In 1988 I did the classic Manx on my 350 Ducati. In those days it was push and bump start and as I had to put very gear on and my 350 could be a bit of an animal to start I spent a lot of time in the practise week making sure I new how warm the engine should be and how many steps I needed to run before dropping the clutch. By the time for my race had come I had perfected it and was confident of a good start. The rider pushing off with me was a good friend and rival so was looking forward to a great race with him. The nerves building up on the start line the flag was dropped and off we pushed. I took my usual amount of steps then dropped the clutch to the sound of nothing then started running again jumped on still nothing. I am now still pushing alongside the grandstand when I looked down BOLLOCKS!!! I had forgotten to turn the ignition on. I then reached down switch on and away I went but the old mod told me that most of the grandstand had seen my error and it didn't help when the commentator also saw it and announced over the tannoy. Took a while to live that one down but at least I finished and got my finishers medal from the great Geoff Duke in the evening award ceremony. I'm nearest the camera number 68.
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