Mistral Racing Issue Statement On Superbike Classic TT Disqualification

Mistral Racing Issue Statement On Superbike Classic TT Disqualification

Mistral Racing issued a statement last evening, which gave their view on why Jamie Coward piloting one of their ZXR 750 Kawasaki’s was excluded from his original finish of fifth in the four lap race.

The Mistral Racing statement, is as follows:

“I’d like to thank everybody for their tremendous help this year, sponsors ,riders and mechanics and all the helpers.

Steve Mercer went the extra mile or 1000 to compete this year, a great effort that’s much appreciated. Jamie, Steve and Dan worked hard throughout the week improving the bikes every time out.

In the race Steve’s bike expired at Sulby village, Dan was battling for 3rd with Dean Harrison when a breather hose popped off and unfortunately had to retire, Jamie had a great battle race long finishing a fine 5th.

Manx 2016 016

Photo by Nick Wheeler

And then the Scrutineering debacle began here’s a summery of what went on in post race scrutineering. We were asked to remove the fuel tank, drain it and take it around to the fuel scrutineers, which we did.

Whilst we were waiting for Rutter’s to be done, Dunlop’s mechanic brought there’s around and put it on the floor by us and left, we then had to fill our tanks, have them measured.

Fuel sample taken then drain it again, in the mean time Dunlop’s mechanic came around picked his tank up and put it back on the bike having no fuel test or volume check done, we saw all of this.

And having seen them for the last two years pour additive in after they’ve been through scrutineering makes you wonder if the scrutineers knew.

Angus (Greenall Racing) was asked to strip his bike, so he asked if Dunlop’s was being done, the reply was no as it had been checked mid week and had been sealed, it was pointed out that the engine had been totally in bits late sunday night and had no seal on it.

The chief scrutineer then said oh, it was cut off as soon as it was placed in the scrutineering bay by a scrutineer and thrown in the bin, they asked if they could show them the bin to which he replied shut your f#ing mouth and mind your own business. We saw the bikes being wheeled in to the bay and no scrutineer went anywhere near it.

When it came to me, I was asked if i’d strip the engine, I said I would gladly but they would have to strip Dunlop’s and Rutter’s also as no one had even run a cursory glance over them in all this time.

He kept repeating this question in an aggressive manner and I gave him the same reply. In the end I said if you don’t strip their’s your not stripping mine, probably the answer he wanted all along with hindsight.

I feel the Manx club has handled this very badly from their abusive natures, deceit with the fuel checks and the so called non existent engine seal that then became a fairy tale one that ended in the bin, you can see why I was not going to go along with this pantomine of theirs.

I feel very sorry for Jamie who had to suffer through no fault of his own, after a great race, but I felt theirs should be stripped the same as everyone else’s.

Hopefully they’ll be some big changes for next year, we don’t need people like that in our sport, it’s hard enough as it is sometimes.”

administrator
Welcome, Here at Road Racing News we pride ourselves in supplying the best and latest news on Pure Road Racing including Race Reports, Race Reviews, Interviews and live updated news. Our Aim is to supply the latest Pure Road Racing news as quickly as possible to all enthusiast of the best sport in the world. Your fantastic support and following is why we do this! Road Racing News Team.

Related Articles

4 Comments

Avarage Rating:
  • 0 / 10
  • Ross Crymble , September 1, 2016 @ 3:51 pm

    Oh dear, what a weak and incriminating statement. I know scrutineers are human and are therefore not always right and I for one would not normally be defending them especially at the IoM, but I understand they are the enforcers of the rules of racing and therefore need to be respected.

    Refusing to strip an engine because someone else’s engine is not being stripped is no excuse and leaves me and I’m sure others thinking what were they hiding?

    If they saw fuel being tampered with during previous races or engine’s this year why did they not put in a protest like all competitors have the right to do?

    As far as engine stripping is concerned it has always been a random thing. Are they suggesting the top three engines should always be stripped, the top five? or maybe all finisher’s engines. We all know this can’t happen in our sport because of the time, money, and man power involved so scruitineers do the next best thing which is pick bikes that are under protest or suspicious and also at random. This is a good system and it keeps everyone on their toe’s as you don’t know if your bike is next. So refusing to strip your engine when asked to by the official’s leaves them no choice but to disqualify that bike, and this out come is totally a result of the teams actions.

    This makes it difficult to have any sympathy or respect for Mistral Racing, or for the rider who they try to paint as the innocent victim. We will now never know if he was a victim because the team refused to let the officials prove it one way or the other. It would be sickening to the other riders who put everything on the line during a road race to discover a competitor’s bike was illegal and had an unfair advantage.

    • martyn ashton , September 2, 2016 @ 2:26 pm

      just a copy from a web site rescogs about xr 69 fake or tribute bikesjohn sims says
      August 28, 2013 at 9:18 AM

      Please get your facts correct regarding our xr69 replicas. They are not ‘Harris Magnums’. and are not made by Harris. They are an exact copy of Mick Grants 1982 TT bike and are fitted with a Suzuki GS1000 engine. Mick was kind enough to lend us the actual bike to strip and copy.
      Please look at our website http://www.xr69.co.uk for more pictures. If you need more information please ask. John Sims , Trident Engineering

  • Anita Buxton , September 2, 2016 @ 8:53 am

    And so the Classic TT saga rumbles on…. So who actually had their motors stripped, measured and checked correctly? And who was racing within the rules? What a complete and utter shambles…. It doesn’t inspire confidence in the organisers or the Technical officials (especially after the TT engine rumours). The funny thing is that when I was racing at the TT, the Top three finishers always had their engines stripped, checked and measured. I had my tank dipped for fuel checks, my Production bike dynoed, and I even had to provide urine samples so what has changed since…..? The TT has had a whole new organisation and promoters since then, and their main aim is to make huge amounts of money. Not it seems to promote genuine and competitive racing……

  • keith , September 2, 2016 @ 7:47 pm

    I certainly experienced the same thing more than 30 years ago, the chosen are ignored and the …competition get measured. And drugs seemed to be ignored. We generally have a clean sport, but some are a lot cleaner than others, just less successful, and certainly poorer

Leave a Reply to Ross Crymble Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *