Patience a virtue for the Racing Preacher

Sadly, the coronavirus has cancelled all racing on the island, including the TT. Practice would have taken place this week, followed by a week of racing.

Haynes, from Aldridge, had also secured the chance to ride on a potential winner in the Pre TT Classic, which involves a weekend of racing on classic machines that takes place before the main TT, on the 4.25-mile Billown course, in Castletown.

He was also set to race in the British Sidecar championships as passenger, but he now believes there is ‘slim chance’ of any racing taking place this year.

Known as the Racing Preacher, Haynes has had the chance to reflect on an eventful 2019 campaign, which included a podium at Pre-TT Classic, as well as a high-speed crash while bombing around the dangerous 37.73-mile TT course.

“Last year was eventful, but for all the wrong reasons,”said Haynes, who is also a lay Methodist preacher.

“We had a new sidecar, which would handle better and had stronger engines, but we had so many delays with people doing work on it for us.

“Engines, paint, chassis, paint, etc. Then we blew an engine up just before the TT, so that needed replacing.

“The TT itself was also a washout because of the weather and we had all sorts of handling issues.

“Then electrical gremlins kicked in and we had barely any track time due to the weather.

“In 2018, we did 18 laps of the TT circuit in the races and practices sessions. In 2019, we did eight.

“All of that was because of poor weather, however, in one race we could have done an extra lap but I fell off at high speed and, fortunately, came away with a little bruising, so we didn’t quite finish that last lap.”

Haynes spent the rest of 2019 track racing but his progress was scuppered because his team could not get the Honda engines to work.

“And then, at the last race of the season, the engine blew again, which we were gutted about,” he said.

“We’ve never blown an engine in a season, so blowing two meant something was wrong somewhere and would need looking at in the off season.

“But it wasn’t all bad. I got on the podium at the Pre-TT Classic with my regular French team, finishing third.

“And I stood in for a fellow F2 sidecar passenger who was injured and helped his driver wrap up the national club championship.

“I also stood in one weekend for a Pre Injection race winner, helping him go on to secure another championship.”

Haynes has also started to expand into different motorsports, including trials biking, which he says is ‘all good fun’.

“It makes a change for me to be behind the bars and in control of steering, throttle and brakes!” he said.

“I’m not very good, but it’s great fun and a very sociable sport.”

Behind the scenes, Haynes and his team had totally revamped the engines and sorted the oil system out in his sidecar machine, to try and solve the issue behind the engines blowing up.

“Better suspension was fitted as well and all of this, we hoped, would have given us a good base from which to build on again, and see us lapping faster at the TT,” he said.

“That was our main aim for the season, as well as progressing well in the British championships.

“I had a potential race winning ride also sorted out for the Pre-TT on the roads in the Isle of Man.

“I also had several rides booked in the national televised British Superbike round hosted sidecar championship.

Haynes had intended to do more trials bike riding in 2020, to try to progress up the classes and maybe even try his hand at sidecars trials.

But then the pandemic struck. And at that point he knew the season would be up in the air.

“As soon as it all started kicking off in early March, I knew the season wasn’t going to be a normal one at all,” he said.

“When I saw what was happening in Italy and Spain, I knew it would lock the UK down too. And as we can all see, that is what has happened.

“All motorsport is stopped currently and I can’t even go and ride my bike around a local trials practice ground. All of this is totally understandable, of course.

“Will we get any racing done this year? I think we might have a slim chance, but it’ll not be until September or October I reckon.”

However, during lockdown, Haynes has been keeping himself busy, as he enjoys the fitness aspect of motorsport.

“I’ve been training as usual, so I’ll be fit and ready for whenever we do get going again,” he said.

“It keep me motivated and also helps burn off the energy you build up while cooped up at home. I’ve also rebuilt and serviced my motorbikes, using local-run dealers rather than the internet for spares.

“Businesses like theirs are suffering massively, so I wanted to try and help them as much as I could do.

“But I haven’t been focused on anything particular, I’ve just tried to stay focused and get on with life.

“I might ride my trials bike around the small back garden we have to practice some balancing and manoeuvring skills – but there’s not much else to do!

“If we do get out on track, it won’t not be right towards the end of the season.

“But more importantly, having raced a fair bit – and also fallen off a few times – I’ve experienced the care of the NHS. They did a great job.

“My thoughts are with those care workers and their families as they work through such tough times.”