| Gary
Carswell
Despite being a former Senior Manx Grand Prix
winner and a TT podium finisher as recently as 2004,
Gary Carswell again came into the season without a ride
and without a sponsor. One of the fastest, and most
consistent, riders around the Mountain Course the Maughold
rider again put in some brilliant performances at the
TT on what, it is fair to say, under powered and inferior
machinery to that of his rivals.
It was in the 2004 Senior TT when Gary claimed third
place and in doing so he became the first Manxman to
achieve such a feat since Tom Sheard in 1923 and he
was only beaten on the day by the works TAS Suzuki pairing
of Adrian Archibald and Bruce Anstey. Amazingly, he
has struggled to find machinery ever since then and
the winter months leading up to this season were no
different. When you consider Gary is also one of the
most personable and amiable riders in the paddock this
fact is even more difficult to understand.
At one stage it looked like he would be forced to miss
his beloved TT as he only had the use of a two-year
old R6 Yamaha but he managed to scrape together enough
money to buy a K6 GSXR1000 Suzuki. However, the lack
of finance forced him to miss the North West 200 and
he only took the big Suzuki out of Padgett’s showroom
just a few days before the opening practice session.
Des Collins did offer him the use of the Kawasaki ZX-10R
Superbike that Shaun Harris had used in 2004 and although
he had a run on the machine at the Jurby Road races,
and practiced on it at the TT, the lack of time meant
Gary would focus his attention on the Suzuki.
Illustrating his impressive capabilities as a rider,
Gary posted the fifth fastest time in Superstock practice
and was only beaten by McGuinness, Hutchinson, Griffiths
and Martin. Despite of this, he was refused a higher
start number and would start all of his races from number
18. The week got off to a solid start when he placed
14th in the Superbike race and, when you consider the
amount of the full blown Superbikes that were in the
race that was a brilliant effort. His best lap was 123.141mph
and he took yet another silver replica.
In the Superstock race itself, he was on a more level
playing field and he was able to bring his bog standard
Suzuki home in a superb ninth place. At one stage he
was as high as seventh but with his visor getting covered
in water his vision was affected and he slipped back.
Nevertheless, he still finished ahead of Adrian Archibald
and Cameron Donald, to name just two. Two days later
he took his 600cc Yamaha to 16th place and he completed
his week in fantastic style with 10th place in the record
breaking Senior. This gave him his fourth silver replica
from his four races and he also recorded his best ever
lap of the TT with a speed of 123.982mph, making him
the second fastest Manxman ever.
Lack of finance kept him out of the Southern 100 but
he was back out at the Ulster and he improved his speeds
around Dundrod to 121.632mph on his way to claiming
more top-20 finishes.
Although Gary had limited outings during the 2006 season,
he did more than enough to warrant this accolade we
have awarded him. In the past two seasons he has also
finished in the top ten at the North West 200 and beaten
a number of the ‘works’ riders and better
financed teams on more than one occasion. As mentioned,
you will be hard pushed to meet a nicer person and he
would be a credit to any team in terms of professionalism
and attitude. Without doubt, he excels best at the TT
and he is now the 18th fastest rider ever in the history
of the TT and with 11 silver and 14 bronze replicas
to his name, and nineteen top-15 finishes, he is one
of the finest riders still competing on the Island.
He has proved that he can more than hold his own at
the Southern 100 and Ulster GP as well and if anyone
is deserving of some financial support and some decent
machinery than its Gary. When you consider what he has
achieved in his career, with the odds against him, one
can only begin to think what he could achieve on an
equal footing. Let’s hope that this is the case
in 2007 and we all get to see the very best of Gary
Carswell – the 2006 RealRoadRacing.Com Most Underrated
Rider of the Year.
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