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Known affectionately as “Mig”, Fabrice Miguet embarked on a busy road racing season, firstly by cr0ssing the English Channel from his Normandy home to compete in the NW200. However, after only four laps of the Coleraine circuit he was confronted with a massive mechanical problem; the engine on his Suzuki GSXR 1000 had blown. Members of the road racing fraternity soon came to the rescue in the form of Paul Hunt and John Aslop, who arranged for Mig to ride Paul’s Suzuki K5 GSXR 1000 for the race. Mig was delighted with his performances – 21st in the Blackhorse Motorcycle Finance NW200 Suprbike race and 28th in the De Walt Performance Tools Superbike – a bad start to the meeting, but a good end. Next up was the TT with 3 races Superbike, Superstock and Senior. A good practice with the necessary qualifying time being made during the first session but there were many disruptions due to inclement weather. Mig also took the opportunities of trying out various machine settings. A great start to the racing week with 30th place in the Superbike, a bronze
replica and by over a minute a fastest ever race time. The Superstock Race brought no such luck – after a loss of power coming out of Creg ny Baa, Mig pulled into his pit to find oil on his boots and rear tyre; too dangerous to continue. On further examination in his tent at the rear of the Grandstand, his mechanic found that the piston had split. A lot of work lay ahead for Fabrice and his mechanic as another engine had to be built. Mig made the start line for the Senior with an engine consisting of parts from both NW200 and TT engines. Still concerned about the potential dangers of the previous race, Fabrice rode with great care, possibly listening too much to the engine. Not happy, he stopped at the pits at the end of the first circuit – a very sensible idea. A good beginning, but a bad end for TT 2008. After the TT, Mig returned to France, worked on the bike to make a new engine for the UGP, but all was in vain as the dreadful weather put an end to the meeting. This proved to be very expensive as about €1.500 was wasted. All in all it was a tremendously expensive year – travel, accommodation, food and of course, engines. Mig is France’s only real road racer on the international scene; we hope he will be seen in the UK again in 2009 – if the finance is available, he will be there and, by the time you read this he will, hopefully, have raced at Macau as well.

Jean-Michel Prudon