SIDECAR RACE A

Today’s first Sidecar Race was won by by the Manx crew of Dave Molyneux and Dan Sayle (Honda).

Starting first on the road, having unofficially broken the lap record in practice, Dave Molyneux and Dan Sayle started reasonably steadily, opening in 20 minutes 21.3 seconds, an average speed of 111.21mph, some 16.8 seconds outside his official record set with Craig Hallam as passenger.

Hallam was due to ride with Ian Bell today, but the pair crashed at Hillberry in last night’s practice and were unable to compete. Bell has an arm injury which will require a skin graft; Hallam has lost the top of his thumb and scarified a finger.

Second on the first lap were last year’s winners Nick Crowe and Darran Hope (Honda) just over 20 seconds down on the leaders at 109.35mph, with Steve Norbury and Scott Parnell (Yamaha) third at precisely 108mph.

Fourth were Roy Hanks and Dave Wells, fifth Greg Lambert and Ivan Murray and sixth Ben Dixon and Mark Lambert.. But Tony Baker/Mark Hegarty and Allan Schofield/Mark Cox were early retirements.

Former world champions Klaus Klaffenbock and Chrsitian Parzer were very near to their desired 100mph lap with 99.82 from a clutch start, and every hope of the ton on lap two.

Second lap round Molyneux and Sayle did 20 minutes 06.1 seconds, 112.61mph, tantalisingly close to the lap record. Crowe and Hope remained second, with the deficit extended to 47 seconds. Norbury and Parnell remained third as the race entered its third and final lap. Hanks and Wells lay fourth, Lambert and Murray fifth and Philip Dongworth and Stuart Castles sixth.

Klaffenbock and Parzer cracked the 100 on lap two, belting round in 22 minutes 12.3 seconds, 101.95mph, an extremely respectable achievement for newcomers not only to the TT but proper road racing in general.

Molyneux and Sayle completed their non-stop run with a final lap in 20 minutes 32.6 seconds, an average speed of 110.19mph to record his ninth win by 1 minute 59 seconds at an average speed of 111.33mph.

Crowe and Hope had a final lap at 109.16mph and a three-lap average of 109.56mph, 52 seconds up on Norbury and Parnell, who averaged 108.03mph. Fourth were Hanks and Wells at 107.72mph, fifth Dongworth and Castles at 106.53mph and sixth Dixon and Lambert at 105.80.