 At
42, most men would be settling down to a steady few years
before looking on towards retirement and a quiet life.
Nick Turner isn’t quite like that. At 42 he’s
about to return to the Isle of Man to face one of the toughest
challenges still available to the modern motorcyclist. He
is entering the TT Races. And not just one race either.
As well as the Blue Riband F1 event that everyone thinks
of he is also entering the Senior, the 1000cc production,
and the Junior rounds. That’s four races spaced out
over a week, plus practice. In total he’ll be doing
the best part of 100 laps of the 37.7 mile course at race
speeds – pretty hard work for a rider with a full
team behind him so absolutely exhausting for one guy and
a couple of mates.
Nick is no stranger to the Island, having
won the 250cc Manx GP in 1989, but 15 years is a long time
to be away, especially as he stopped racing completely at
the end of the ’89 season, not returning to the grid
until 2002. For the last couple of years Nick has been racing
classic bikes – Manx Nortons and the like – on
the International scene in Europe. But despite some considerable
success there, he still feels that he is better at road racing
than short circuits, hence his return to the Isle of Man.
There is something else interesting about
this visit, though. Followers of motorsport generally will
be used to seeing bikes covered in sponsor’s livery.
What may be a little unusual, though, is to see a full blown
production racer painted white with a single red poppy on
each side. But if you go to the Isle of Man for the 600cc
Junior TT this year, that is what you’ll see. Because
Nick is riding to raise awareness (and, hopefully, funds)
for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.
Nick has always been interested in that dark
period of our history, helped no doubt by the fact that his
late father was treasurer of his local Western Front Association.
He feels that the Poppy Appeal is something universal that
most people understand and support and that it remains as
relevant today as it was when it started back in 1921. He
hopes that people will take an interest in his distinctively
painted Honda CBR600-RR and will support the appeal in whatever
way they can.
 Further
information about Nick and the appeal can be found at his
web site - www.charityracing.co.uk
or you can contact him via us if you prefer.
Over the next couple of weeks we are going
to run regular updates on Nick's progress with preparation,
practice and so on. Ace photographer Ron Clarke will be on
the Isle of Man and will be covering things for us there,
and we'll try to get regular updates from the man himself
during practice and qualifying as well.
The TT runs from 1st to 11th June, with the Junior taking
place on Wednesday 9th.
Special thanks to 1-off Race Paint. MOTEC and the other companies,
so far un-named, who have chipped in to help with this effort.
We'll be doing our best to help as well, but if you or your
company have something to offer then please get in touch.
The cause is a worthy one, after all. To find out more about
the work of the Royal British Legion, check their website
at www.britishlegion.org.uk
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