Fifth within the 2019 Irish Road Race 125/Moto 3 Championship, up coming next generation roads talent Sam Grief is the latest racer to take part in Road Racing News, rising in popularity Manx GP Top 6 series.
An employee of the famous JCB brand, his answers to the Mountain Course themed set of questions are as follows:
Q1: When you first competed at the Manx, what was your first initial thought of the Mountain Course?
“My first thoughts of the Mountain Course when I did my first lap was sh*t, this is much faster than it looks. I think most riders are probably quite taken back at first, I realised I didn’t have a clue where I was going but absolutely loved every second of it.
I thought I loved the place before I had even done a lap but once I’d had that first closed lap, I knew nowhere would give me a feeling like this.”
Q2: Most memorable Manx GP bike?
“Our Honda RS250 has got to be the most memorable bike round the TT course, probably for all the wrong reasons.
I’ve had some really good results in practice/qualifying, I’d topped newcomer time sheets in 2018 and hit top 10’s in the Classic TT in 2019 but she’s decided she never wants to finish a race so far! When that bike runs good it’s so much fun, two strokes and the Mountain Course are a good combination.”
Photo by Nick Wheeler
Q3: Most treasured memory from the Manx?
“Every lap around there is memorable I guess, there’s a lot more to it than riding a bike because I’ve got dad who puts a lot of work in on the bikes and sponsors who’ve put a lot of trust in me.
If I was to pull out a memory, when I was a newcomer in 2018 I was following another newcomer, for some stupid reason I thought he knew where he was going, when he ran a bit wide at Waterworks I ran even wider and just scraped the dry stone wall, that taught me an important lesson, dry stone walls might hurt!”
Q4: Is there one specific Manx GP competitor that you look up to?
“There’s quite a few guys I look up to. I’ve a lot of respect for Darryl Tweed because he’s looked after me well, he has good people around him too so we had some funny times at last year’s Manx GP.”
Q5: Describe the Manx GP in one word?
“Pinned!!”
Q6: Finally, if you could race one machine from any series, championship around the Mountain Course, what would it be?
“That’s got to be a 500 two stroke, Clive Padgett if your reading this I will happily run the 500 in for Conor (Cummins)!”
Words by Stevie Rial