Mike Cookson aiming to replicate TT success

The veteran racer, from Welshpool, will be taking his Ireson Honda 600cc F2 and Classic 750cc BMW sidecars to the island to take part in nearly three weeks of racing.

Joined this year by experienced passenger Kenny Cole, they have taken in race meetings at Oulton Park, Castle Coombe, Mallory Park and Pembrey prior to riding the BMW at the Pre-TT Classic races, which runs from May 24-27.

The classic meeting takes place on the same four-mile road circuit in Billown, which is used for Southern 100 meeting that takes place in July.

And the team hopes to repeat its 2018 results, which saw Cookson finish seventh and eighth overall, as well topping the 750cc class.

The classic races are immediately followed by the start of practice week for the main TT races on the 37.75 mile mountain circuit, with two sidecar races following on June 1 and 7.

Team plans, as always, are to finish both races – with the little 600 Honda taking a hard beating hauling two people around the two three-lap, 113-mile races.

Cookson and Coles are also aiming to finish in the top 20, adding to their tally of 19 bronze replicas earned over the last 20 years, although Cookson – who has finished in the top 20 for the past two decades – admits reaching such high standards is “becoming increasingly difficult”.

“Replicas are awarded to riders finishing within a certain percentage of the winner’s time, and with the incredible speeds set by the likes of multiple TT winners and current world champions, such as Ben and Tom Birchall, its not very likely but the TT is a funny old place – if a couple of the top runners breakdown, who knows,” said Cookson, who has a best finish of sixth at the TT. Following the TT in June, the team will take the BMW to the Cadwell Park Sidecar Revival meeting.

The two-day festival features Formula 1 and Formula 2 British Championship rounds, classic European Championship races and parade laps by former world champion riders like Steve Webster, Rolf Biland and Steve Abbot, riding exotic machines covering the last five decades.

“This meeting is a must for sidecar enthusiasts,” said Cookson. “Visitors can expect a lot of oil and smoke, as well as bike talks in the clubhouse on the Saturday night.”

Father-of-four Cookson, who also has three step children and “countless” grandchildren, has been a fan of the Classic TT races since their inception in 2013, which is run in conjunction with the Manx Grand Prix in August and into September, on the same 37.73-mile roads circuit used for the main TT races.

And because there is no entry for sidecars, Cookson – who began his racing career riding solo bikes, competing in grasstrack, speedway and on the circuits before falling in love with sidecars – acquired a Classic 750 Suzuki Superbike to enter instead.

“It is a replica of the Team Durex Suzuki as ridden by the likes of Jamie Whitham in the late 1980s,” he said. “It was built by former rider and engineer, Shropshire’s Rick Leddy.

“We decided to enter this bike in the Classic Superbike Race, to be ridden by my former passenger and Manx GP rider Alun Thomas, but with a crash in 2016 and a flooding carburettor in 2017, it was a steep learning curve.”

Cookson, who has been a mechanic by trade all his working life, now runs a coach company in Welshpool, called Cookson Travel Ltd.

He added: “Alun’s entry was turned down in 2018 but, late in the day, we secured top 10 TT rider Sam West, from Warrington.

“With brake and carburettor upgrades, practice went well and Sam rode the wheels off it to finish a fine eighth place last year.

“He was also was the first Suzuki home in what has become a very competitive event. As yet, we don’t have a rider signed up for 2018 but it is early days.

“I feel the TT is getting a little bit busy now, especially around Douglas, but the Manx GP and Classic TT are great because there are only about a quarter of the people there.”