By Agonisingly close to Junior Manx GP victory yesterday, JLG Racing/NCE Racing’s Jamie Williams will be hoping for an up-turn in luck for tomorrow’s four-lap Senior race.
Before Saturday’s drama, Road Racing News on Thursday obtained the affable racer’s viewpoints on a range of topics.
The conversation covering his first MGP venture since 2017, candid viewpoints about the Mountain Course and IRRC outings at Circuit De Chimay and Horice, reads as follows:
Road Racing News:
First and fore-most how’s practice been so far.
J.Williams:
“Yeah, it’s been good, bit weird been back here after four years, four years is a long time away from this place.
First couple of laps were a bit alien, it was almost like a shock to the system, head didn’t really know what to do with the job.
Third lap in, started flowing and getting to grips with the job again and then it was like I’ve never been away from the place.
Really enjoyed been back, looking forward to getting a couple of races under my belt.”
Road Racing News:
Your right at the front on the Super Twin and the 600.
J.Williams:
“I’ll be honest I’ve quite surprised myself with the Super Twin, it’s a bike I’ve never ridden, didn’t get a test on it before coming here.
So, first night of practice, first time down Bray Hill was first time riding it, so quite happy with how I’ve progressed on it.
The KTS boys they put a good bike together, Jamie’s done well on it, well extremely well on it at Armoy and his results at the TT in 2019, so it’s a proven bike and it’s the package to beat really, when you think about.”
Road Racing News:
Just outside of the Manx, how has your recent IRRC outings been at Horice and Chimay, different challenges.
J.Williams:
“Completely different, we were meant to do the full Championship series but we missed Hengelo and Imatra for couple of reasons, logistics and what not else, didn’t have the help to go.
But we managed to get to Chimay in Belgium and then onto Horice and it’s almost like road racing un-touched.
It’s uncommercialised, it’s not political, it’s back to basics grass roots racing.
They treat the riders so well it doesn’t matter if you are leading the Championship or last.
They love their road racing out there and the tracks and how it’s organised and everything in between, it’s just proper enjoyable weekend’s racing.”
Road Racing News:
So, looking towards Manx GP race week, obviously I know you want to be on the podium is that the main goal or race wins?
J.Williams:
“I’ll be honest with you we’ve sort of built up to this throughout the year. All the different races we’ve been to, some people thought we were been a bit silly going to the likes of Horice so close to the Manx Grand Prix.
But with been on the bike, I think we had seven consecutive weeks riding, bike time is key.
We come here with the expectation of we didn’t want to put pressure on ourselves, we didn’t want to come here and say were going to win, because no one can say that.
But we’ve got the bikes, got the people round us and we’ve had the time on the bikes this year to do well, podium would be nice but if we can walk out of here with wins it would be the icing on the cake, especially after been away for four years.”
Road Racing News:
Finally, if you could describe the Mountain Course in one word!
J.Williams:
“I’m going to say mind blowing, if you can squeeze that into one word. It’s only when you come back here after been away for so long, that you realise what you’ve missed out on.
You sort of forget what is like to ride around here, you can do all the riding you want, you can go to any track you want but nothing will compare to riding here.
Going down Bray Hill that first night, it’s something different, it is what dreams are made of, love it.”
Photo credit: Nick Wheeler
Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou
