Amor forced out of second Supersport TT
Keith Amor's run of podiums at the
Isle of Man TT races came to an end on Wednesday when he was forced to retire from the second Supersport race. The
Wilson Craig Honda rider was lying in fifth place when his bike spluttered to a halt at Ramsey on the fourth and final lap.
The race was delayed by 3 and a quarter hours due to heavy rain on the west side of the Island and when it finally got underway, the riders were warned that roads were damp for a significant part of the first half of the lap. This could clearly be seen in the lap times and a lap of 116.744mph saw Keith lie in 8th place at the end of the opening lap. As the race wore on conditions improved and the track began to dry and with an increased lap speed of 121.193mph, he moved up to fifth at half race distance. Maintaining his position, he looked all set to claim another top five finish when the bike stopped as he approached Parliament Square less than 15 miles from the finish.
Speaking in the evening, a philosophical Keith said,
"It was really hard work out there today and conditions weren't good at all to begin with. I was extra careful through the wet sections and was practically tiptoeing through them as you simply couldn't afford to take a risk. It did begin to dry up as the race wore on so I started to push a bit harder and although I was in fifth I hadn't given up hopes of climbing up the leaderboard. Everything was going ok but the bike just ground to a halt when I entered Ramsey on the last lap and that was that. We're not sure what the problem is yet and it's a prime example of how the TT is - on a high one minute and then down the next. There was nothing we could have done to prevent it so we'll all look forward to the last race on Friday and hope to end the week for a strong result."The 2009 TT finishes on Friday with the 6-lap Senior taking place at 1.00pm.
Phil Wain
Freelance PR
