Tom Neave

A different perspective of the TT course...

Tom Tom NeaveNeave

Good morning, afternoon, or whatever time of the day it is you’re reading this at. It’s been a while since I last wrote an article. I’ve actually only had one race weekend up at Knockhill since my last column, but plenty has been going on in the last couple of months.

For me, the speed of how fast a year goes by is usually based on the length of the race season, and with the last two years being condensed championships because of Covid-19 spoiling all the fun, I’d got used to racing almost every weekend. This year, however, I’m not sure what to do with myself, with all this time off in between rounds! We’ve had three or four weeks off recently; it’s basically to make space for the NW200 and Isle of Man TT races. It’s been nice to have time to do other things between BSB weekends, but as a racer you’re always working towards that next race and counting down the days to get going again. One solution to this is I start road racing… but I think when my mum reads this, I’ll get to know about this idea of mine pretty quickly! Jokes aside, road racing isn’t on my radar in the slightest at the minute. I’ve got enough on my plate right now, getting to grips with the superbike and trying to master what I’m doing. Being in the Honda Racing camp, I’ve been really fortunate to be able to watch both the NW200 and TT this year as my teammates Glenn Irwin and John McGuinness have been competing at both events. It was an absolute privilege to witness John make his 100th start in the first race of the weekend at the TT, and if you didn’t see the special livery the Honda Racing team did for him, then I suggest you go onto Google right now – it’s absolutely stunning! Not many people can get away with riding a gold bike with matching leathers, but if your name’s John McGuinness at the TT, you can do what the hell you like. On the same day Glenn became the fastest-ever newcomer in his debut race, so as you can imagine it was a really special day for the team.

While I was on the Isle of Man, I tried to see some other parts of the island I’d not visited before, but without my own transport it was proving difficult… until

Kerb crawling at its finest.

I met up with Steve Colley! It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip and for me it was the definition of having fun. To warm up we took his 700bhp evo rally car for a rip and, surprisingly enough, he let loose behind the wheel. He must have had a death-wish but credit to him for trusting me with his pride and joy! I’ve never experienced anything like it – it was pure concentration and adrenaline as he shouted navigation notes at me. Then we took the enduro bikes up over the Mountain course for some green laning and it was absolutely stunning. I basically had a private Steve Colley stunt show the entire way round... it was one of those times where you just had to be there to see what he was getting up to. It was a hell of an experience and something I’ll never forget, so thanks again Steve.

In other news, my weekend at Knockhill was a round of two halves! It started off pretty sh!te to say the least. Having missed the Sunday races at Donington the previous round due to concussion symptoms still lingering from my big get-off at Oulton Park, the plan for the weekend was to rebuild some momentum and confidence and pick up where we left off, which was with some point-scoring finishes. The weekend couldn’t have started any worse. It was a wet FP1 and then a crash in FP2 left the bike in a hundred pieces scattered down the bank side at turn one... this was not how I envisaged my weekend to start. My team did a great job and built a brand-new bike for me on Friday night. My confidence was pretty shot going into Saturday’s qualifying session, but we had a bit of a reset and readjustment of expectations and by the end of the weekend I ended up with another couple of point-scoring finishes with 13th and 14th – just what I needed. The process of learning the superbike is nothing short of a seriously steep learning curve and I’m by no means satisfied finishing in the last few point-scoring positions, but it’s also a process that can’t be rushed. I’ve had some good downtime the last couple of weeks and I’ve really been enjoying riding my MX bike and training is going well, so roll on Brands Hatch round five. Let’s go!

NOT MANY PEOPLE CAN GET AWAY WITH RIDING A GOLD BIKE WITH MATCHING LEATHERS.