By Thrilling, is the word I would use to describe tonight’s sole 2025 Southern 100, Sidecar race burst.
A breathless opening lap mixed race lead alterations with no quarter given, no quarter asked competition.
Once the dust settled and lap one was complete, 0.874 separated the top three of Pete Founds/Jevan Walmsley, Ryan Crowe/Callum Crowe and Lee Crawford/Scott Hardie.
Early into lap two, the Honda powered Crowe brothers had got the race lead back, overtaking Founds/Walmsley prior to reaching Iron Gate.
From here, the Crowes showed the full repertoire of their outfit, moving almost 0.9 clear before setting on lap three a new Sidecars lap-record of 2 minutes 28.909 seconds (equating in speed terms to 102.747 mph).
This history making turn of pace, allied to three more consistent, potent laps around Billown, saw them race winners by nigh-on 6.3 seconds.
Behind the Crowes, the battle raged for second, on the sixth and final lap.
Founds/Walmsley (aboard Alan Founds supplied outfit) back to full fitness, post their well-documented incident at TT 2025, and Crawford/Hardie got extremely close!
Ultimately as race explorations concluded, Founds/Walmsley kept P2, Crawford/Hardie third, were happy with another strong run on IOM roads and a new personal best S100 lap, topping 101 mph.
Tim Reeves/Kevin Kolsch riding under the Cosmic Racing banner took fourth, Greg Lambert/Andrew Haynes were fifth with top driver debutant Carl Fenwick/Jake Roberts sixth.
Darren Hope/Lenny Bumfrey (P7), Wayne Lockey/Matty Rostron (P8), Alun Thomas/Andrew Miller (P9), Tony Baker/Tom Dawkins (P10), respective seventh to tenth place attainers.
2025 Southern 100 – Ace Hire & Sales Sidecar Race Result:
1st – Ryan Crowe/Callum Crowe
2nd – Pete Founds/Jevan Walmsley
3rd – Lee Crawford/Scott Hardie
4th – Tim Reeves/Kevin Kolsch
5th – Greg Lambert/Andrew Haynes
6th – Carl Fenwick/Jake Roberts
7th – Darren Hope/Lenny Bumfrey
8th – Wayne Lockey/Matty Rostron
9th – Alun Thomas/Andrew Miller
10th – Tony Baker/Tom Dawkins
11th – Michael Kirkup/Mark Gash
12th – David Marshall/Anthony Pitt
13th – Robert Handcock/Liam Gordon
14th – Eric Lenser/Anais Rosset
Photo credit: Mark Corlett
Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou
