we went for a walk around the ruins.
Then we went back to the B&B to rest.
In the morning we left after a good Irish Breakfast, we stopped in Carrick-on-Suir to buy some water and went to Faugheen village.
We parked in the first carpark we found and asked for the shortest way to walk to the paddock. The circuit is kind of a triangle and the paddock was right on the opposite side of where we parked, so about the same distance from one way or the other.
So we got to the paddock to see the bikes and the riders who had already arrived and we bought some essential stuffs for next year road races: a giant Suzuki umbrella and a hat each (Suzuki for me and Honda for Juan of course). I always wondered why we saw so many racers with hats (instead of baseball caps) on TV when they were interviewed. After a few races I understood, it’s just sooooo cold! So now we are prepared for next year 🙂 .
As we didn’t see any good place for photography on our way to the paddock, we went on around the circuit (2.2miles = 3.5km); and we stopped at the next corner “Creamery corner” and settled there. It was still early so that we had some rest in the sun.
At noon they closed the roads and started with the practice and qualifying sessions. They started with some laps for the “Newcomers”, the ones who never raced on that track so they can learn the track.
“Creamery corner” must be a difficult corner because many went straight (in all sessions). All practice sessions started with one or 2 laps leaded by a “Marshall” and with another Marshal and the doctor at the end of the group. Before every race the next day there were also 2 warm-up laps in the same conditions.
We spent all the practice sessions taking pictures…
Robert McCrum
Paul Jordan
Michal Dokoupil
William Dunlop
Derek Mc Gee
Paul O Rourke gives a lift to Derek McGee after his Kawa ER650 stopped after the first warmup lap during Supertwin practice
Seamus Elliott
Brian Coomey
Dario Cecconi
John O Donovan
Sean Leonard
Brian McCormack
John Walsh
Once the practice sessions finished they ran 2 races: Open 201-1010cc (non championship) and Support 401-750cc (non championship). The last one was stopped after an accident but the rider was back on track for racing the next day.
After a while without too much information they announced the classification, informed about the rider and opened the roads. We went back to the carpark and went to Carrick-on-Suir to have dinner and back to the B&B for resting.
The next morning we went back to Carrick-on-Suir to buy some things to prepare sandwiches as we had seen no fish&chips trucks around the circuits except in the paddock. The races had been about to be cancelled as 15 days before they had not enough racers registered to run the event. Fortunately after a call through social media and between riders they got more entries and some riders registered in more categories (for example William Dunlop brought his 125 with which he doesn’t usually race anymore. Though at last he couldn’t race with it for a mechanical problem).
We parked in the same carpark after going to the paddock to buy some tee-shirts for supporting the club.
And we went to the field on the left side of “Gubb Cross” corner, where they had settled 2 open trucks trailers to see the circuit over the hedges.
We got in one of the trailers where there was a good view to the circuit on the left and to the corner on the right, where we would witness many anthology braking, crazy overtaking and also some “too late” braking (with no dangerous consequences. Only one rider had the doctor stopping and he went back to the paddock as the doctor’s pillion lol).
Before the road closing we made friend with a man who arrived at the same time and with whom we chatted of many things while waiting. We used for the first time our umbrella with a short shower though we were quite well sheltered in the trailer. Then a couple arrived, who were friends of the man, and also very nice people and we spent a good day chatting and also laughing a lot because we never knew which race was on as the order was changed compared to the program and we were mistaken with the 2 races that had been ran the previous day, so it was a little confusing… Anyway, it was still very pleasant and exciting to spend the whole day watching the 11 races, with no incident and no rain.
There were two “breaks” with laps done by a rally car from the 70s spinning in each corner of the circuit.
The 600 race, the “Support 201-400cc Championship” and the final race were just heart-stopping, with crazy braking and overtaking at that corner (if you see the corner you won’t believe you can actually overtake there…).
Derek Sheils won the “Grand Final” (and one of the Superbike race) in spite of having missed the qualifying session on Saturday as he was racing at the Masters Series in Bishopcourt (Northern Ireland).
John Walsh
Once again we had a very nice day. On Sunday we took very few pics but we enjoyed the races at most.
After saying goodbye to our 3 new friends until next year, we went back home.
We saw fabulous racing, very well organised, there was no rain and no incident. But I used my hat for the first time and I didn’t take it out in all the day. One of our neighbours told me that he had been living in Ireland for 65 years and he was still not used to the weather… So I still have some margin to get used to it LOL.
We end up the 2015 Road Racing season on a very good note, long will be the wait until April 2016…
V’s
Road Races
Our 2015 Road Racing season: Armoy
At the end of July it was time for our “pilgrimage” to Armoy, the Road Race where we had been to during our honeymoon trip (report here). Armoy is in Northern Ireland, about 500km from where we live (on the opposite side of it. In Ireland if you do more tan 600km from South to North it’s because you ended up into the sea…lol).
We had taken some days off so that we could enjoy the event at its most.
We arrived on Thursday 23rd of July, in the afternoon. After a tea/coffee with scones with butter and jam shared with the B&B nice landlady and two other guests, we went to Armoy where we arrived just in time for the bike lap with classic bikes (and not so classic ones). We bought a good lot of merchandising (after 3 races this year we understood that it’s no use buying tee-shirts of the road races because YOU NEVER SEE THEM, it’s so cold that we always have one or two layers above them. So that I bought a hoodie… Next time I might buy a polar jacket ;D ), then we had some dinner and went to the paddock where there was the “Miss Armoy 2015” celebration. We wanted to see some people of the club organising who had been so friendly 2 years ago. And there they were. We had a good chat with them, they were happy to see us again (they thought we would never come back, they didn’t know us! Lol ).
Some riders were also attending the event, having a drink, as Michael Dunlop; while others were part of the election jury (Michal Dokoupil and Sam Dunlop). A nice and pleasant family atmosphere.
After the election we went back to the B&B and stayed a while chatting with 3 Scottish bikers, one race marshal (the woman who counts the laps and waves the chequered flag) and her daughter who were all staying there, and also the landlady.
Friday was Practice day. The organisers had advised us to go to “Lagge Jump” to take jumps pics. There you have to arrive early because there is few space for many photographers…
The bad thing is that there is no close place for eating and drinking, but as other times the Irish Breakfast lasted most of the day and we had some snacks and water. Next time we’ll come better prepared, we look like newcomers!
There we spent all day taking many pics of the jumps. The speed in that straight line (with jumps) is just amazing. I have no word to describe it. A guy, Mark, joined us, and we chatted for a good while. At one point he told me “I don’t know if you look scared or if you look Wow”, but I wouldn’t know either. I have no word. Those men (and a few women) are just impressive, to go at that speed on THOSE roads, which are so narrow, with bumps and whatever, and where any small mistake can have a high cost… Respect!
Traveling Marshal
Doctor Fred Mc Sorley
Michal Dokoupil & Conor Behan
Guy Martin, William Dunlop, Dean Harrison
Christian Elkin & Callum Laidlaw
Andy Farrell & Jeremy Mc Williams
Dean Harrison
Keith Amor
Guy Martin
Stephen Mc Knight & Andy Lawson
Ryan Farquhar
Michal Dokoupil
William Dunlop & Derek Mc Gee
Andy Farrell
Seamus Elliott
Derek Mc Gee
Davy Morgan
Stephen Casey & Brendan Merrigan 
Michael Dunlop
The evening ended with the first race, Supersport (600). It was an amazing one. William Dunlop won it, followed buy Guy Martin and Dean Harrison.
After the race we went back to the paddock to have dinner, and the fact is that Mark is a friend and in the team of Andy Farrell #96. He invited us to come to their camp place after dinner. So there we went although we don’t like to be like “groupies” (we are too old now lol)… We spent quite a good time with Andy and his team, all very nice people. He showed us his bikes (he participates with 1 Supertwin and one 600 with which he runs several races, but he had one broken bearing gear on the 600 and had no spare part, so next day he could only race with the Supertwin).
He showed us an onboard video of an Isle of Man lap (last year Manx GP), with the comments on each reference point for each corner and circuit element (Isle of Man circuit is 60km…). Amazing.
He also told us that he had no motorbike license because it was too dangerous to ride on open roads… 8O.
This reminded me of an interview of Mrs. Dunlop, widow of the late Robert and mother of 2 of the best racers now Michael and William, who was happy that they would “only” race on closed roads because it was too dangerous riding on open roads…
But they are riding at 300km/h on those narrow roads!!!
Well I suppose that these people can’t go slowly on a bike 😉 and that they don’t even know that we actually CAN go slowly on a bike, enjoying the views and those things that some weirdos are doing when we ride a bike LOL.
He told us that when he was riding his bike that fast is when he really felt alive.
This energy they feel I think that’s what they pass on to the public. Their adrenalin is transmittable like. We can see them happy, fully enjoying.
It’s a very dangerous sport but all are quite conscious of the risks and have them assumed.
Some spend some time with doubts about going on after an accident or the loss of a close friend, but most of them finally come back. After an accident most just want to recover as soon as possible to race again.
It looks like it’s stronger than reason, something deep inside, and addictive as a drug.
Well, the chat was very pleasant and interesting. Most of the racers (including the most famous) are quite accessible on those small races where they don’t have so much pressure from the teams and sponsors.
Andy Farrell is #5 in the Irish Championship in Supertwin, #12 in Supersport, #13 in Superbike.
The next day we woke up very (too) early to take our seat in Acheson’s Leap, as 2 years ago. We forgot that in Ireland people enjoy the Friday nights in the pubs and they don’t get up early. We could have saved hour and a half of waiting, with 2 showers…
When we arrived the catering trucks had not even arrived, we were the only ones with the organisers LOL.
At last the catering trucks arrived and Juan went for our breakfast…
There was no more rain in all the day, but we are not used to those temperatures. We were wearing a tee-shirt, a hoodie and a polar jacket, and when the sun was hiding behind a cloud we would lose 10 °C and we were freezing.
At last the roads closed and the day started with a very moving speech from Dr. Fred, who was working with Doc John who sadly passed away in July, followed by a minute of silence respected all around the circuit. A really moving moment.
Then the races started and didn’t stop until completing the 11 races of the day.
Amazing Derek Mc Gee
Andy Lawson, 24 year old and newcomer in Armoy and other road races this year, sadly passed away in an accident in Ulster GP on 8th of August. This sport can be so cruel sometimes. RIP.
William Dunlop
Dean Harrison
Ryan Farquhar
Michael Dunlop
Women Power 😉 : Veronika Hancocyova
Women Power 😉 : Yvonne Montgomery
Women Power 😉 : Sarah Boyes
Michal Dokoupil
Andy Farrell
Michael Dunlop, after winning the last race “Race of Legends”
My favourite races are the Supertwin ones, because the bikes are more even in preparation, there are usually many overtaking and they have such a beautiful sound 🙂 (and nothing to do with the fact that I own a SV650, mine doesn’t sound like that and is certainly not going that fast lol).
We saw many good races all day long. As usual Juan ended up chatting with our “wall neighbours”, which makes more pleasant the “time-outs”.
Unfortunately there were 2 incidents (and 6 red flags), with one helicopter evacuation. But both racers are back home one week later.
Once again we could enjoy a full day of great racing with a very good organisation.
At the end of the race we went to the paddock (already half empty) to say goodbye to the #96 team, and then we went to Ballycastle, a nice sea resort, to have some dinner as we had enough hamburgers for a while… at last we finally enjoyed the sunset in front of the sea, with 2 pizzas… LOL
We went back to the B&B and to bed after a short chat about the day with the 3 Scottish guys.
The next day we got up with no rush and left for home after a quiet breakfast and saying goodbye to our nice landlady.
Next race in 2 weeks… To be continued…
Road Races
Our 2015 Road Racing Season: Walderstown
On 12th of July we went to our second road race, also in Republic of Ireland. This was not quite planned and we could not go for Saturday practice. The race was in Walderstown, a small village close to Athlone and Mullingar, not too far from Kells race where we went in June.
As we arrived on the same day of the races, we had no time to go around the circuit and find the best place for pictures. In spite of waking up very early we arrived just before the roads closed, and very hungry, so we first went to the paddock…
This was the first race since Doctor John Hinds passed away. “Doc John” was a great doctor anaesthetist, who apart from his job, dedicated his free time to make road racing safer. Together with the medical team and another doctor in Ireland, he saved the lives of many riders.
He also shared his medical experience with other doctors around the world, to save more lives, not only in road racing.
Doc John sadly passed away in an accident while following a group of racers during practice in Skerries (close to Dublin) at the beginning of July.
So the racing day started with a lap in his memory and honour, leaded by the medical staff and marshals. A very nice and moving homage just a few days after the funeral. All my respect for all the people who spend their free time to make this dangerous sport as safe as possible.
After the honour lap and a minute of silence fairly respected all around the circuit, the races started.
We first were on the straight line just before the paddock, with the view on the previous corner and a good point to see many wheelies.
William Dunlop
Derek Sheils
Derek Mc Gee
Andy Farrell
We then moved to the previous corner for the next race. There was a good viewpoint for pictures from the outside part of the corner.
The day and the races went on without any incident. There was a short shower during the Classics race (poor lads), but we were in the paddock and got shelter under a big tree.
Then we moved down the straight line of the paddock. The next corner was probably the best of the circuit and was packed with people and there was not a free space to watch (though we know where to go next year). So we went back to the straight line. There we can see the pilots arrive fairly quickly, not too good for us to take pictures, but quite good to watch the races and see some nice overtaking.
We finished the day there. It seemed short to us in spite of the 10 races!
V’s
Road Races
Our 2015 road racing season: Kells
Our 2015 season started later than planned. We wanted to go to the Northwest200 in May but at that time Juan was out for work, and I just wished I could have gone as I was stuck at home in rainy Ireland while Juan wished the same but from some Californian beach 😀 .
In June at last we could go to our first road race of the season.
It was in Kells, in Republic of Ireland and it was practical because the race was on Sunday (and practice on Saturday) while all of Northern Ireland are on Saturdays (with practice on Fridays). This gave us time to arrive on Saturday, get to know the area and find the best place to watch the races.
Kells road races are run on a road that goes out of Crossakiel village and makes like a triangle.
We left home on Saturday morning at about 9.00am and after we got lost for a while (the GPS had not charged correctly during the night), we arrived to the hotel where we stayed at about 1.00pm. We had some lunch in the pub restaurant and after leaving our cases in the bedroom, we finally went to the circuit, at about 15km through very narrow and bumpy roads. We found the circuit, parked the bike and went to the first corner from the village. The road was already closed so we couldn’t ride around the circuit anymore.
We stayed in that corner and took pictures of the practice for classics, Supersport, Superbike, 125, Supertwins, etc…
Paul Jordan
Michal Dokoupil
William Dunlop
Juan had a long chat with another fan who told us where to go the next day to take nice pictures, and who also advised us that we had to go to Skerries and Killalane road races (North of Dublin) in July and September respectively.
After the practice we went back to the hotel, had dinner, and the hotel owner advised us to go to a castle 1km away. So there we went. The garden was just amazing, and the castle very nice. That’s funny that it looked much like a Playmobil castle, I don’t know if they got their inspiration from Irish castles…
The night was not so funny though as they started with a concert in the pub below the room at 11pm, just when we decided to sleep, and the music was quite loud and not as we like either… and we couldn’t rest until it stopped at last at 1.30am…
After a short resting night, we left early to have breakfast in Crossakiel (a full Irish Breakfast so that we get to the end of the races without eating) and get to the sighting place early. We left the bike (no organised car park for the bikes) and went to “Dromad Hire” corner, on the other side of the circuit. The bad thing was that there was no food/drink selling point in that field, it was on the next corner, and there was few time between the races to move. So we just stayed there, with our just eaten Irish breakfast, a bottle of water and some cereals bars for Juan…
The races went by, very exciting. We were taking turn to take pictures 😉 . We were very close to the riders, so much that at the beginning I was a little scared. Though we were on the inside part of the corner, so after a while I enjoyed it very much.
William Dunlop
Sam Wilson
Derek Mc Gee
Andy Farrell
Paul Jordan
There was an incident in one of the races that required the doctors, ambulance and then helicopter intervention. The rider, Ian Morrell was swiftly attended and is now safe and recovering from his injuries.
After the break (everything was very well organised, Cheers to all the organisers, marshals and Medical Team who saved his life in the first minutes), the race started again, followed by the rest of them Supertwin, Junior Support (one won by the Czech woman Veronika Hancocyová), Superstock, and Superbike (the “Grand Final”)… It finished at about 4pm.
Traveling Marshal
Traveling Doctor John – RIP
Stephen Morrison
John Ella
Craig Gibson
Sean O’Neil
Alan Bonner
Derek Mc Gee
Parade Lap
Barry Sheehan
Veronika Hancocyova
Paul Jordan
William Dunlop
Michal Dokoupil
Derek Mc Gee
Alan Bonner
Derek Mc Gee & Alan Bonner
After a full racing day, we went back to the village to have lunch/dinner, and then we went back to Cork, some 250km, this time through Dublin (with GPS functioning this time) and we got rain for about 150km… I think we broke a record of lasting rain (not of intensity though…).
At last we arrived home, wet, tired but happy, and with some 900 pics to sort out…
V’s
Road Races
My introduction to road racing
I had heard about the Isle of Man TT, read in forums some trip reports of bikers who went there (from the continent it’s like a dream trip to do at least once in a lifetime) and knew a group of forum members who had gone there together a few years before.
But I really discovered road races, and mainly that there were more than the IOM TT thanks to a book I offered to my husband some years ago, called “Between the Hedges” of Stephen Davison, I guess the most famous road racing photograph.
In this book we learnt more about Joey Dunlop, and while preparing our honeymoon trip to Ireland back in 2013, it helped us to decide where to go (that would coincide with our holiday dates) to see our first road race. We ended up in Armoy.
Armoy 2013
While looking for a road race for that trip, I found out that there were more races apart from the TT, and the 2 International “Northwest 200” and “Ulster GP” in Northern Ireland.
From April to September there are road races organised on the whole island (North & South). Most of them belong to 2 championships which are ran together in several races: the “Irish Road Racing Championship” and “Ulster Road Racing Championship”. Even though in road racing it is more important to win this or that more prestigious race than the final title at the end of the season. Most riders don’t race in all the races, they chose the ones they are more interested in (or their sponsors for the “big ones”), for their prestige, or they like more as circuits (the most renown pilots help a lot the clubs when they take part in small races because more people go).
From one year to another, some races disappear from the calendar (mainly for financial issues) and are organised again one or 2 years after when they are financially ok (it’s all about the organising club financial means).
The most prestigious road races that a Road Racer has to win are of course the Isle of Man TT, and the 2 “International” Ulster GP and Northwest 200”. Those 3 almost always get the best riders.
In summer 2014, our holidays’ dates coincided with the “Ulster GP” and it was to be our destination. But we couldn’t organise it with time and as when we get close to the date the prices are just getting crazy (mainly the ferry), we had to find a B plan. During that year I discovered through a Facebook page that there was also road racing on the continent. Those road races belong to a championship: the IRRC “International Road Racing Championship”. It’s mainly organised by Dutch, Belgian and German people and has 6 circuits to date: 2 in The Netherlands, 2 in Belgium, 1 in Germany and 1 in Czech Republic. In each circuit there are 2 Supersport and 2 Superbike rounds (apart from other categories that vary from one circuit to the other according to the club organising it, but they do not count for the championship). The results count for the championship and title is important. The circuits of this championship (except the Czech one) are more “clear” (of obstacles) than the Irish ones (which are mostly countryside roads, some quite narrow), with more fields than hedges on the sides, and less “urban” area.
Horiçe 2014
Some riders use the IRRC to get “prepared” to their objective: racing on the Isle of Man.
Apart from those races, there are some others:
-1 road circuit in England: in Scarborough, Yorkshire. The club organises 4 races during the year, the bigger being the “Gold Cup”. The club also organises other bike events such as hillclimbs and so.
And when the season is over in Europe, you can still go to:
-Macau GP in China: urban circuit. Many European racers go to race there.
-There is a Road Racing championship in New Zealand. The most famous race runs on Boxing Day each year, on “Cemetery Circuit” in Wanganui. Guy Martin went to race there those last two years.
I also looked for information on races in Estonia, as unfortunately Joey Dunlop passed away while racing there in 2000. It seems that there is also a championship between Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Here is a list (can be completed) of some books and DVDs on road racing:
Books:
-Between the Hedges – Stephen Davison
-The Road Racers – Stephen Davison
-Joey Dunlop King of the Roads – Stephen Davison
-Joey Dunlop His authorized biography – Mc Diarmid
-Guy Martin “My Autobiography”, “When you Dead, You Dead”, “Worms to Catch”
-That Near-Death Thing – Rick Boradbent
-Full Throttle: Liam Becket: sobre Robert Dunlop
-TT Talking: Charlie Lambert
-Hutchy Miracle Man: Ian Hutchinson
-Road Racer, it’s in my blood: Michael Dunlop
-Built for Speed: John Mc Guinness
-The Racer’s Edge: Dave Molyneux
DVD:
-The Road Racers + V Four Victory
-Closer to the Edge
-Road (on Dunlop family)
-Road Riders: series filmed in 2017 about road racers in Ireland.
You can also find the annual reviews for many road races, including the TT: http://www.dukevideo.com/
The bike class you can find for a road race (vary depending on the events):
Moto3 (125 GP)
250 GP
Supersport 400
Supertwin
Supersport (600cc)
Superbike (1000 prepared)
Superstock (1000 stock bikes)
Junior & Senior “Support” & “Open” ” (different cc)
Classics 250, 350, 500 up to 1000cc
Side-cars
The smaller road racing events usually take place during 2 days, 1 for practice and 1 for the races. Usually on Friday and Saturday for Northern Ireland and Saturday & Sunday for Republic of Ireland (except Skerries I think). You can then have one or 2 full days watching races (10 or more) with entry fee usually low (remember to buy the program and some merchandising, as the clubs can only organise the races if they have sufficient means to cover the costs, mainly the insurance, and many don’t receive external help). The 3 big events take place over one week (2 weeks for the TT).
Small circuits usually don’t have sidecars races.
TT pilots statistics:
http://www.iomtt.com/TT-Database/Competitor-Analysis.aspx
Printed specialised magazines:
-Road Racing Ireland: http://roadracingireland.com/dir/
-Emerald Road Racing: https://www.facebook.com/EmeraldRoadRacing/
Specialised websites and facebook groups:
http://roadracingnews.co.uk/: most complete website with news on road racing worldwhile
Irish Race photograpy: Facebook page with loads of photographs, team and racers information, etc.
Real Road Racing – Fan group
Irish National Road Races Live – follows in live the National races, publishing videos and results.
List of circuits there:
If you find some wrong or incomplete information, please let me know. I will be happy to correct and give good information to people who don’t know about it. Thanks!
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Road Races
European Holidays: Czech TT
This year we had 3 weeks for holidays. Because of the circumstances we were not able to organise anything in advance but we had an idea: to go to Czech Republic on 9-10 of August to see Horiçe Road Race, and maybe going on with Brno GP the following week-end, on my motorbike. This was the plan.
Finally, one week before, we were able to confirm what we would do and we booked a full week (Wednesday to Wednesday) in a hotel 15km from Horiçe. So that we had some time to know the place, the circuit, the practice and races schedule (not updated on the website in English and no clue of Czech…) and so before it started (Saturday and Sunday).
We started the journey on 5th of August, finally with the 2 motorbikes. As we almost don’t use them during the year, at least they can breathe one week per year…
The first day, through national roads, consisted of 400km of straight line, then some twisties, and then we entered in Germany. First night in Heidelberg, just for taking a break and have some rest. Nothing to declare apart that I realised that I couldn’t remember a word of German I had studied a long time ago, not even to say “I don’t speak German”…
In the morning we went on, this time by the motorway with 2 advantages: it is toll free and in some parts there is no speed limit. I don’t really like to speed, but it is really, really pleasant to ride without being all the time looking at the speedometer to make sure you don’t get caught by a radar (in France it is just awful). There were 3 lanes, and everybody respecting the speed of the other vehicles in their lanes. The left lane the quicker, with some vehicles going very fast, but if you happened to be passing a slower vehicle in this lane, the fast vehicle would just slow down and wait for you to finish overtaking. Respect. Nice. Very pleasant to ride this way.
I though put the SV to 170km/h… never put it that much before (maybe my husband did, but he didn’t tell me lol) with the topbox and sideboxes.
Finally, at our pace, we arrived to Czech Republic border where we stopped to buy the toll sticker for motorways. The good news was that the motorbikes don’t have to pay it. Free ride on all the country motorways 🙂 .
So we followed to Prague and then to Hradec Králové and then to the North to our hotel at about 15km from Horiçe. And about 60km from Poland. The GPS took us through the quickest way, but not the best roads! Though the important was to get there, without the GPS we would still be turning around…
The hotel was up a hill with a forest, with very nice views from the terrace, the best for the evening beer (good and very cheap) in the sunset.
The first days we had some rest and some small ride outs around with the bikes, and we went to see the circuit. The circuit is so great, with ups and downs, part of it in the village, another one in the middle of the forest, it’s addictive, even being slow! We first had one lap to check the places from where taking nice pictures, but then I forgot why we were turning around and it took a few laps before I remembered… 😉
On Friday, while walking around the village, we ended up talking to a man, who was called Georges, was English living in Germany, was 69 and had come with his Triumph to see the races. He had no place to stay and the tourist office had recommended the hotel where we stayed. As we had nothing else to do, we told him that we could go with him to the hotel as he had no GPS. We met him later on the terrace after his dinner and before ours and we were chatting until late.
Saturday was practice day. The races were organised by the village motorclub, and the SBK and SSP races were part of the IRRC, International Road Races Championship, organised and ran mainly by Dutch, Belgian and German (www.irrc.eu ) with 6 circuits on the continent. Most circuits are much like circuits (although on roads), wider than Irish road races circuits, except Horiçe circuit.
But there were more races, Classics (175, 250, 350, 500, 750 cm3) and side-cars.
Roads were closing at 8.00am, so we had to arrive early. We were a little exaggerated with the “early” thing as we arrived almost before the marshals where we had decided to settle for a start.
The good thing about this circuit is that you can move all around it from inside. And with many places to eat and drink all around.
Where we were in the morning, in “Na Dachovech” was a very good spot to take pictures, which was what we wanted (it’s better to take pictures during practice and then follow the races… because it’s difficult, for us at least, to do both at once, even more when you don’t know the racers and you can’t understand a word of the comments…).
Slanec Martin
Ronald Neef
Jiri Prucha
Antonin Plevak
Michal Dokoupil
Holoubek Martin
Sammy De Caluwe
Karel Brantner (?)
Nico Huller
Jochem Van den Hoek
Foti Psomadakis
Matti Seidel
Didier Grams
Kamil Holan
Leos Hlavacek
Radomir & Jiri SIMEK
Jan Polivka & Zdenek Sedlacek
Richard BILY & Jiry NESPESNY
At lunch time we moved to the paddock to buy something to drink and find another place for the next practice sessions. After the picnic we explored the different places for next day, some better to watch the races but worst for taking pictures.
The afternoon finalised with the first Classic 175-250cm3 race. The poor lads got pouring rain when it had been sunny all day (typical), with those bad conditions for racing when some parts are very wet and others are dry.
After the race we went back to the paddock to buy the entry fee for next day (about 10€), which can be bought in several circuit points or that some volunteers going around the circuit sell you before and during the races. The access to the paddock was also paying (it seems that they had problems with stealing some years ago).
Then we went for dinner and back to the hotel soon, as the next day we had to wake up early (not so much as the first day as we knew where to go).
We arrived to the circuit at about 7.30am, and went walking until the bend we had chosen, outside of “Dachovské Esico”. A good viewpoint, at the end of a straight line with 2 followed bends.
We watched from there, in the shade, the first 3 races Supersport, Classics 350 and Superbike.
After each race, the first 3 got a round around the circuit in a pickup car, so that everybody could celebrate with them, not only people with access to the paddock. We thought it was a brilliant idea.
After the 3rd race and coinciding with lunch break, we had to move to another place as we had the sun in front and it was starting to get too warm. We moved to the internal part of the circuit (in the forest) and looked for a place to eat and drink something. There was no fresh coke (the only thing we could ask in Czech lol), and they gave us a kind of local raspberry soda which was quite good and refreshing.
We went back to the external part of the circuit after “Stasovo Esicko”, in the straight line, where we watched the sidecar race. They were quite varied, oldest from 1963 and most recent from… 1978… The race itself was not too spectacular as the levels were too different, but it was really amazing to watch the passengers’ postures.
After the race we went to another point recommended by Georges, in the external part of the “Lukavecky Vracak” corner to watch the last 3 races: Supersport, Classics 500/750cm3 and Superbike.
It seemed to be a very popular place among the local people, with an amazing view to several corners. We had said not to take anymore pictures but we could not resist 😉 .
An accident during the Classics race delayed the last race, and many people left, so that we could have a good viewpoint for the last race.
The circuit is amazing, we were able to take a lot of “good” pics without a professional camera, and to enjoy the races. The racers were very close to the public with many Czech pilots, and the Czech are great fans of motorbike racing, you could feel it in the atmosphere and there were many families with children.
The only frustration we had was not being able to communicate with people, most didn’t speak English, and us, after one week we knew how to say “Dobry dén”, “Prossim”, “pivo”, “voda” (Good morning, Thanks, Beer, Water) and not much more… which reduces a lot the possibilities to get to know the people.
The same happened in the petrol stations, where there is always someone coming to you and asking where you come from, where you are going, and so… well, there we couldn’t understand what we were asked nor answer…
Well, the day was over, we went to the village for dinner and back to the hotel, with a small stop for taking pictures of the full moon.
The next day it was raining all day, so we took the day to plan where we could go 2 days later when we had no more hotel booked, as we had prepared nothing, but did not really want to go back home… we spent the day with the map (Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Benelux) and the mobile phone, looking where there were some nice roads with loads of corners and where to stay.
The next day we went for a small trip to some mountains at the border with Poland.
At last we did not find so many nice landscapes, we went into Poland were we got stuck behind cars going at 50km/h, and ended up (mostly Juan in those cases) completely wrecked after 9 hours on the motorbikes without really enjoying it.
The next day we would leave Czech Republic… But not to go home yet…
To be continued…
Road Races
Our Honeymoon Trip- Second Week
After our first Honeymoon Week in Connemara, the following Monday, with our heads full of nice landscapes, we left for about 380km – 6 hours.
In Ireland we were surprised by the difference between one “National” road and another, some are very wide, with enough space for 3 or 4 cars (and surprising when people start overtaking in front of you), and other also “National” much more narrow, but also limited at 100km/hour and I think you have to be mad to go at that speed on those roads 😀 , and with some spare sheeps in the middle from time to time. While travelling from one point to another, we tried to avoid the roads in “white” on our Michelin map and, took the “red” ones as much as we could!
Here we are, on nice roads, heading to Ulster, Armoy, where we had booked our second week. No problem on the road, and no rain. We arrived in Armoy in the afternoon and went to the village to buy something to survive the night, we would go to Ballymoney the following day to do some bigger shopping.
In the afternoon, we visited the Joey and Robert Dunlop Memorial Garden:
Wednesday we took the day to go to do some tourism, to The Giant’s Causeway. Beautiful.
At night, back in the village, there was a classic motorbikes show organised by the AMRRC, club organising the Road Races (fairly well). We had also a quick walk in the village garden:
We received there a very warm welcome, very nice people around, a great night in the pub.
On Thursday we went to Ballymoney Museum where there was a tribute to “The Dromara Destroyers” and followed with a visit to the Museum itself. And finished of course with a visit to Joey Dunlop’s pub.
And at last we got to Friday, practice day.
In the morning we first went to take some pictures to “The Dark Hedges”(that we had seen in Stephen Davison “Between the Hedges” which was kind of a start to us wanting to go to a Road Race).
After a long pics session, and lunch, we went to the circuit. We had planned to go to “Balaney Cross”. But as newcomers, we were walking around the paddock when they announced road closing in 5 minutes, and we did not have time to get there (we saw at the end of the day that some places were accessible from inside…).
So finally, we ended up in Kennedy’s corner, which was not so bad as there was a pub, fish&chips and nice neighbours who invited us to a beer 😉
Guy Martin
We were just impressed, amazed, whatever, by the speed of the riders, on THOSE roads… Just WOW, respect. We spent two days “Wowing”, and people asking “this is your first road race?” 😀
Unfortunately it started to rain heavily at the end of the afternoon, and the organisation decided to stop the practice and postpone it to next day. We went back to the paddock, where we were together with the racers and their motorbikes.
When the roads opened we went back to our place for dinner and get some rest for the big day. 😉
On Saturday we had woken up quite early, to avoid doing the same silly thing as the day before. We got a good point in “Acheson’s Leap”, nice spot to take pictures of racers jumps…
We had nice chats with the guys next to us while waiting for the races to start.
It started with the practice they couldn’t do the day before. It was sunny with good temperature 23-25°C, with some cloud from time to time.
In this point they were also quite fast, and with nice jumps. It is amazing how close you are to the riders.
At last the races started, 10 in total.
The races are just amazing, crazy, the speed, the road conditions, to be so close to the action, and the atmosphere. It was so great. For me, way much exciting than MotoGP (which is quite boring anyway) or Superbikes, or any other kind of race I have seen in circuits. And also much easier to take cool pics without a professional camera 😉
Wow again.
Now the pics:
Doc John
Guy Martin 
Davy Morgan
Andy Farrell
Jamie Hamilton
Rodney Patton & Jeremy Mc Williams
Michael Dunlop
Davy Morgan
Derek Mc Gee
William Dunlop
Michael Dunlop
We were quite impressed by everything, the races, the people, the racers, the speed. We will go for more for sure!
The races ended at 5pm, the roads opened and we went to the village for a pint or three… We talked to many nice people there, and just before going back home a few hours later, we met with Michael Dunlop in the other pub and had a little chat with him. That was funny, very nice lad.
At last, we had to go back “home”…
On Sunday it rained all day, so we just had some rest…
On Monday, we were on the road again, for our 3rd week holiday, 547km and 6 hours according to Google…
To be continued…
