Neal Bayly-Ukraine Mission

As we took off from the starting line down Glencrutchery Road towards Bray Hill, Peter exclaimed “ The first lap gets your attention, the bike is heavy from a full tank of fuel, you have fresh tires and you are wringing the bike out at 180 mph as you get to bottom of Bray Hill and you go airborne momentarily as you hit the crossroad. Keep the throttle pegged as it will keep the bike in the proper attitude.

He has memorized every wall, building curb and tree on the course and this what gets the results he needs to win a race. “You have to know where you are on the circuit at all times”, Hickman said. The banter went on until we finished a lap of the circuit, we were all spellbound of this experience. he had me when he said “ Hi, Im Peter Hickman”.

Racing on the Isle of Man takes a lot of preparation, a lot of people , time away from home and..a lot of money. FHO Racing would be the team supporting Peter Hickman with Faye Ho team principal at the helm. Sponsorship money is what keeps the wheels turning and Richard Rawlings of Gas Monkey Garage stepped up in a big way as he always does. Probably the wildest graphics you will ever see on a machine on the TT course. Mr. Hickman was ready to take on the ISLE OF MAN TT !

The opening race of the week was the 6 lap Superbike race and guess who won that one? Dean Harrison would come in 2nd and Michael Dunlop in 3rd but the gauntlet has has been thrown down and the world was about to witness the Peter Hickman show.

With a day off , Mondays Supersport race would go to Michael

Dunlop with Hickman finishing 3rd. The Superstock race was next up and Peter would be back in form with a win over Connor Cummins, a native of the Isle of Man.

It would be the Supertwin race on Wednesday with another win and almost by 2 minutes of his closest competitor.

Friday would be set up for the 2nd Supersport race and the 6 Lap Milwaukee Senior TT race, the one everybody wants to win and get into the history books.

Like the first Supersport race Michael Dunlop took home the victory, but Peter stayed in touch with him and came in 2nd place, not what he wanted. The weather came in and racing was halted. The senior race would take place on Saturday as the main event.

I could give you a lap by lap, but after 1 hour and 45 minutes it would be Peter Hickman and the FHO Gas Monkey Garage BMW 1000RR crossing the finish line first and receiving congratulations by his thousands of fans from around the world ! Michael Dunlop would leave the island with 2 more victories and give him a total of 20 wins making him the 3rd rider to break into the 20 win category right behind his uncle Joey Dunlop and legend John McGuiness. The sidecars had a very cruel week, not being able to finish a full race due to incidents and the loss of life in both races. The Birchall brothers could not be caught and it will be bittersweet for them as well as all of the other sidecar racers. 3 years of waiting to come back to the Isle of Man with all the hopes in the world…

I keep coming back whenever possible, share memories with my friends and talk about life and have a few pints together. The TT has become a love/hate event because not everyone gets to come back as I do.

Mark Purslow, Cesar Chanel, Davy Morgan, Roger Stockton, Bradley Stockton

Thank you for the time you were here entertaining us with with your racing bravery, you will always be honored and missed.

KEY WEST RUN 2022

PRESENTED BY PHIL PETERSON CHARITIES, INC.

SEPTEMBER 16, 17 & 18

Friday, Sept. 16th

Key West Run Kick Off Party!

Saturday, Sept. 17th

Pool Party! Saturday Night: Raffle Winners Announcement Party!

Sunday, Sept. 18th

SCAN THE QR CODE u

FOR RAFFLE TICKET AND WEEKEND DETAILS

Survivors Party!

IT STARTED WITH A PHONE CALL FROM AWARD-WINNING PHOTOGRAPHER KIRAN RIDLEY WHO WAS WORKING IN LVIV AT THE START OF THE WAR. COVERING THE REFUGEE CRISIS FROM THE SADDLE OF AN OLD, CHINESE MOTORCYCLE, HE JUST NEEDED TO TALK. IT WAS COLD, DANGEROUS, AND THE WHOLE CITY WAS ON A KNIFE-EDGE OF UNCERTAINTY AS THEY PREPARED FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF A RUSSIAN ATTACK.

Neale Bayly Rides

UKRAINE

Thousands of miles away in my soft, comfortable life, images of destroyed buildings, dead and injured civilians, and outnumbered soldiers fighting for their country filled Internet news feeds and TV screens. It didn’t seem possible that in plain view of the world, Russia was targeting women and children with their bombs and missiles, seemingly intent on destroying every facet of U krainian life with this unprovoked attack.

I called Kiran back a couple of days later and asked how I could help. How could I come to Ukraine to tell stories and raise money, when he asked if it was possible to find a couple of motorcycles? Well, thanks to more than 20 years of working with BMW Motorrad, it only took a phone call and we had two BMW F850GS Adventures with full luggage and navigation in Munich when we were ready. Next, Arai Helmets jumped in and Revit offered to provide us with adventure riding outfits before everything started to grind to a crawl. My paperwork went in for my international press credentials and the wait was on. Kiran, who is based in France, had to renew his motorcycle license in the UK, and my press jacket and armor plates were ordered with no delivery date due to excess demand. We held our collective breath, as each day seemed to bring some new challenge.

I decided to get a shot in my dodgy knee before the trip, to find the Doctor and his PA both motorcyclists, and both military combat veterans who knew me from my motorcycle work. Two weeks later I became the first civilian to go through a week of Combat Life Saver training in Macon, Georgia with Charlie Company 148th Brigade Support Battalion. The idea being that if the shit hits the fan, I hopefully have the skills, and the

equipment thanks to Sergeant Garcia, to deal with the types of injuries we could be dealing with. It began to feel real.

Once back home, the shit storm continued for me with a nasty respiratory infection, Kiran caught Covid back in Ukraine, and a host of other personal issues he had, traveling between Paris and England for work, threatened to overwhelm him. He recovered, I recovered, and he had to return to Ukraine suddenly on a new assignment. Our departure got pushed back again. It was a mad period of sketchy phone calls as he did the mad dash across Ukraine and Poland to get home to Paris, filing paperwork with the Ukrainian military to allow me access, and apologizing to BMW for delaying our pickup date. Kiran also still had to make a trip to England to pick up my vest and helmet, so our stress meter was still on high.

Finally, I booked a one-way ticket, Kiran got his schedule cleared, and I caught Covid. It really did seem as if we were not destined to ride to Ukraine. A long, slow week of sickness passed, I changed my ticket, got my negative test, and finally landed in Paris.

I will save the details of our trip through Germany, Czech Republic, Poland and into Ukraine for a later date, but thankfully

I find myself carving through a beautiful country landscape, marveling at the stunning architecture in the villages, the onion “ domed churches and the quiet rural life we are passing through. “