Scarborough solo pile up at Mere Hairpin

[steve-e]

This got messy..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03RAVnXj150

[Big Tim]

A lot of incidents at Mere over the weekend. Guy Martin had what looked like a big off in Saturday practice on a classic. Appeared to be brake failure coming into Mere Hairpin, shot down the escape road at a high rate of knots, and was unable to avoid the metal barriers at the bottom. He hit one centrally, which folded into an acute "V" shape; before it then hit the front wing of a rather expensive 4 wheel drive belonging to "Yorkshire Coast Radio" (scattering spectators and those moving between the paddocks in the process). The bike and rider then went through the (somewhat dilapidated) fence at the other side of the entrance to the sidecar paddock, the other side of which is a rather steep and high embankment. From what looked like a horrific accident, everyone was relieved when bike and rider appeared from the foliage minutes later - and remarkably was back in action and winning on the same bike later in the day.

The other standout incident was the drunken bloke who fell on the track half way up Quarry Hill. Apparently members of a stag party larking about and one was pushed / fell from the fence onto the track (about twelve foot down). I believe after receiving medical treatment, he was removed by the Police. This sort of behaviour needs to be clamped down on quickly and severely - it was extremely lucky there was no bikes on track at the time (the 600 solos were about to be sent on their warm up lap). There were other objects on the track over the weekend (not necessarily from the same party), including a football and numerous beer tins.

The feature "Gold Cup" solo race ended up with a depleted field as firstly Bruce Anstey; then Dean Harrison; and John McGuinness all slipped off at Mere Hairpin on subsequent laps. A big shame in particular for Dean, who was pushing for the lead.

Of the initial talk of an over subscribed sidecar entry, only twelve turned up (sixteen were listed in the programme). We lost the outfit of Ken Minns and Mark Henderson in the opening practice on Saturday after an off at Memorial, Ken has some fractures to his arm, (best wishes for a fast recovery). With a number of mechanical problems, and some choosing not to race in the wet conditions on Sunday, only seven outfits lined up for the final race.

[steve-e]

More angles of it here (better footage including onboards) .. interesting note - Dean Harrison is a Manxman ( it says about 53s. in )

The bike coverage is just the first minute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hyaxHniKyg

[steve-e]

Interesting in the next piece on there H, talking about landlords

[Helen Gibson]

They got their Dean Hs mixed up... our Dean retired a few years ago and is a travelling marshal. His sons, Glenn and Nathan race.
Yes, ironic that yesterday they issued some findings from this as I was trying to get the greedy bastard to sort my gas boiler. Run out of patience and looking for somewhere else from April....