Page 23 - Sept24T

through towns and this beautiful is- land’s verdant green hills and moun- tains. Unlike in Moto GP (the top level of road racing for motorcycles), there are no runoff areas or barriers, just stonewalls, buildings, lampposts and curbs. The riders complete the course at average speeds in the mid- 130s (miles per hour), with top speeds reaching 205 miles per hour. There are six classes of races, including superbikes and sidecars. Most races are anywhere from 4 to 6 laps around the course, during which the rider must negotiate hundreds of braking points, apexes, undulations, manhole covers and changes in surface pav- ing. Though this year had its share of crashes, there were fortunately no fatalities. The worst year on record was 2005, with 11 fatalities. The thrill for the spectators is not the crashes but the ability to get within feet of the motorcycles traveling at over 170 miles an hour. Insane, you might say, and in most countries, this would not be allowed, which makes this
race even more special for everyone involved. It was a definite bucket list item for this group. Michael Dun- lop, a local, made history this year, becoming the greatest of all racers, winning his 28th victory across six classes of racing.
The Return
As a former high-altitude moun- tain climber in another life, I am aware that it’s the downhill trek that
always kills you. The exhilaration of the summit is over, and the exhaus- tion sets in. You tend to make a lot of wrong judgments, which can be life- threatening. So it is with the return journey back to our starting point in Idaho. Being especially attentive to risk management must become a pri- ority. Fortunately for us, our return weather was uneventful except for thunderstorms in the Dakotas, and we made it back in two days despite
September 2024 / TWIN & TURBINE • 21