Press release:Falkirk's Keith Amor ended the 2009 Isle of Man TT Races with a fourth lap retirement during the Senior race. The Wilson Craig Honda rider was lying in a very strong sixth place when he came in to his second pit stop but the rear spindle of the machine refused to come out as the team went to change the rear tyre and he had no option other than to retire.
The race was delayed 30 minutes due to slight rain in the Alpine Cottage area but when it finally got underway, Keith completed the opening lap in eighth place. He upped the pace on the second lap and moved up the leaderboard to seventh but improved upon that on the fourth with a speed of 128.244mph. Keith had high hopes of climbing even higher in the closing stages of the race but when the team went to make the necessary rear wheel change at the pit stop, the spindle stuck and no matter what they did it simply wouldn't budge. So, Keith's TT ended on a retirement.
Nevertheless, with two podiums and a new personal best lap of 128.958mph, it was an excellent week for Keith and the whole Wilson Craig team. Speaking later
Keith said:
"We changed a few settings on the bike but didn't get the chance to test it and it was a bit of a handful to be honest. The new Dunlop tyres worked really well and I was as fast as anyone over the Mountain but I was struggling to hold on to the bike along the bottom part of the circuit. It was hard work but I managed to get up in to the top six until we had the problem at the pit stop."
"The boys have worked so hard for the entire fortnight and I'm as disappointed for them as I am me. We've had no major problems with the bike and it's only a few small things that have caused the DNF's, certainly nothing no one could have prevented, just things that only crop up at the TT. Overall, I've made another step forward at the TT and with two podiums this week I've got to be happy. I just want to thank everyone connected with the team for all their efforts and commitment and that's what's helped us get the results."
