IoM TT Tradegy
The Auto Cycle Union regret to announce that Paul Dobbs, 39, from Onewhero, New Zealand, was killed during the Supersport 2 race at the TT races in a high speed racing crash at Ballagarey.
Paul was an experienced TT motorcycle competitor with a best finish of sixth in the 400cc lightweight TT race in 2000. He first competed in the Isle of Man TT Races in 1999.
He was married with two children. The ACU wishes to pass on their deepest sympathy to the rider’s family and friends.
Jim Parker, Chairman, ACU, commented:
“Paul was a really popular rider in the paddock and was a great competitor. He was a very talented rider who made many friends in the racing community. He will be sorely missed.”
Last Blog Post From Paul Dobbs… Monday 7 June 2010
Supersport (600) race
“In NZ my Hallett Aviation 600 Suzuki with its 129hp would be a race winner hands down but in the UK the rules are different and the top bikes have over 140hp. This meant it was going to be a tough race but we had been in the top 20 in practice and the bike was handling very well.
On the 1st lap the bike seemed slow up the mountain which was a bit worrying until on lap 2 I figured out we had a head wind. The first 2 laps were pretty good with little traffic to hold me up. The pit-stop at the end of lap 2 went well and I left with Paul Owen and John Burrows – they are both on very fast Yamahas.
John was holding me up on the corners and bumpy parts of the circuit and I managed to get past at Bishop’s Court only to get passed by him and Paul on Sulby straight. I managed to stay with them to the mountain where they pulled around 25 seconds on me. On the last lap we were all passed by Ben Wiley on a ballistically fast R6, horse power rules here.
I got my head down and pushed really hard on the last lap and pulled back around 20 seconds on Paul and John. The last lap was 119.6mph but the bike started to push the front really hard as the tank emptied so a few changes are needed before the next race.”
Superstock race
“This was our best chance as the R1 is a standard road bike. The changes we had made to the forks worked really well and she was flying. We have been regularly clocked at 184mph at the Sulby speed trap and that isn’t the fastest part of the track.
James McBride came past on lap 2 and after we swapped places a few times he slowly pulled away from me. At the pit-stop we had a stuck visor which cost about 6 seconds so I set off for the last 2 laps on a mission to make up time. The bike was flying and I had my eye in. I passed a couple of lower numbers and set off for a fast last lap.
On Sulby straight for the last time the clutch cried ‘enough’ and I had to slow to adjust it and try to cool her down. The slipper clutch lets the clutch slip on the down changes to improve corner entry speeds but it wears the plates. At Ramsey she struggled to pull out of the hairpin and I nearly parked her up there. The clutch cooled so I could limp home to a 24th place. We are now 4th in the Privateers’ cup.”
Our prayers go out to all his family and friends.
