Isle of Man TT: Relentless by TAS Suzuki boss talks about Bruce Anstey disqualification

As preparations for today’s second Supersport race are underway in the most perfect weather conditions, Phillip Neill has spoken out about Bruce Anstey’s disqualification from Monday’s Supersport race.

Neill told MCN: “We fully accepted the decision of the race organisation to disqualify us on Monday. Our own engine guy fitted the camshaft, which wasn’t a Suzuki component during a routine rebuild.

“It was exactly the same part number as the camshaft it replaced but obviously wasn’t the same measurement and our mistake was not measuring the new cam before fitting it. We’re talking thousandths of an inch, not something you can see by eye.

“We did indeed use the same 2007-spec motorcycle that Ian Lowry used to win at Donington but it was not the same engine. We use a different spec engine for the road races. It was the same engine we used at the North West, but with the new cam fitted. There’s was no argument from us about the disqualification.”

Yesterday (Tuesday) Anstey tested the rebuilt engine, fitted with a new exhaust camshaft to comply with the rules for today’s second Supersport race.

Neill said: “Bruce rode the rebuilt bike at Jurby and said the engine now makes much nicer bottom end power than it did before. People have asked me what kind of advantage we had with the wrong camshaft (the exhaust cam had 8.75mm of lift instead of 8mm) and I honestly can’t tell you because it’s not something any engine builder would deliberately do.

“All the organisers have said that understand it was a simple mistake on our part and not a deliberate effort on our part to cheat.”

The whole episode has thrown into question running two Supersport races at the Isle of Man TT, since the stripping and rebuilding engines between the races puts a huge work load on the teams, who are already stretched with rebuilds on their superbike engines.