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I'm just outside the small town of Cookstown, Northern Ireland, | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
50 miles to the west of Belfast. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:15 | |
It's a quiet and peaceful rural scene, | 0:00:15 | 0:00:18 | |
as you'd expect when you venture into the Irish countryside, | 0:00:18 | 0:00:21 | |
but this weekend that peace and quiet is going to be well and truly | 0:00:21 | 0:00:25 | |
shattered. | 0:00:25 | 0:00:26 | |
On any other day, these roads would be used by normal traffic. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:36 | |
As you can see, they are lined with walls, trees and hedges, | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
all kinds of obstacles - road furniture, as they call it. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:42 | |
But for the next two days, | 0:00:42 | 0:00:44 | |
these roads will be closed for road racing as 200 road racers push | 0:00:44 | 0:00:49 | |
themselves and their machines to the absolute limits as they compete on | 0:00:49 | 0:00:53 | |
this circuit. Mostly men, but also some incredible women. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:57 | |
The week before a race, a minute before a race, it's the adrenaline, | 0:00:59 | 0:01:03 | |
the buzz. It is like a drug. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
If you start worrying about getting hurt all the time, | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
where are you going with that? There's no point in doing that. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
You have to push on and prepare as best you can. | 0:01:12 | 0:01:15 | |
It's on the same level, you know, your love, your friends, | 0:01:17 | 0:01:20 | |
and your passion for racing. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:22 | |
I'm happy that it's like that. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
So incredible! | 0:01:57 | 0:01:59 | |
By its very nature, road racing is an extremely dangerous motorsport, | 0:02:01 | 0:02:06 | |
with riders reaching speeds here of 180mph. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:10 | |
Morning. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:11 | |
But it's also a sport full of tradition, | 0:02:11 | 0:02:14 | |
with a strong family atmosphere. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:16 | |
I've never seen so many characters in one small space. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:20 | |
Hi! | 0:02:20 | 0:02:23 | |
-Nice to meet you. -Thank you. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:28 | |
Pleasure, absolute pleasure. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:30 | |
Well, this is so friendly it's incredible. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:33 | |
You know what, it actually reminds me a little bit of when I used to go | 0:02:35 | 0:02:38 | |
and watch British superbikes, about 25 years ago. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:41 | |
It is bringing back that overwhelming family feeling, | 0:02:41 | 0:02:45 | |
and just that feeling of a grassroots motorsport. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:48 | |
There's not television cameras everywhere, | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
it's just very much racing at its basic level. | 0:02:50 | 0:02:54 | |
This race, the Cookstown 100, is in its 95th year, | 0:02:57 | 0:03:01 | |
and apart from the machinery, | 0:03:01 | 0:03:03 | |
I doubt that it's changed very much over that time. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
But one thing has definitely changed since racing began here. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:11 | |
In today's paddock, you can find some women road racers. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:14 | |
I think Melissa's in here. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:18 | |
Hiya. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:20 | |
Here she is. Hello. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
How are you? | 0:03:22 | 0:03:23 | |
-Nice to meet you. -You too. The first time I was ever on the bike, | 0:03:23 | 0:03:26 | |
I kept falling off it, I couldn't work the gears, | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
couldn't work the clutch, I was like, "I don't want to do this, | 0:03:29 | 0:03:31 | |
"I don't want to do this." But Dad kept at me and now look at me. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:36 | |
I'm still here, 14 years on. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:38 | |
So what was the point then where you stopped thinking, | 0:03:38 | 0:03:41 | |
"I don't want to do it", and you thought, "I only want to do this"? | 0:03:41 | 0:03:45 | |
Yeah, there have been times where it has been quite hard, | 0:03:45 | 0:03:49 | |
because I am in a man's sport and | 0:03:49 | 0:03:52 | |
it's...for a girl, it's hard. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:56 | |
I just think I'm immortal, I just think that I'm not going to get | 0:04:00 | 0:04:03 | |
hurt, that it's not going to happen to me. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:05 | |
And it's the fact that it's something I love so much, | 0:04:07 | 0:04:10 | |
I can't get away from it, I really can't. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:13 | |
Like, people that don't know me, | 0:04:13 | 0:04:15 | |
I would say to them, "I race motorbikes," | 0:04:15 | 0:04:18 | |
and they look at me as if I've two heads. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
It's just disbelief, I guess, because I am a girl, obviously, | 0:04:24 | 0:04:29 | |
and the fact that I'm so small, too, draws attention. | 0:04:29 | 0:04:32 | |
My poor mum, bless her, like, I know | 0:04:40 | 0:04:42 | |
she doesn't particularly like me doing it. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:45 | |
She won't even watch me. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:46 | |
She can't, she just can't bring herself to watch me, | 0:04:46 | 0:04:49 | |
which I don't blame her. That's the way she copes with it. | 0:04:49 | 0:04:51 | |
Lavinia, you're Melissa's mum and some might say that you've got the | 0:04:53 | 0:04:57 | |
-hardest job of all. -It's hard. | 0:04:57 | 0:04:59 | |
You know, my stomach was churning and your heart's going as well | 0:04:59 | 0:05:04 | |
before she goes out. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:07 | |
And I'll always give her a hug, kiss her and say I love her, | 0:05:07 | 0:05:10 | |
and away off she goes, so. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:12 | |
And then I just sit and wait. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:14 | |
Sit and wait, with my fingers crossed. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:16 | |
It's hard not to feel for Melissa's mum, | 0:05:17 | 0:05:20 | |
to have brought a daughter into this world and see her commit at such a | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
young age to this sport that could take her away at any time. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:28 | |
Lavinia may not want to be here but she's here for Melissa. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
I've worked in motorsport for 22 years and I think this is the most | 0:05:38 | 0:05:41 | |
dangerous motorsport that I've ever seen, and I'm sort of slightly | 0:05:41 | 0:05:44 | |
polarised by it, because it's incredible watching | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
it and another part of me is like your mum - | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
-I'm absolutely terrified... -I know, yeah. -..for you being out there. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:53 | |
I know it's not nice for her, but | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
when I come back in and I am thoughtful of her, like, | 0:06:01 | 0:06:03 | |
having her here is probably the biggest support I have. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:07 | |
Because everybody needs their mum. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
That's very true. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:12 | |
I like road racing because maybe I'm too crazy for normal life. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:21 | |
I don't know, really, but I have road racing in my heart, | 0:06:24 | 0:06:27 | |
and it's like how I said - it's like a passion. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:31 | |
So I need maybe the adrenaline and all the atmosphere, | 0:06:31 | 0:06:35 | |
or something like that, and everything. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:37 | |
And bikes is my life. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:39 | |
I'm not too much thinking about the dangers. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:48 | |
If something will happen, it will happen, and... | 0:06:48 | 0:06:53 | |
it could happen, you know, anywhere, | 0:06:55 | 0:06:57 | |
you know? It can't be only at the road racing, you know? | 0:06:57 | 0:07:00 | |
For Veronika Hankocyova, | 0:07:02 | 0:07:04 | |
taking part in Irish road racing is a huge commitment. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
I can see Veronika up there. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:08 | |
Along with her fiance and fellow racer Michal, or Indy as she calls | 0:07:10 | 0:07:14 | |
him, she drives from her home in the | 0:07:14 | 0:07:16 | |
Czech Republic just to race on these roads. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:18 | |
-Hi, I'm Suzy. -Yeah, nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:25 | |
Michal's out there now. That's why you're here. Is he? | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
Is Michal on track right now? | 0:07:28 | 0:07:29 | |
Yeah, he's there right now because he's on a 600 but doing | 0:07:29 | 0:07:33 | |
-1,000 class on that bike, you know, so I'm just watching him. -OK. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:37 | |
I have problems watching the races, it's so fast, you know, | 0:07:39 | 0:07:43 | |
I can't believe it. But if I'm there it's completely different. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
I always say to Indy, | 0:07:46 | 0:07:48 | |
"Yeah, you have to go, just, you know, have a nice ride." | 0:07:48 | 0:07:51 | |
It's not about racing, I have to say, | 0:07:51 | 0:07:54 | |
it's about a very nice, fast ride, safe as much as possible. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:58 | |
OK. | 0:07:58 | 0:08:01 | |
Well, we'll be watching you and wishing you all the luck, of course. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:05 | |
Have you seen him? Is he back in? | 0:08:05 | 0:08:08 | |
I think he's not here. I have to go to the tent to see him. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:13 | |
-Go on. -Perfect. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
It's astonishing, isn't it? | 0:08:17 | 0:08:18 | |
Everything that she said, really, | 0:08:18 | 0:08:21 | |
and the fact that she's standing here and she's more nervous about | 0:08:21 | 0:08:24 | |
waiting for her boyfriend to come in than she is when she's actually out | 0:08:24 | 0:08:27 | |
there racing. I kind of understand that, as well, a little bit. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:31 | |
Yeah, it's quite a lot to take in. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
I'm fascinated by Veronika and Indy, | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
a couple committed to each other but also to competing in this sport. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:55 | |
In fact, it's the danger of road racing that drew them even closer | 0:08:56 | 0:09:01 | |
together, six years ago... | 0:09:01 | 0:09:03 | |
..when Indy was badly injured here at the Cookstown 100. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:10 | |
I had a big crash at Cookstown. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:23 | |
I broke my back in many places. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
And after that, I was lying in hospital and I came out of the | 0:09:25 | 0:09:28 | |
hospital and I asked her if she would marry me because I realised | 0:09:28 | 0:09:32 | |
afterwards that life is too short. Now we are ten years together, we | 0:09:32 | 0:09:37 | |
got engaged six years ago, and we have never had time to get | 0:09:37 | 0:09:40 | |
-the marriage done. -Come on, Indy! -Yeah, I know! -Come on, sort it out! | 0:09:40 | 0:09:44 | |
Yeah, we spend all our money on bikes, everything, so... | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
-And travelling. -Travelling, you know. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:49 | |
Veronika was telling me she's a little bit nervous about going out | 0:09:49 | 0:09:52 | |
-on the 600 cos it's... -Yeah, she is actually, sort of, | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
her first year on a 600, really, | 0:09:55 | 0:09:57 | |
on the roads, so that is going to be a big premiere for her. | 0:09:57 | 0:10:00 | |
Of course, you know, she's getting used to the speed and, you know... | 0:10:00 | 0:10:04 | |
and I'm getting more nervous than her, I think, you know, | 0:10:04 | 0:10:06 | |
because you know when your partner is out there, | 0:10:06 | 0:10:09 | |
you know how tricky it is sometimes. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:11 | |
So I hope she's going to do well and she's going to enjoy it. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:15 | |
She was saying exactly the same thing about you | 0:10:15 | 0:10:17 | |
-while you were out there, too. -I know. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:18 | |
My first love was horses and showjumping. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:28 | |
Motorbikes just didn't figure at all. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:30 | |
Then, about 2004, I found myself on my own. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:35 | |
That was basically the end of the marriage. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
And I'd been married for 24 years. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
That's been a long time being with somebody all the time, | 0:10:42 | 0:10:45 | |
and all of a sudden you're on your own, | 0:10:45 | 0:10:47 | |
and it's very daunting, as well, | 0:10:47 | 0:10:49 | |
but for me, it was the start of a new life. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:51 | |
There is no doubt that Yvonne Montgomery is a road racer with a | 0:11:01 | 0:11:04 | |
difference. It's not just that she's a woman, | 0:11:04 | 0:11:08 | |
but a woman who began racing in such exceptional circumstances. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:12 | |
From learning to ride a motorbike to actually racing was only a year. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
Do your licence and get a wee motorbike and have a bit of | 0:11:18 | 0:11:21 | |
independence, so that's actually what I did do. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:24 | |
I didn't go looking for motorbikes. I didn't go looking to start racing, | 0:11:26 | 0:11:30 | |
it just all started to fall into place | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
and I went along the road that it led me. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:36 | |
It led me to motorbike racing, road racing, | 0:11:36 | 0:11:39 | |
and I've got such a good life now. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:42 | |
I enjoy my life so much. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:44 | |
It's a good time for me. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:46 | |
Hi. Has there been a birthday recently? | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
No, there's a birthday at the end of August. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
-It's coming up, is it? -The last day of August. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
-Oh, yeah. -60. -It's a big one. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
Well, sure, I don't know. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
It's just a number, isn't it? | 0:12:01 | 0:12:02 | |
Yeah, it is. You're in this for racing. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:05 | |
You love the racing. You like overtaking. You're not just... | 0:12:05 | 0:12:09 | |
I like catching them and passing them. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
That's what racing's about, | 0:12:12 | 0:12:14 | |
to get past whatever's in front of you and go on. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:17 | |
When you're on that grid with your lid on, visor down, | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
-you're racing out there. -Oh, yeah. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:22 | |
You're not just going out there to have a good time? | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
Of course not. It's far too expensive. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:26 | |
If you want to go out and just piddle around, | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
there's other things you can do a lot less expensive and dangerous as | 0:12:29 | 0:12:32 | |
racing. No, I'm out there to compete. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:34 | |
Whatever I earn goes straight into the bike. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:40 | |
The girls talk about getting their nails done, their gel nails. | 0:12:40 | 0:12:42 | |
It's £25. I think, "That's a jerrycan of fuel for me!" | 0:12:42 | 0:12:47 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:12:47 | 0:12:49 | |
We're away now. | 0:12:53 | 0:12:55 | |
Yvonne springing into action. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:03 | |
I don't think that racing gets any more raw than this. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
You don't just see and hear it, you can also feel it. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:15 | |
It's such an immersive and overwhelming experience. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:19 | |
-How you doing? You good? -What? -Are you good? -Yeah, good to go. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:25 | |
-Feeling good. -What Yvonne, Veronika and Melissa have in common, | 0:13:25 | 0:13:28 | |
like all the racers here, is a total commitment to this sport. | 0:13:28 | 0:13:32 | |
Their goal is the same, to go out, | 0:13:35 | 0:13:38 | |
race as hard as they can and beat some fellas along the way. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:42 | |
They look like they're talking about the track, and Indy is giving her | 0:13:45 | 0:13:49 | |
some pointers on his experience from just being out there. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
I don't speak Czech but I can tell by the body language. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:56 | |
I was wondering whether she was visualising the track | 0:13:56 | 0:13:58 | |
before she went out there. | 0:13:58 | 0:14:02 | |
It's so extraordinary standing here with them waiting to go out, | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
even though it's only for a practice, but on a road, | 0:14:07 | 0:14:10 | |
on a country lane, it feels so weird. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
When you're there, like she's sitting on her bike now, waiting to | 0:14:22 | 0:14:25 | |
-go, there must be so much going through your head. -Oh, yeah, it is. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
What are you thinking? Are you visualising the track? | 0:14:28 | 0:14:31 | |
-How do you work? -You are trying to visualise how it was last year, | 0:14:31 | 0:14:35 | |
"How shall I go this way?" | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
Not to concentrate on cameras, not concentrate on anything. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:42 | |
-Just be you... -100% focus on what you're going to do. -Yeah. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:45 | |
Shut the gate, health and safety. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:01 | |
At least she's taking it easy. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:11 | |
-Yeah, she's taking it easy. -She's taking it easy?! | 0:15:11 | 0:15:15 | |
My mum would be having kittens about me being here, watching this, | 0:15:19 | 0:15:22 | |
in case something happens, let alone being on there actually racing. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:26 | |
I can't really imagine how he's feeling. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:29 | |
It's clear to me that you can't take part in this sport | 0:15:33 | 0:15:37 | |
if you don't love it. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:39 | |
It's too expensive. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:42 | |
It's too dangerous to just be some casual pastime, but for Melissa, | 0:15:42 | 0:15:48 | |
like everyone else on the grid, | 0:15:48 | 0:15:50 | |
there's a price to pay for that love. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:52 | |
I've just spoken to all of her family and they have... | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
..a massive amount of pride and admiration, | 0:15:59 | 0:16:02 | |
but they're all incredibly nervous for the unknown, really. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:06 | |
This is racing how it used to be, | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
a kind of racing in which the riders have to take on the road as well as | 0:16:19 | 0:16:24 | |
their fellow competitors. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:26 | |
And the rest of us will never know just how exhilarating that must be. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
Only the riders can know that. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:32 | |
It looked like she got a good start. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:39 | |
She's so tiny, you know, against guys that are | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
twice the size of her and probably three times as strong as her, | 0:16:44 | 0:16:48 | |
and there she is, away. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:50 | |
Seventh? | 0:17:07 | 0:17:09 | |
Leading that second pack. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:11 | |
Seventh. She qualified ninth, so it's all good so far. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:14 | |
I felt a little bit torn there, because half of me just wanted her | 0:17:18 | 0:17:21 | |
to come back and be safe and the other half knows how much she wants | 0:17:21 | 0:17:25 | |
to do well, and I desperately wanted her to get a top ten finish. | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
There's a competitive side to you and then there's the human side that | 0:17:28 | 0:17:31 | |
just thinks, "Just come back." | 0:17:31 | 0:17:33 | |
Anyway, she's coming back. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:37 | |
-Hi. -Hi. -How are you doing? | 0:17:41 | 0:17:43 | |
-Sweet. -Yeah? -Went good, yeah. It was good. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:48 | |
Good. I think there's going to be a little huddle of people that are | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
-very happy to see you back here. -Yes, I think so. Bless them. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:54 | |
Any more relaxed at all this weekend with all the races going on, | 0:17:57 | 0:18:00 | |
-or normal? -We're just normal. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:03 | |
Just a bit before she goes out, you know. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:06 | |
But I'm relieved now it's finished and she's back safe and sound, | 0:18:06 | 0:18:10 | |
that's the main thing. Yeah. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:12 | |
All good. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:18 | |
Before I came here, people said to me, "Oh, road racing is mad," | 0:18:25 | 0:18:30 | |
but I don't think the racers are mad. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:33 | |
They're skilful, and also measured and calculating. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:39 | |
They have to be to put themselves on this grid, | 0:18:39 | 0:18:42 | |
to make their lives work around the thing that they love, | 0:18:42 | 0:18:46 | |
because everything in their lives leads to this, to being here. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:52 | |
They're addicted, they're obsessed, | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
however you want to describe it, | 0:18:55 | 0:18:57 | |
because they have to be here and they will do anything to get here. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:02 | |
And for me, that's not madness, that's passion. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:06 | |
That's making my heart bang so much, you can feel it, | 0:19:14 | 0:19:18 | |
it's like thunder going through your body. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:21 | |
Incredible. The second wave. | 0:19:21 | 0:19:23 | |
If it is so extraordinary, such a physical sensation, | 0:19:29 | 0:19:32 | |
to just stand by the roadside and watch, | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
what must it feel like for riders like Veronika | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
as they race between the hedges? | 0:19:38 | 0:19:40 | |
It must, I guess, be some kind of euphoria. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
Well done. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:51 | |
I thought you did really well. | 0:19:51 | 0:19:52 | |
I guess OK, I'm in one piece. | 0:19:52 | 0:19:55 | |
-That's the main thing. -It is. -And a top ten finish to boot. -Yeah. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:59 | |
-Does the job. -Indy's out there now. Am I stopping you going to see him? | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
-Do you want to go and have a look? -Yeah, I'll go there. -Yeah, OK. | 0:20:02 | 0:20:05 | |
-Thanks a lot. -Great. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:07 | |
Cool as a cucumber, isn't she? | 0:20:09 | 0:20:10 | |
I don't think I'd be able to speak if I'd just got off that bike. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:14 | |
It's just amazing. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:16 | |
They're all incredible. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:18 | |
In some ways, perhaps the most incredible of all is Yvonne. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:25 | |
She's so warm and softly-spoken, but a woman with such a strong | 0:20:25 | 0:20:30 | |
can-do attitude. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:33 | |
How would you describe yourself? | 0:20:33 | 0:20:35 | |
Because there's not many people that would start riding a bike at the age | 0:20:35 | 0:20:39 | |
of 47, let alone racing a bike at 47. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
I like to try things | 0:20:45 | 0:20:48 | |
and my whole thing is, try it and see. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:51 | |
If you don't like it, don't do it again, but if you do like it, | 0:20:51 | 0:20:55 | |
look what you would've missed | 0:20:55 | 0:20:56 | |
if you hadn't tried it in the first place. | 0:20:56 | 0:20:58 | |
Don't limit yourself, do it now. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:05 | |
Do it, live every day and enjoy every day and plan for the future. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:10 | |
And don't let your age stop you doing...? | 0:21:10 | 0:21:12 | |
Don't even think about your age. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:13 | |
If you start thinking about your age, you'd sit and do nothing. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
You just have to... The only thing age does | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
is makes you more determined to get that done, because in ten years, | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
you mightn't have the opportunity. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:24 | |
In ten years I'll be 70, I'll not be racing then. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:28 | |
I've spoken to a lot of people in this paddock that are retired, | 0:21:28 | 0:21:31 | |
they've come back, they're semiretired, they've come back. | 0:21:31 | 0:21:33 | |
They describe it as an addiction. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
-Oh, it is. -A drug. It is? -It is absolutely an addiction. | 0:21:36 | 0:21:39 | |
You can get treatment for every other addiction, | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
but there's no treatment for motorbike racing. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:45 | |
Yvonne's addiction to racing is inspirational. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
To me, and I'm sure to many other women, as well. | 0:21:54 | 0:21:56 | |
We all want to do things and then talk ourselves out of them. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:02 | |
But Yvonne talks herself into doing things. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:04 | |
And she's not prepared to let any setbacks get her down. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:10 | |
Not even an engine blowing up during the warm-up for her race. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:15 | |
Do you know what? It's good to see that you're still smiling when | 0:22:15 | 0:22:17 | |
you've put all this effort in, to come in, | 0:22:17 | 0:22:19 | |
and what track time have you had this weekend? About 15 minutes? | 0:22:19 | 0:22:22 | |
That's life, you know. What about it? | 0:22:22 | 0:22:24 | |
The bikes haven't given trouble, | 0:22:24 | 0:22:26 | |
this is the first time, actually... | 0:22:26 | 0:22:28 | |
I've raced for about six years that I've had to pull in | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
-with engine failure. -Oh, is that right? -Yeah. So it just happens. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:35 | |
I can't wait to get home to get the sump off that | 0:22:35 | 0:22:39 | |
to see how many pieces fall out when I take the sump off! | 0:22:39 | 0:22:43 | |
The addiction continues. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:45 | |
-"Come on, I've got to sort the bikes out now." -Absolutely, yeah. | 0:22:45 | 0:22:48 | |
She's still smiling and she's put all that effort into coming here. | 0:22:51 | 0:22:55 | |
She goes out and she has a problem with the second bike. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:58 | |
All that money she's put in and she just can't wait to fix the bike. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:02 | |
Amazing. | 0:23:04 | 0:23:06 | |
Being at a road race is like being on a knife edge. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:12 | |
It's exciting and compelling, | 0:23:12 | 0:23:15 | |
but you never quite escape the fear that something awful could happen at | 0:23:15 | 0:23:19 | |
any moment. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:21 | |
Maybe the racers get used to that or learn to filter it out. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:26 | |
But they can't avoid it. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:30 | |
It's a reality that Veronika has to confront once again, as news reaches | 0:23:30 | 0:23:35 | |
the paddock that her fiance, Indy, has had another heavy crash. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:40 | |
High sider, big high sider. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:45 | |
Carried to the hospital, so... | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
I need to dress me up and just go and get his ID card and his | 0:23:48 | 0:23:52 | |
papers and go there just to be sure of what's going on. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:57 | |
-Are you OK? -Yeah, yeah, I'm all right. | 0:23:57 | 0:24:00 | |
Did you actually see him? Have you spoken to him? | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
Yeah, I spoke with him and he wasn't in pain. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
So he was...he didn't too much realise the reality because he was | 0:24:06 | 0:24:10 | |
on that, you know, some morphine or something. | 0:24:10 | 0:24:15 | |
-OK. -So he was just talking something, you know, but he was | 0:24:17 | 0:24:19 | |
-completely... -Not talking any sense? -Yeah, yeah. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
Everybody is like, you know, "Oh!" | 0:24:24 | 0:24:26 | |
And I don't know nothing, they don't know nothing. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:29 | |
It's much worse for me because I need to be strong because of him. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:35 | |
You know, I can't go there and just cry and see what's going on. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:40 | |
There's no point, you know. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:42 | |
So I have to be strong, and if I see he is all right, | 0:24:42 | 0:24:46 | |
you know, that's the main thing. | 0:24:46 | 0:24:49 | |
Yeah. Give him our love. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
Yeah. Thanks a lot, Suzi. | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
You're great, you're great. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:56 | |
OK, you get going, we won't hold you up. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:58 | |
-I will cry later, don't worry! -SUZI LAUGHS | 0:24:58 | 0:25:02 | |
I thought Veronika was so strong walking back here, | 0:25:02 | 0:25:05 | |
talking complete sense and being | 0:25:05 | 0:25:08 | |
very matter-of-fact about everything and I wasn't expecting her to kind | 0:25:08 | 0:25:13 | |
of hug me at the end, but she, you know, clearly needed a little bit of | 0:25:13 | 0:25:18 | |
humanity to get her through the next hour or so, getting to the | 0:25:18 | 0:25:21 | |
hospital, but I can't imagine what that must be like for her. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
That's road racing, and they know that. | 0:25:27 | 0:25:30 | |
They all know that here. All these people get it. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:32 | |
It's us on the outside that don't, but today, having spent the day | 0:25:33 | 0:25:37 | |
here, I kind of get it a bit more now. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:40 | |
As he returns from hospital, | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
a badly shaken Indy faces a long and difficult journey home to the Czech | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
Republic. But there seems little doubt that he and Veronika | 0:25:47 | 0:25:52 | |
will soon be racing on the roads once again. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:56 | |
Would you describe road racing as an addiction? | 0:25:56 | 0:25:58 | |
What it is... | 0:25:59 | 0:26:02 | |
for me... | 0:26:02 | 0:26:04 | |
It's a very hard question just now, because after all the troubles | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
we've had these two weekends, | 0:26:09 | 0:26:12 | |
maybe I'm a bit negative now, you know, but no, road racing, | 0:26:12 | 0:26:16 | |
it's like a passion for me and we are like a big family. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:19 | |
Is it maybe about a feeling... where you come to a race, | 0:26:23 | 0:26:27 | |
do you sometimes feel right about it and then do you sometimes | 0:26:27 | 0:26:30 | |
feel wrong? Do you sometimes feel hesitant about going out? | 0:26:30 | 0:26:34 | |
Yes, my very old friend, he was a mechanic in the '60s years, | 0:26:34 | 0:26:40 | |
he said to me that a great racer is an old racer, | 0:26:40 | 0:26:44 | |
so... And I now realise what he means, you know, by that. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:49 | |
Most of your friends are in this paddock now, then? | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
There's a lot of friends in the paddock, yeah. | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
It's just like a big extended family. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:02 | |
It really, genuinely is like a big extended family. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:05 | |
It's like all your cousins and all your friends that you have at some | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
christening or wedding or something, you see them all then. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:11 | |
This is like having this extended family every race meeting. | 0:27:11 | 0:27:16 | |
There are sportsmen out there, but they don't face what you face. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:25 | |
-No. -All motorsports are dangerous. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
We're aware of that, but this is right on the line, isn't it? | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
Everybody knows the drill. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:33 | |
Like, it's understandable for people who are in this environment, | 0:27:34 | 0:27:39 | |
but for people outside, they wouldn't get...they don't get it. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:43 | |
They don't get it. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:45 | |
What these women do, what all these racers do, is extreme, | 0:27:46 | 0:27:51 | |
because there is nothing more extreme than loving something that | 0:27:51 | 0:27:55 | |
could cost you your life, but these | 0:27:55 | 0:27:58 | |
are people who move mountains to do what they want to do. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
That's also extreme, and it is extraordinary. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:05 | |
I've had such a great time here and I've learned so much, | 0:28:07 | 0:28:09 | |
and it's really been a privilege to meet the girls and just to see their | 0:28:09 | 0:28:13 | |
dedication and determination to get | 0:28:13 | 0:28:16 | |
their bikes out here and to race on roads. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:18 | |
They're wired differently to me. | 0:28:18 | 0:28:20 | |
I couldn't do it, I still don't know quite why they do it, | 0:28:20 | 0:28:23 | |
but I have such a respect for them | 0:28:23 | 0:28:25 | |
and I can't wait to come back to another road race. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:28 |