Episode 3 Road Riders


Episode 3

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MOTORBIKE REVS

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Those of us that are involved in any shape or form,

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we've been kind of brought up with it. It's a big family.

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It's part of our way of life.

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'Here we go, guys. Let's get ready to go!'

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Just the atmosphere, we go for, and the tracks. Unbelievable.

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I've been around the paddock from when I was in a pram.

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Running up and down, stealing tools.

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We have tools belonging to...

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-Joey Dunlop and...

-HE LAUGHS

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The people are different and life, in general.

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I love the people involved.

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There's many a time I needed a part and you would find that the guy

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that was close to you in points,

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that maybe didn't want you to score, he's the guy lending you a part.

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The road racing paddock, I really enjoy the people in it.

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I hope I've got their respect because I certainly have

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respect for them.

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Oh!

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The week before a race, the day before a race, the second,

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a minute before a race...

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I'll be all right.

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'Anybody who doesn't race doesn't understand that feeling

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'that you get.'

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It is like a drug.

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It's as if we're approachable.

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We're just normal men, you know, like anybody else.

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It's just we race a motorbike.

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And the spectators respect the people...for doing it.

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When the pain is there, you're thinking to yourself,

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"It's maybe time to stop this or whatever,"

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but when the pain goes away, the brain goes away.

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It's completely different from Czech races, you know, because

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we don't have jumps and our tracks aren't so bumpy and not so tight.

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So, it was a bit difficult, but I really love it.

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Road racing is something like a glue,

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which glues up people together.

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You have to be part of it. That's all you're asking for.

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You just want to be on the track in a race day,

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doesn't matter what and you want to go.

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LOUD CRASH AND GLASS SHATTERS

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The sense of community,

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togetherness, sense of fun, a bit of craic and banter.

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It is part of being from Ireland, from Northern Ireland.

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For those of us that are involved, it is.

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But most of all, it's... For most, it's a way of life.

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After the long, cold winter,

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the craic that you get that first few races back in the paddock,

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having the craic with the friends that you've missed all winter,

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everybody is welcome. That's what I love about it.

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When you are involved in the organisation,

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often you don't really see the racing.

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BIKES REV

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You've got your headphones on or your earpiece in

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and so you're hearing lots of communications that are going on

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and so you can't just relax and enjoy the racing.

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'It's very hard work.'

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They won't get their race pass unless they sign on

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and they won't get signing on...

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'But if it was easy, it wouldn't give you the pleasure it gives you.

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'That sense of achievement'

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and enjoyment out of seeing everybody else enjoying it.

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'For the competitors, it's about the speed and the challenge of

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'the tracks and the euphoria of winning.'

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For the marshals, they want to help keep them safe

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and they want to help preserve an amazing sport.

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People do sacrifice. You know, the time to do it.

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Just for our one event, The Tandragee 100,

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you are talking about 500, almost, volunteers it takes

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to run the event.

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So, we cannot run without people giving freely of their time.

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-We have yellow.

-We have yellow.

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'It's wonderful that you see more and more people coming from Europe,

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'from Brazil, from Australia, from, you know, America.

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'All around the world now are coming.'

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There are people who come who just can't believe that they can

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just walk in, to the paddock, free, they're not charged

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and see the bikes up close and there's no restrictions.

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People are just amazed by that.

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I think the more, the merrier.

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We should be heading for the road soon, you know.

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-We should be there...

-The weather will be nice.

-I don't know.

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Roads are closing at 12.

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'When I get to the Irish roads,

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'I know I'm riding with the best, you know, road racers in the world'

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because there's no other country which has road races,

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you know, proper ones.

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So, I said, "This is something I really enjoy."

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My nickname is Indi because my father is Indonesian

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and everybody in Ireland will understand that name.

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If you have to say Michal Dokoupil, it takes some time to learn it.

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When I met Michal, I said to him, "Come with me, you know,

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"I'm just doing this road racing, you know."

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And he said, "No, no, no. I don't do it."

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He was, you know, a bit afraid and that's how we started

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with the road racing together.

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She explained she was racing, you know,

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classic bikes on a road and I said,

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"This is brilliant. She's doing the roads."

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We fell in love and I'm with Veronika for nine years now.

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You know, we should be married soon, I think,

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but there is no time between races.

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We live in Prague and on a Thursday, you know,

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we have the flight to Dublin from Prague.

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It takes maybe... It's like one day travelling.

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So we are really always tired after the day

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and after that, you know, on Sunday morning, we have to go back,

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you know, through checks and buses and, you know, airplanes

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and all the things like that.

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-ANNOUNCER:

-'Just to get you up to speed out there,

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'a few of the clubs were using lights.

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'We are using the flag here for the start.'

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'This lifestyle suits both of us, you know.

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'We are just, you know, happy with that.'

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Yeah, good to see you.

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'Every time we go back here, we just feel like it's going back home.

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'It's like second home now because'

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it's not like you are coming somewhere where you are not welcome.

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This is a place where you are coming and you are always welcome.

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You know, it's always crazy with my mind.

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You know, I'm always thinking about him, if I'm not, you know, racing.

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If I'm in a paddock and just watching his race, you know.

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So maybe it's much more difficult for me to watch the race

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than to be with him on a course, you know, because

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if you are there with him, you know everything just at the moment.

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Go, go, go!

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It feels so strange when I have to watch her doing the roads.

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I don't feel comfortable with that, you know,

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because I don't want her to get hurt.

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That's why we don't chase the championship points,

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you know, hitting the throttle, keep it light, you know.

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I'm happy with that.

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I've been at bike racing nearly all my life.

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My earliest memories would have been the early '80s,

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going along to the races with my mum and dad.

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My dad was always a big supporter of road racing.

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Just sponsored people and helped people out and stuff like that.

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I was like probably every other young teenage boy when I did start.

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You know, I'd watched my heroes doing it for years.

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Like Joey Dunlop, Robert Dunlop, Gary Dynes...

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You know, all-star names.

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Just the whole competitive thing of racing, you know,

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sitting on the line on race morning with those kind of fellas about,

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you know, for that split second, or whatever when I was sat

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on the ground, I thought I was one of those

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and then reality happened, when the flag dropped probably.

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Everyone does their day's work and then people go home and relax

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by watching TV and sitting with their feet up.

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Some people go to the pub and have a beer or whatever, like, you know.

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There's many a long night standing in here and thinking to yourself,

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you know, "Will I ever be ready for the morning?"

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Or, "How's it going to go tomorrow or whatever like?"

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I enjoy being able to come in here and you do build that bond up

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because, as I say, you are going racing round Irish roads

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on something that you are trusting your life in, like, so it's...

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I...suppose there is a bond there,

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but I wouldn't get totally attached with it and try to move one into

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the bedroom or anything like that there like, so...

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Up here, I've got a bit of a collection of some of my helmets.

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Apparently I used this one at Dundrod in 2001

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when I had quite a hefty crash.

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I braked so hard that I popped myself over the handlebars.

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And...obviously I must've hit my head on the road at some stage,

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but I ended up in a field and I got myself onto my hands and knees

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and I looked down and...

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For some reason or other, I happen to look down

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and this hand was pointing in the wrong direction.

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And I'm thinking to myself, "There's possibly something wrong there."

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Two broken bones and both bones,

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the way they were smashed, they had to be fixed by two permanent plates

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and 13 screws through my arm

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to hold the plates together, so...

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So they are still in there, which makes airports a bit of fun, but...

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You can get through.

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There's room left on the... That's actually good.

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Yeah, so is that...? Are you happy enough?

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'Bikes have always been part of my life.

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'My earliest memories would've been'

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holding a torch my dad's garage for him or passing him

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a spanner or something while he was tinkering away at bikes.

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And then when I got a wee bit older,

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he asked me would I come along and help take a few notes at a meeting

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and then before you knew it, you were sucked in.

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You know, it's just a matter of, you get it to open,

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you can't get rid of it.

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But nowadays with health and safety,

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and safety of the riders being paramount,

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you've got to put an awful lot more into it,

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but at the end of the day,

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once the boys put their leg over the bike to race, they're in control.

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The impact of losing somebody,

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it's not just for the day.

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That lasts for months and years.

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It can change you.

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I know that my dad being Clerk of Course for ten years

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and Assistant Clerk of Course, ten years,

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he experienced it a number of times.

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And it did wear heavily on him.

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But people don't say that bit of it.

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And then they don't understand. "Well, why he's still doing it?"

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He's still doing it because he knows that people still want to race.

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If they are doing it in a relatively controlled environment and

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that you have done everything that you can think of to make it

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as safe and controlled for them as possible

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so that they can go out and be the best that they can be,

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sure, who doesn't want to be the best they can be?

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-VERONIKA:

-I like road racing because

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maybe I'm too crazy for a normal life.

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I have road racing in my heart and it's like how I said,

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it's like a passion.

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I'm always unhappy with my times and everything because that's me,

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you know. I would like to be the best.

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I still would like to improve in everything and bikes is my life.

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I know about the dangers, but when I sit on a bike, everything is,

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you know, gone and only what I want is ride, you know, really fast.

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-She'll be all right.

-She'll be all right.

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There she comes. She is coming here.

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There is oil here, Adam.

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-See the oil?

-Yeah.

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After two laps, you know,

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I just started to hear the engine was a bit different, you know,

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the sound was a bit strange and it started losing the power.

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So, yeah, I'm disappointed, you know.

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Yeah, that's racing.

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You see the bike is not running well, you are better pulling off.

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You know, it is a shame because she was going well and in second place,

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so I understand the disappointment.

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I met Clare at a road race.

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We both, must, I don't know, caught each other's eye or whatever.

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And the rest is history, as they say.

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As I say, that's what now, coming up on 20 years...

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..and we're still together and we're now married

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and we've two kids and...

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..mortgage and everything that goes along with that.

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She's been very supportive. Pretty much, she has been there,

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you know, in the last 20 years, at every race, really, so...

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Couldn't really do it without them at the same time, so...

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From when I met him, I think I've missed about one race until

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they weans were born and then that would have been just a few races

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we've missed since then, but they've been to all the races with us.

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They love the caravan. They have fun.

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A lot of people I work with think I'm completely mad.

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They think, how can you take your children to a race and live in

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a caravan in a field and...?

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I don't know, just the way I explain it, is, your weekends,

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this is where your friends are and this is where your life is.

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Foreign holiday?

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I think the last one was my honeymoon and I had to wait

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two years on that.

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For racing.

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Doing the Manx instead of going on honeymoon but sure,

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two years' wait and we went to Lanzarote, I think it was.

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Yeah, Lanzarote. And that's been the last holiday, so...

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ten years ago.

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Me and Clare had always sort of planned that there would be

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a family at some time, just whenever it would be, it would be.

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There was no set date as such.

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My modern bike days were probably coming near an end anyway.

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They were getting fast and I was probably not getting any younger

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to be still trying to be as competitive as I was.

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To be honest with you, once they started the classic scene,

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it was like a new lease of life really again.

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That competitive thing is still there when you go out to race.

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I guess that's why everyone races.

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You know, everyone goes out to be a winner or try to be a winner.

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Not everyone can do it but we all go out through the gate hoping

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that we will be that winner.

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You know, here I am, 23 years later, still doing it.

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Probably already making plans for next year.

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Between the adrenaline and the sensation of winning

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or doing your best or beating whoever you can beat on the day,

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I think that feeling you get is hard to replace by doing anything else.

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I look back and OK, I've had injuries and have been

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involved in accidents and stuff, but I don't think I would have

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changed anything over the last 23 years either at the same time.

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-ANNOUNCER:

-'The winner of the 350 race and the winner overall -

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'Barry Davidson!'

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The road racing can be very cruel on one hand

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and very enjoyable on the other one.

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But when you go on a track, of course,

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you don't think about these things.

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I find out that if it can touch me as well, you know,

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it is not only that rider got injured and that rider got injured.

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You can get injured.

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First two days of the season in Cookstown and I was, you know,

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very excited about it, two seasons here - 2009 and 2010 -

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I didn't crash.

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So I felt very untouchable, you know.

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I felt like, I am the star, I'm the man, you know.

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Everybody's crashing and I'm just the only one who is not crashing.

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I'm probably very good.

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You know, I said I have to chase the Championship.

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I have to be again in the top three and I tried very hard.

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I was riding 1000cc that day.

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And I sort of clipped the bank with the front brake and my lever

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was getting too close to the banking and I really...

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That was it, you know.

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I landed on the road.

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The bike landed on my back and I was unconscious.

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I just woke up and I didn't know where I am or what happened.

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I just felt a very big pain in my back and then they found out later

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in the hospital that there is a broken vertebra and stuff.

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I was lying in a hospital in Belfast and I was on morphine.

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I was in big pain and it was very difficult time.

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I didn't have nobody here.

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My girlfriend was in Prague working and I was on my own here.

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I really felt so down

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and I didn't know if I would be able to race again.

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I said, "I'm going to come back and show them

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"that I cannot give up so quickly."

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If I will be able, I'm going to come back and race again.

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-ANNOUNCER:

-'Michal Dokoupil!'

-CROWD CHEERING

0:22:330:22:36

'I actually found out that there are some people who are really

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'like me and they are really good friends of mine because every'

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day in hospital, I had so many visitors.

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-Happy days!

-Happy days!

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'I really worked hard just to get back again on the roads.'

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I was back next year, same year, same track, Cookstown,

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and I was enjoying it, 100%.

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-It's been five years.

-That's right!

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-It's five years now.

-Yeah. The road must be waiting up there.

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-Get that on that board now.

-Are you sure? No warm-up?

0:23:140:23:18

'The last hour before the roads close seem to be two minutes.

0:23:190:23:23

'It's frenetic.'

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But then it just settles.

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And off we go.

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The perfect event is everybody gets home safe.

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I wouldn't think of it as a burden.

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You've done all you can do to put everything in place

0:23:470:23:50

to keep it as safe as possible.

0:23:500:23:53

Everybody knows what they are doing and you are putting your trust

0:23:530:23:56

in all those people that they do do what they are supposed to do.

0:23:560:23:59

There's always an optimism that it's going to go fine.

0:24:040:24:08

You have to... You have to believe that it's going to be OK.

0:24:080:24:12

Otherwise, I don't think you would keep doing it.

0:24:120:24:15

When things don't go according to plan,

0:24:150:24:17

there is certainly a level of...

0:24:170:24:19

..responsibility, weight, but at the same time, there is also

0:24:200:24:26

the counter responsibility of, as long as these guys want

0:24:260:24:29

to throw their leg over a bike and do this,

0:24:290:24:32

I'm obliged to make it as safe as I can, to put

0:24:320:24:35

all of those volunteers in place, to look after them while they do it.

0:24:350:24:39

ENGINE ROARS

0:25:170:25:19

TYRES SCREECH

0:25:270:25:28

LOUD CRASH

0:25:340:25:37

When there's a big smash, your heart sinks.

0:25:410:25:44

The atmosphere changes, it's palpable.

0:25:460:25:48

You can really sense it.

0:25:530:25:56

And then you hear through the radio that it's serious.

0:25:560:25:59

I don't really know how to describe how I feel about those things.

0:26:030:26:06

Erm...

0:26:060:26:07

It's not easy.

0:26:100:26:11

There have been times in the past when I've lost somebody

0:26:150:26:20

and that's been the end of the racing for the day.

0:26:200:26:22

But there have also been years where the family wanted us

0:26:250:26:29

to continue. As soon as we knew that was what the family wanted,

0:26:290:26:32

we gritted our teeth and we put our head down, shoulder to the wheel,

0:26:320:26:37

and we got on with it because we knew that's what they wanted.

0:26:370:26:40

And that's important.

0:26:420:26:43

I don't think we all forget the riders that have unfortunately

0:26:460:26:49

died or whatever, like, and we all have got fond memories of them.

0:26:490:26:53

'The actual riders themselves that go out the following weekend again,

0:26:560:27:00

'we all still feel it and know what happened, but, yes,

0:27:000:27:04

'we do somehow or other, shut that out of our mind.'

0:27:040:27:07

I will probably continue,

0:27:110:27:13

probably while I still feel comfortable and feel that I'm safe.

0:27:130:27:18

And...can still ride my bike and enjoy it. That's all...

0:27:180:27:23

I'll probably still keep going for as long as I feel I can do

0:27:230:27:27

all those things, like, so.

0:27:270:27:28

All that happened was, that I think I tried too hard and I got to

0:27:310:27:34

the high side in a bend and I didn't expect it to happen.

0:27:340:27:38

So I landed on my knee so that was a bit sore and swollen now

0:27:380:27:42

and broke my finger.

0:27:420:27:43

But it's not a... Nothing major.

0:27:430:27:45

It's always difficult to explain to anybody else, you know,

0:27:520:27:56

what we feel, but if something will happen, it will happen.

0:27:560:28:02

It could happen anywhere, you know, it couldn't be only at a road race.

0:28:020:28:06

'I have to say that it's on the same level, you know.'

0:28:080:28:11

Your love for your friends and your love for the road racing.

0:28:130:28:16

'I'm not so crazy like I was maybe five years ago, trying to go hard.

0:28:170:28:22

'I want to do this sport as much as possible.

0:28:220:28:25

'I want to do it maybe when I will be 50.

0:28:250:28:28

'If I will be fit for it, I will still want to do it.'

0:28:280:28:31

But, you know, for that, you have to just survive all these road races.

0:28:310:28:36

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