Yes, for 1998 the ever-so-slightly-famous TZR tour (well, it did get a mention in Performance Bikes magazine about 5 years ago) has been resurrected, mainly due to sterling efforts by Daz Mowat.
The idea behind the tour is a small championship hosted by the BMCRC which runs alongside their own TZR rounds. For the riders, it gives us the opportunity to contest a smaller, 10 round series rather than the full 20 rounds of the BMCRC championships. It also gives us the chance to win a small, cheap plastic trophy. For the club, it means increased numbers of riders on the grid (at least at the start of the day). And for the crowd, it's the chance to see a bloody good accident.
The original series was run by the now retired (for the time being at least) Ian 'Bertie' Basset who's bike is now being campaigned by yours truly. (It has to be said that it's probably enjoying being ridden so slowly). The series ran for a few years before coming to an abrubt halt at the end of the '96 season. However, it was too good an idea to die, hence the '98 tour.
So why TZR's then? Well, mainly 'cos they are cheap to run and don't seem to mind being crashed on a regular basis. Besides, such great figures as Darren Dixon, Niall Mackenzie, and even Mick Doohan have, at some point, raced TZRs, so they can't be all that bad. The rules of the TZR tour are essentially that engines can be tuned, but everything else must remain standard. Road legal tyres must be used. This helps keep costs down, and ensures that nobody can really gain an advantage just by spending more money.
Perhaps the most famous incident in the history of the tour occured at Pembrey in 1996. 36 TZRs lined up for the first race... The fourth restart was delayed due to all the circuit ambulances being in use. However, when the 9 remaining TZRs lined up, club secretary Dave Stewart warned all the riders to take it easy, as there would be no more restarts. To which Paul Ling replied "Last one to the hairpin is a wanker".
| Rider | Round1 | Round2 | Round3 | Round4 | Round5 | Round6 | Round7 | Round8 | Round9 | Round10 | Total |
| Darren Mowat | 10+10 | 10+10 | 10+10 | 0+0 | 10+9 | 9+10 | 8+8 | 10+10 | 9+10 | 8+10 | 163 |
| Phil Rollason | 8+9 | 0+0 | 8+8 | 10+10 | 9+8 | 10+9 | 10+0 | 0+9 | 10+9 | 9+9 | 145 |
| Si Tomlinson | 0+0 | 4+8 | 7+7 | 0+8 | 7+0 | 8+0 | 9+10 | 9+8 | 8+8 | 7+8 | 116 |
| Scott Alloway | 4+3 | 6+4 | 2+5 | 8+5 | 4+5 | 7+7 | 7+0 | 6+5 | 3+0 | 6+4 | 89 |
| Neil Ronketti | 0+0 | 0+0 | 6+6 | 7+9 | 8+7 | 6+8 | 0+0 | 0+6 | 2+7 | 4+5 | 81 |
| Nick Wiles | 5+5 | 9+6 | 0+4 | 0+0 | 6+6 | 0+0 | 4+4 | 8+7 | 7+2 | 0+6 | 79 |
| Pete Fishwick | 3+4 | 7+5 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 4+5 | 0+0 | 5+3 | 4+6 | 5+7 | 58 |
| Clive Larrett | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 5+4 | 5+6 | 5+7 | 7+4 | 6+5 | 0+0 | 54 |
| Chaz Entwhistle | 1+2 | 3+3 | 3+3 | 6+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 6+9 | 0+0 | 5+0 | 3+2 | 46 |
| Chaz Quartey | 6+6 | 8+7 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+6 | 4+1 | 1+3 | 0+0 | 42 |
| David O'Donovan | 7+7 | 0+9 | 5+2 | 5+6 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 41 |
| Rik Ballerini | 0+0 | 0+0 | 9+9 | 0+0 | 0+10 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 10+0 | 38 |
| Ben Gilbert | 2+1 | 2+1 | 4+0 | 9+7 | 3+3 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 32 |
| Simon Owen | 0+0 | 5+2 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 2+2 | 0+0 | 3+5 | 0+2 | 0+4 | 2+3 | 30 |
| Ian Brown | 9+8 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 17 |
| Richard Watson | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 1+1 | 0+0 | 2+3 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 7 |
| Mark Joslyn | 0+0 | 1+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 1 |
I wasn't around for these rounds, so can't really comment too much. However, from what I can gather the broad outline of events was that Rik cleared off to win by miles, Daz was in hot pursuit (fuelling rumours that he wants the cheap plastic trophy for himself), with Phil chasing hard all the way until bailing out at the hairpin (and very nearly skittling Daz). Ian Brown was going nicely until an unplanned exodus at the Elbow left him nursing a broken collarbone. Ouch.
This was the coldest race in living memory, would you believe snow in April? I've never raced in snow before, and never want to again. However, the weekend was dominated by the tragic death of Dave Tills in the SS400 class (see here for more details) but in the TZR class it was business as usual as both Daz and Phil alternated between falling off and winning. Simon rode brilliantly in race 1 to take the win from Rik. Shame the points don't count for the tour. Ben Gilbert hinted at great things to come by taking his maiden trophy, and belting past me at every opportunity on the straight. Scott Alloway also took his maiden trophy and made his intentions clear for the rest of the season in an epic scrap with me on the Sunday. Meanwhile, I scraped my first trophy with a 2nd in the final race on the Sunday behind Phil.