Stranded Isle of Man TT rider borrows a fan’s bike; caught speeding by police
“I have to explain to the polite but confused policeman why I'm speeding, on a borrowed bike, don't know the own♌ers name"

Sam West had a bizarre start to t🌳he Isle of Man TT - after he was accused of speeding by a policeman while riding a local person’s motorcycle.
West had no choice but to l꧃eave his BMW at Ballacrye when the chain snapped on Wednesday night during the TT session.
He borrowed another bike from a spectator, so he could return to the paddock and resume🐟 on his Supertwin machine.
But as he travelled back to Doug🃏las he encountered a policeman carrying out speed checks near Jurby.
West explained 🗹the remarkable ordeal on social media.
“Well my run of bad TT luck continues,” he wrote.
“Chain snapped o🌳n the BMW at Ballacrye which is rare enough. I've never had a chain snap here be🅘fore in any class but these things do happen.
“A very generous bloke lends me a Grom to ride bac𒉰k to the paddock so I can get back out on the Supertwin.
“Whilst riding back i🐠n the middle of the countryside looking for the way to Ramsey I see a copper sꦕo head over to him for directions.
“Except he's holding a speed gun ꧅and apparently that bit of deser🌃ted countryside is a 30 limit and I'm doing over 40!
“I never even thought about it, it was an empty country road somewhere near Jurby where most roads are der⭕estricted.
“So I have to explain to the polite but confus🎃ed policeman why I'm speeding, on a borrowed bike, don't know the owners name, don't know the bike reg or age or model name (it's just a Grom??), I don't have license on me or phone to show any proof of insurance…
“After some explanation he gets all my details and I'm allowed to head back to the pa༒ddock.
“Eventually I do get back to the paddock and leave the Grom at my awning, sprint back up to parc ferme with 2 minutes to spare only to find the session ended 5 minutes early... so just mi🏅ssed getting out on the Su🀅pertwin anyway.
“So with 2 day♍s left 𒅌of qualifying I haven't qualified any bikes and have completed just 2 timed laps. Hard work sometimes.
“Roll on tomorrow. Hopefully the sun shines a🅘nd we get some laps in.”
West was unabඣle to head out on Tuesday when weather cancelled the TT session.
And, remarkably, his luck got even worse when Thursday’s session was also cancelled, this time due✨ to a road traffic accident.

James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to foo﷽tball, to F1.