Isle of Man TT: Market Rasen racer Crowe out of luck

But Crowe did pick up a bronze replica trophy for his 14th place in the Superbike race, and another for 23rd place in the second Supersport race.

The weather had disrupted qualifying and practice, and Crowe had hardly turned a wheel until Monday last week when he rode to 14th place in the Superbike race. He also rode in the Supersport race which was reduced in length to two laps of the 37.7-mile mountain roads course, but was unlucky to run out of fuel at Brandywell on the run across the mountain.

There was no more racing until Thursday because of constant rain and mist on the mountain, and first up on Thursday was the second Supersport race where this time Crowe made it to the finish line in 23rd.

He said: “Supersport isn’t my strongest class; I am more suited to the big bikes.

“But I’m happy with 23rd place and another trophy.”

Later in the day he was out in the Superstock class hoping for a top 15 result, but it wasn’t to be as he was forced to retire at Parliament Square, in Ramsey, with an electrical problem.

Friday was the blue riband race, the Senior TT, run over six laps, and Crowe was looking good over the first two laps and running in a solid 12th place when he returned to the pits for refuelling.

He completed the third lap in 12th, but the engine became noisy and he retired to the pits at the end of the fourth lap.

He said: “The engine was very noisy and it sounded like we had spun a big end.

“That’s it for this year, but we look forward to trying again in 2020.”