Gilbert training to take on his biggest challenge yet on The Isle of Man

Horsham-based rider Don Gilbert is currently under a strict training programme preparing himself for the biggest challenge in his racing career.
Don Gilbert tackles a corner on his 2009 Yamaha R6 600cc superbikeDon Gilbert tackles a corner on his 2009 Yamaha R6 600cc superbike
Don Gilbert tackles a corner on his 2009 Yamaha R6 600cc superbike

The motorcyclist will be take on a track considered to be the most dangerous sporting event in the world at The Isle of Man Manx GP.

The race consists of five days of practise and three days of racing in August over the famous TT course, with expert racers barred from competing.

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Each of the six laps is 37-miles long and speeds of up to 200mph on the 1,000cc superbikes can be reached.

Gilbert’s 2015 season will consist of four meetings at Scarborough’s notorious Oliver’s mount, racing the likes of Guy Martin, John McGuinness, Michael Dunlop and Bruce Anstey.

It was here Gilbert recorded his best result of a second-place finish, narrowly missing out to multiple TT winning legend Ryan Farquhar in the 2014 Gold Cup.

He will also take on the Manx GP and potentially some British Superbike meetings dependant on budget.

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Gilbert said: “The Manx GP is our priority for 2015, so much preparation is involved in making sure I’m prepared mentally and physically.

“In making sure that the bike and team are prepared, I spend hours every night studying on-board footage and playing the video game trying to visualise the track.

“It’s going to take every single one of our few years’ experience to get this right. I hope to get plenty of race meetings in before the Manx GP, so that we can find a good setting on the bike, and crucially some track time for me to get up to pace as quickly as possible.

“I think as long as we put the hard work and effort in, there is no reason why we can’t fight for the podium.

“We’ve proved that we have the pace to run with the top boys, so we intend to keep putting an imprint on the time sheets and hopefully wipe the smile off a lot of peoples’ faces.”

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