Karl Harris, who died during the 2014 Superstock TT
Karl Harris, who died during the 2014 Superstock TTKarl Harris Dies in Superstock TTAnother rider was killed on the Snaefell Mountain Course during the 2014 Isle of Man TT races.
The Auto Cycle Union reports that Karl Harris, 34, of Sheffield, passed away following a crash at Joey’s (26th Milestone) during the second lap of Tuesday’s RL360 Superstock TT, a four-lap race featuring 1000cc machinery.The known British motorcycle racer Harris was piloting a Moto Breakers Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja in the Superstock TT. His death is currently under investigation.Harris became the 242nd rider to perish in both TT and Manx Grand Prix races since racing begin on the Isle of Man in 1911.Gary Thompson, TT Clerk of the Course, said “Karl was one of the great characters in the race paddock. His infectious enthusiasm and sense of humour lit up many race meetings. He was a hugely talented racer and will be sorely missed.”Harris has a superb history in motorcycle racing, highlighted by three British Supersport Championships, and multiple British Superbike podiums. He debuted at the Isle of Man TT in 2012.Harris began racing as a teen in 1990s, when he competed for Team Great Britain in the Superteen Championship. Harris’ first title arrived in 1999 when he won the European Superstock 1000cc Championship. He followed this by a season in World Supersport.But Harris is best known for his career in the British Championship. He dominated British Supersport, winning three titles from 2001-2004 – one for Crescent Suzuki, and two for Honda Racing.In 2005, he joined the British Superbike Championship, and earned 15 podium finishes aboard Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki machinery. His best British SBK season was 2006 when he finished fifth overall, achieving six podiums.Following the tragic loss of Harris, this marks the sixth death at the Isle of Man TT races since 2011.The first fatal crash of 2011 occurred during practice for the Sidecar race. The ACU reported that Bill Currie, 67, of Ellesmere Port, and his passenger Kevin Morgan, 59, of Shrewsbury, were killed during the IOMTT sidecar crash at Ballacrye in the north part of the Mountain Course.The third rider to perish on the Mountain Course in 2011 was Derek Brien, 34, of Co. Meath in Ireland. Brien was killed during the IOMTT crash in the first Supersport race. The ACU reported that the fatal, one-man IOMTT crash occurred during a high-speed section at Gorse Lea.There were no deaths in 2012, and one in 2013 when Yoshinari Matsushita, 43, of Japan, was killed following a crash at Ballacrye in the north section of the Isle of Man.And this year was already marred by two deaths; Bob Price, who died in Monday’s Monster Energy Supersport 1 race, and now Harris.Harris’ death was the 19th at the Isle of Man TT event since the turn of the century.
Hello everyone and welcome once again to the Ultimate Motorcycling podcast—Motos and Friends. My name is Arthur Coldwells.
Motos and Friends is brought to you by the Yamaha YZF-R7—Yamaha’s awesome supersport machine that is as capable on the racetrack as it is on the street. …and it’s comfortable too! Check it out at at your local Yamaha dealer, or of course at YamahaMotorsports.com.
In this week’s first segment, Senior Editor Nic de Sena rides the BMW K 1600 GT. This is the sporty bagger version of BMW’s K series of machines, those are the models with the awesome 6-cylinder engine. The GT has been given a little makeover for 2023, and Nic gives us his take.
In the second segment, I chat with one of my all time heroes—three-time World Champion racer ‘fast’ Freddie Spencer. I’ll do my best not to come off as too much of a fanboy here, but frankly it’ll be tough!
In my humble opinion, Spencer is a contender for the GOAT—greatest of all time. Sure, his career was a little shorter than some, and his number of championships falls behind the likes of Lawson, Doohan, Rossi, and of course Marquez. But at the time, Freddie literally changed the way motorcycles were ridden. 30 years before Marc Marquez, Freddie was able to push the front wheel into a slide, corner after corner, lap after lap in order to get the bike turned faster than anyone else. Freddie took completely different lines and was able to get on the throttle so early he could out accelerate anyone off a corner.
In the modern era, of course Freddie is the chairman of the FIM MotoGP Stewards panel. This is the panel of referees for all three classes of Grand prix racing. I talked to Freddie about his task there, and although for contractual reasons with Dorna and the FIM he cannot talk about specific riders, teams, or events, nevertheless his explanation of the job makes for interesting listening. It’s a tough job, and frankly I wouldn’t want to do it!
At any rate, Freddie’s new book ‘Feel’ is available on Amazon—I’d highly recommend you reading it whether you’re a fan of Freddie or not, even whether you’re into racing or not; every rider has something to learn from his mental approach.
Actually—Ultimate Motorcycling is giving away five copies of the book—signed by Freddie himself—to the first five listeners who contact us with the correct answer to the question: How many national AMA championships did Freddie win, and which years were they?
Please email your answers to producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and we will contact the winners and send you a signed copy of Feel. Those five winners will be announced on a future episode. Unfortunately for legal reasons this offer is ONLY open to US residents.
So, from all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!