IoM TT News
TT racer James McBride is celebrating after achieving his ambition of securing the 2010 Isle of Man TT Privateers Championship.
The Kettering racer saw off stiff competition from fellow privateers to win the inaugural championship.
As a privately funded rider, he put a huge amount of work into the TT and it paid off – McBride took a top 10 finish in the prestigious Dainese Senior TT and third in the TT Zero race for electric bikes. The dedication of main sponsors Pazzo Racing and Downview Finance, which have stood by him for some time, has allowed McBride to achieve these amazing results.
TT race week started with the PokerStars Superbike race, where McBride brought home his Stock Yamaha in 20th. He pulled off this result despite an unscheduled stop on the first lap at Creg-na-Baa, losing 25 seconds. He missed a gear and over revved, but stopped to make sure there wasn’t a problem with the machine.
From there on he nursed a broken gearbox all race long as fourth and fifth gear were jumping out. He was pleased to finish and score his first points with fifth place in the privateers championship.
It was in the Monster Energy Supersport 1 race where the results really started. After a tough four laps McBride was running in the top 20 and finished 17th, and fourth in class. He had a close call on lap two as he was running low on fuel on his Downview Finance R6, coasting into the pit lane and losing 14 seconds overall.
However, McBride made the pits and was able to re-fuel and post all his best sectors on the remaining laps. He went low on fuel again on the final lap, but this time crossing the line and claiming another TT replica. Knowing that the tank was a little small McBride planned ahead for the second Supersport race and borrowed a larger tank.
McBride’s best results tend to come from the Superstock race, and the Royal London 360 Superstock TT was no exception with 14th position and first in the privateers’ class, taking him to the top of the privateers’ table. He was trying a new rear spring and damping settings, plus a rebuilt Superstock engine, so took he took the first lap steady, but still posted a lap speed of 122.8mph.
He was happy with the new settings and led his class on the road. He also set his personal best lap time of 125.2mph on lap two into the pits. The fuel stop went incredibly well and the Pirelli tyres were wearing fantastically, he could easily extract four laps from the rear tyre.
On lap four McBride posted three more personal best sectors and was happy with his Pazzo Racing Yamaha R1, nabbing posted another personal best of 18mins 00.62secs (125.695 mph). He also had the accolade of being first Yamaha over the line, all of this was achieved whilst running with a broken quick shifter from the start. This time round he earned his third replica of the week this time, a silver.
The Monster Energy Supersport 2 race ended with McBride in 21st, not the result he had hoped for, but still enough to bag him his fourth replica and a steady 11 points to add to his leading privateers championship tally.
It was very windy on track and the steering damper decided not to work so it made for a difficult race aboard his Downview Finance R6.
For the TT Zero race, McBride had been assisting the Team ManTTx with their machine development, and all the hard work translated into a third place finish during Wednesday’s race.
The team were still building the bike all through practice week and McBride’s first practice lap was to be on the Saturday after the superbike race, but ended three miles in as the fly-by-wire throttle gave up. This added to the determination of the team to build a bike for the Monday practice lap that could achieve a full lap.
The Monday lap went ahead and McBride lapped at 80mph while learning the chassis and characteristics of the electric machine. For the race the team had made many improvements whilst on the dyno at Slick Bass’s and found some inactive battery cells and gave McBride more power. This equated to a 10 per cent improvement in lap speed as he beat Rob Barber’s lap record speed from 2009 and finished in a content third place with his first TT podium in the TT zero race picking up his fifth replica of the week.
In the Dainese Senior race McBride brought home his Pazzo Racing Yamaha R1 in a spectacular 10th place. He knew a lot rested on the outcome of this race and so studied his competitors and how well they were doing earlier that week. He also was on a fully stock machine as opposed to a superbike so he had his work to do to keep other riders in his sights.
His homework paid off and he finished second in the privateers championship which was enough to secure the title by a clear 10 points. He was the only rider in the privateers championship to score points in every race, reflecting well on the effort and preparation put in by the whole team. This gave him six race starts with six successful finishes resulting in a well deserved replica for each race. No other rider in the 2010 TT scored six finisher’s replicas and McBride was first Yamaha home yet again.
James McBride says: "I’d like to thank my Man TTx team for supplying me with a bike which they had put body and soul into. As a ‘thanks’ to them I had the national Manx flag to wave on the podium as apart from me it was a fully Manx team."
"I wasn’t coming to make the numbers up when it came to the privateers championship. I’ve had a plan since it was launched and that was to use the North West 200 as a test. Then practice week was for slow development of both my bikes, I didn’t want to show my hand too soon and to stay under the radar. I knew I needed points in each race and that was what I was aiming for and it worked."
"I am very aware of the gruelling conditions that the TT mountain circuit has to offer and I treat each race as a test. It’s a test of the machine and the team, finishing a race is a big achievement, finishing without any breakages or problems is equally as tough, so to have my bikes finish every race they started only compliments the efforts and hours my team put in by not allowing a single fixing to go unnoticed. Yes we had some minor issues but it is part of my job to ride around the problem and bring the machines home for the chequered flag. It’s not just a race it’s an endurance test for teams and machines."
"I have to say a big thanks to all my sponsors and helpers as it wouldn’t have happened without them. Everyone worked really hard and didn’t finish until the job was done. The easiest part of the two weeks for me was riding the bikes to be honest, but the preparation was intense and soul burning. Early on everything was geared around evening practice sessions adjusting our body clocks to be at our best during that time. It was a massive effort from everyone – thank you."
"This has been a hugely successful TT winning seven trophies and a podium laurel in the TT Zero race. A winner’s trophy, two silvers replicas and four bronzes replicas of which I’ll be presenting to my dedicated team and sponsors."
Previous Year Race Results
TT2009Â Dainese
Superbike TT
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
28 | 23 | James Mcbride |
1000cc Yamaha |
1:56:15.86Â | 116.827Â |
TT2009Â Royal
London 360 Superstock TT
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
21 | 23 | James Mcbride |
1000cc Yamaha |
1:14:54.19Â | 120.892Â |
TT2009Â Relentless
Supersport TT Race 1
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
35 | 29 | James Mcbride |
600cc Yamaha |
1:17:54.64Â | 116.225Â |
TT2009Â Relentless
Supersport TT Race 2
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
26 | 29 | James Mcbride |
600cc Yamaha |
1:20:15.91Â | 112.816Â |
TT2009Â TTXGP
Pro Class
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
DNF | 16 | James Mcbride |
ManTTx | Â | 0Â |
TT2009Â Pokerstars
Senior TT
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
16 | 23 | James Mcbride |
1000cc Yamaha |
1:54:3.19Â | 119.092Â |
TT2008Â Dainese
Senior TT
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
DNF | 15 | James Mcbride |
1000 YAMAHA R1 |
 | 0 |
TT2007Â Bennetts
Superbike TT
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
18 | 23 | James Mcbride |
Yamaha YZF R1 1000cc |
1:54:34.61Â | 118.548Â |
TT2007Â Pokerstars
Superstock TT
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
7 | 12 | James Mcbride |
Yamaha YZF R1 1000cc |
1:14:21.17Â | 121.787Â |
TT2007Â Pokerstars
Supersport TT
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
19 | 25 | James Mcbride |
Yamaha R6 600cc |
1:16:51.94Â | 117.806Â |
TT2007Â Pokerstars
Senior TT
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
10 | 23 | James Mcbride |
Yamaha YZF R1 1000cc |
1:51:59.14Â | 121.29Â |
TT06Â Jester
Interactive Superbike
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
DNF | 27 | James Mcbride |
1000 YAMAHA R1 |
 | 0 |
TT06Â Scottish
Life Int Superstock
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
12 | 27 | James Mcbride |
1000 YAMAHA R1 |
1:15:51.49Â | 119.37Â |
TT06Â 2e2
Senior
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
DNF | 22 | James Mcbride |
1000 YAMAHA R1 |
 | 0 |
TT05Â Duke
TT Superbike
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
22 | 41 | James Mcbride |
1000 SUZUKI GSXR |
1:58:08.15Â | 114.976Â |
TT05Â Scottish
Life Intl. TT Superstock
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
16 | 38 | James Mcbride |
1000 SUZUKI GSXR |
58:19.06Â | 116.455Â |
TT05Â Strand
Shopping Ctre Senior
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
21 | 40 | James Mcbride |
1000 SUZUKI GSXR |
1:58:05.43Â | 115.02Â |
TT04Â Duke
Formula One
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
20 | 54 | James Mcbride |
1000 APE SUZUKI |
1 18 10.9Â | 115.82Â |
TT04Â Scottish
Life Intl.Production 1000
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
24 | 76 | James Mcbride |
1000 APE Accesories Suzuk |
59 02.8Â | 115.01Â |
TT04Â Standard
Bank Offshore Senior
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
20 | 33 | James Mcbride |
1000 Suzuki |
1 17 44.0Â | 116.49Â |
TT03Â IOMSPC
Junior 600cc
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
45 | 47 | James Mcbride |
Suzuki | 1.23.45.36Â | 108.11Â |
TT03Â Standard
Bank Offshore Senior
Posn | No | Competitor | Machine | Time | Speed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
35 | 51 | James Mcbride |
600 Ape Suzuki |
1.23.49.0Â | 108.03Â |