Karl "Bomber" Harris

[Kwacky]

Said to have had a serious accident. Unconfirmed reports say he's suffered fatal injuries.

[Rob]

Just been reading this too. Sad news

[C00kiemonster]

Damn. A few people of twitter saying he's gone, but nothing official yet.

Gary Johnson was very lucky it seems. Broken collarbone and cracked vertebrae but will be ok.

[Rob]

Sadly just been confirmed by iomnewspapers

[C00kiemonster]

Yes. Stuart Higgs has just posted he's received a press release from TT organiser about it

RIP big man.

[C00kiemonster]

ACU Events Ltd regrets to announce that Karl Harris, 34, from Sheffield was killed during the Superstock Race at the Isle of Man TT races today following an incident at Joey's on the second lap of the race.

Harris, a professional motorbike racer, made his TT Races debut in 2012. He was a triple British Supersport Champion and British Superbike podium finisher.

Harris appeared on the racing scene as a teenager in the 1990s, when he rode for Team Great Britain in the Superteen Championship. From there, Harris went on to win the 1999 European Superstock 1000cc Championship before spending a season in the World Supersport Championship.

He was best known for his British Championship career. He was the dominant force in the British Supersport Championship in the early 2000s before becoming a prominent front-runner in the Superbike class for the factory Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha teams.

Harris won three British Supersport Championships between 2001 and 2004, the first for Crescent Suzuki and the remaining two for Honda Racing, before progressing full time to the premier Superbike category in 2005. His best season came in 2006 when he finished in 5th place overall recording 6 podiums. In total, Harris notched up 12 BSB podiums.

The ACU wishes to pass on their deepest sympathy to Karl's family and friends.

Gary Thompson, TT Clerk of the Course, ACU Events, said: "Karl was one of the great characters in the race paddock. His infectious enthusiasm and sense of humour lit up many race meetings. He was a hugely talented racer and will be sorely missed." - See more at: http://www.bikesportnews.com/news-detai ... F9VIc.dpuf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[duke63]

Really horrible news.

[Monty]

Very sad, that's 2 this year already!

[Stew]

Very sad, that's 2 this year already!

Both experienced riders too
R.I.P.

[Tricky]

such sad news. met him last year at cadwell bsb, really nice bloke.

[Deegee]

Thoughts are with your family Big Man. Thank you for the years of great racing, you'll be missed.

[D6]

Sad news indeed. RIP

[Cavetroll87]

Gutted, RIP bomber

[rocket]

Sad news rip bomber

[Cavetroll87]

Seen this has made the top 10 most read articles on bbc site which will now doubt lead to the anti Road Racing brigade to start having a field day, what gets me is their normal argument is how its inhumane and stuff, and how we must protect people from themselves, and the fans are just as bad for watching it etc, and yet what they either don't realise, or simply don't care about, is the pain each and everyone of us fans also feels everytime someone losing their life racing, be it short circuit or roadracing.

[Kwacky]

Everyone does it because they love it. You don't get the same calls for a ban when people die playing rugby, riding horses or climbing a mountain.

[Deegee]

Everyone does it because they love it. You don't get the same calls for a ban when people die playing rugby, riding horses or climbing a mountain.

Quote from David Jefferies:

"I'm not going there with a false sense of security, I know what could happen and I accept it."

I'd say that's about right for anyone that rides at the TT. Of course the do-gooders would want to save people from themselves, read that as inflict their values on others.

[duke63]

All the racers know the risks and potential consequences if they get it wrong.

Its why you have heard one or two of them say on TV that they accepted they could not win on the day and just wanted to finish where they were. Anstey said it yesterday and you can see McGuinness isn't happy and cannot push it to chase the leaders.

The big 'If' in all this is the sponsors though. Let's pray there will be no more fatalities or even crashes this week but were this to happen too often there is no doubt the TT would struggle financially to support itself as no business would want to be associated with an event where death was deemed to be par for the course for some.

[reedy]

R I P Fella. Great Racer

[Blade]

RIP Karl. Thoughts and prays are with family and firends