It’s a given that, if you go to the Island Classic, you’re there for the fun as well as for the racing; that’s just the nature of the meeting. I want to cast my mind back to an incident in 2013 that provided a degree of fun that still brings a chuckle even though it took place 4 years ago.
In 2013 Jimi Mac came out from the US as part of Team USA and he rode Roger Gunn’s GS1000 Suzuki for Sunset racing (you know, the yellow ones). To maximise the effort and get as many rides as he could, he also brought out from the States his own GSX-R750 P6 bike. The GS1000 was the oldest of Roger’s three bikes and, while it proved to be very reliable, it wasn’t as fast as the 16 valve later model bikes and Jimi finished well down in the rankings (after riding the wheels off the thing, it must be said).
Now Jimi is no clown; he races regularly at home (Reno, Nevada) where he works as a fireman. A long-time bachelor, he has amassed an enviable collection of “toys” raging from various motorcycles to some seriously collectable American muscle cars. Jimi has now married a lovely girl who swept him off his feet so I can’t make any further comments on his collection!
It was in the P6 races that we were able to see his prowess as a racer and, in one of the later races, he brought the bike home in a fine 3rd place. Everyone in the Team USA pit was rapt and we waited patiently for him to return to the pit garage. For those who don’t know, the procedure at the end of each race is that the riders continue on past the chequered flag, through T1-3 and enter the pits through the back gate at T4. From there they wind their way along the back of the pit garages and peel off left and enter the appropriate garage though the back door. As Jimi came in sight, to the applause of his team mates, he stopped at the door of the garage and performed a short, celebratory burn-out. Much back-slapping and yahooing followed and continued for some minutes.
Not long afterwards an official from PI Operations, dressed in the appropriate uniform, appeared at the back door of the garage and asked to speak to Jimi. Jimi walked over and the official began, “Now, Mr Mac,” he began, “I don’t know if you know this or not, but we have just paid two million dollars to have this whole track and the pit facilities resealed with brand new bitumen. We have been told that you have just performed a burn-out just outside the pits, is this correct?” Jimi could scarcely deny it given that the evidence was there at his feet for all to see (see picture above). “So, Mr Mac, I’m afraid that we have no choice but to delete your results from that last race and also deduct the points that you scored.”
A stunned silence fell over the assembled crowd (which had become quite large). Jimi’s face dropped and the rest of us began looking around in embarrassed silence, suddenly very interested in our shoes. The silence stretched on. In point of fact it probably was only 10 seconds or so, it just seemed to be WAY longer. Nobody knew what to say but we all felt terrible for Jimi even though, technically, he HAD done the wrong thing.
Just as it seemed the silence was going to last forever, the PI official reached out his right hand, grabbed Jimi by the upper arm and said, “It’s OK, mate, I’m just kidding.” You really DID have to be there, but the moment was delicious. So good, in fact, that the story is still worth telling some 4 years later. When I reminded Jimi of it in January this year his reaction was just as I expected it would be. His new Team USA team mates were also highly amused!
The burn-out mark has long since faded into oblivion but there is still a tangible reminder of Jimi’s attendance at the Island Classic to be found… 🙂