Episode 3 Road Riders

MOTORBIKE REVS

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

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

It's part of our way of life.

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

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

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

Running up and down, stealing tools.

We have tools belonging to...

-Joey Dunlop and...

-HE LAUGHS

The people are different and life, in general.

I love the people involved.

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

that was close to you in points,

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

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

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

respect for them.

Oh!

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

a minute before a race...

I'll be all right.

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

'that you get.'

It is like a drug.

It's as if we're approachable.

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

It's just we race a motorbike.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Road racing is something like a glue,

which glues up people together.

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

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

doesn't matter what and you want to go.

LOUD CRASH AND GLASS SHATTERS

The sense of community,

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

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

For those of us that are involved, it is.

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

After the long, cold winter,

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

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

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

When you are involved in the organisation,

often you don't really see the racing.

BIKES REV

You've got your headphones on or your earpiece in

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

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

'It's very hard work.'

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

and they won't get signing on...

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

'That sense of achievement'

and enjoyment out of seeing everybody else enjoying it.

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

'the tracks and the euphoria of winning.'

For the marshals, they want to help keep them safe

and they want to help preserve an amazing sport.

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

Just for our one event, The Tandragee 100,

you are talking about 500, almost, volunteers it takes

to run the event.

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

-We have yellow.

-We have yellow.

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

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

'All around the world now are coming.'

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

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

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

People are just amazed by that.

I think the more, the merrier.

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

-We should be there...

-The weather will be nice.

-I don't know.

Roads are closing at 12.

'When I get to the Irish roads,

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

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

you know, proper ones.

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

My nickname is Indi because my father is Indonesian

and everybody in Ireland will understand that name.

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

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

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

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

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

with the road racing together.

She explained she was racing, you know,

classic bikes on a road and I said,

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

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

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

but there is no time between races.

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

we have the flight to Dublin from Prague.

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

So we are really always tired after the day

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

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

and all the things like that.

-ANNOUNCER:

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

'a few of the clubs were using lights.

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

'This lifestyle suits both of us, you know.

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

Yeah, good to see you.

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

'It's like second home now because'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go, go, go!

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

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

because I don't want her to get hurt.

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

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

I'm happy with that.

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

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

going along to the races with my mum and dad.

My dad was always a big supporter of road racing.

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

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

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

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

You know, all-star names.

Just the whole competitive thing of racing, you know,

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

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

on the ground, I thought I was one of those

and then reality happened, when the flag dropped probably.

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

by watching TV and sitting with their feet up.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I...suppose there is a bond there,

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

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

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

Apparently I used this one at Dundrod in 2001

when I had quite a hefty crash.

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

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

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

and I looked down and...

For some reason or other, I happen to look down

and this hand was pointing in the wrong direction.

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

Two broken bones and both bones,

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

and 13 screws through my arm

to hold the plates together, so...

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

You can get through.

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

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

'Bikes have always been part of my life.

'My earliest memories would've been'

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

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

And then when I got a wee bit older,

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

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

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

you can't get rid of it.

But nowadays with health and safety,

and safety of the riders being paramount,

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

but at the end of the day,

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

The impact of losing somebody,

it's not just for the day.

That lasts for months and years.

It can change you.

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

and Assistant Clerk of Course, ten years,

he experienced it a number of times.

And it did wear heavily on him.

But people don't say that bit of it.

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

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

If they are doing it in a relatively controlled environment and

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

as safe and controlled for them as possible

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

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

-VERONIKA:

-I like road racing because

maybe I'm too crazy for a normal life.

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

it's like a passion.

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

you know. I would like to be the best.

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

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

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

-She'll be all right.

-She'll be all right.

There she comes. She is coming here.

There is oil here, Adam.

-See the oil?

-Yeah.

After two laps, you know,

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

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

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

Yeah, that's racing.

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

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

so I understand the disappointment.

I met Clare at a road race.

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

And the rest is history, as they say.

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

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

and we've two kids and...

..mortgage and everything that goes along with that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

They love the caravan. They have fun.

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

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

a caravan in a field and...?

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

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

Foreign holiday?

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

two years on that.

For racing.

Doing the Manx instead of going on honeymoon but sure,

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

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

ten years ago.

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

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

There was no set date as such.

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

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

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

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

it was like a new lease of life really again.

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

I guess that's why everyone races.

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

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

that we will be that winner.

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

Probably already making plans for next year.

Between the adrenaline and the sensation of winning

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

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

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

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

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

-ANNOUNCER:

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

'Barry Davidson!'

The road racing can be very cruel on one hand

and very enjoyable on the other one.

But when you go on a track, of course,

you don't think about these things.

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

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

You can get injured.

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

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

I didn't crash.

So I felt very untouchable, you know.

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

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

I'm probably very good.

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

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

I was riding 1000cc that day.

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

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

That was it, you know.

I landed on the road.

The bike landed on my back and I was unconscious.

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

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

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

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

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

I didn't have nobody here.

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

I really felt so down

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

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

"that I cannot give up so quickly."

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

-ANNOUNCER:

-'Michal Dokoupil!'

-CROWD CHEERING

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

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

day in hospital, I had so many visitors.

-Happy days!

-Happy days!

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

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

and I was enjoying it, 100%.

-It's been five years.

-That's right!

-It's five years now.

-Yeah. The road must be waiting up there.

-Get that on that board now.

-Are you sure? No warm-up?

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

'It's frenetic.'

But then it just settles.

And off we go.

The perfect event is everybody gets home safe.

I wouldn't think of it as a burden.

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

to keep it as safe as possible.

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

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

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

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

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

When things don't go according to plan,

there is certainly a level of...

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

the counter responsibility of, as long as these guys want

to throw their leg over a bike and do this,

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

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

ENGINE ROARS

TYRES SCREECH

LOUD CRASH

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

The atmosphere changes, it's palpable.

You can really sense it.

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

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

Erm...

It's not easy.

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

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

But there have also been years where the family wanted us

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

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

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

And that's important.

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

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

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

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

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

I will probably continue,

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

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

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

all those things, like, so.

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

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

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

and broke my finger.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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