By After their peerless performance in the opening Locate.im Sidecar race, many were predicting that the Birchall brothers Ben & Tom would go into double figures, TT wins wise today. Would this prove the case?
Lap 1:
In decent conditions on lap 1 at Glen Helen the all conquering Birchall brothers surged into an early lead, heading Silicone Barnes Racing’s John Holden/Lee Cain by just over a second. Occupying third was Alan Founds/Jake Lowther, Pete Founds/Jevan Walmsley held fourth.
Technical misfortune then went onto strike Founds/Lowther’s outfit forcing them out of contention, allowing Founds/Walmsley to slot into third at Ballaugh Bridge, were the Birchall’s maintained a very slender advantage of only 0.9 of a second.
Under pressure from Holden/Cain, the Birchall’s upped the ante on the run up to Ramsey Hairpin, moving the race lead to plus 2.7 seconds.
Photo by Mark Corlett
The race lead extended to 6.27 seconds at the Bungalow, then grew further at Cronk Ny Mona to nine seconds.
As lap 1 concluded, the Haith backed Birchall’s held a 10.602 advantage over Holden/Cain. Founds/Walmsley remained third, Blackstock/Rosney occupied fourth as Molyneux/Payne and Reeves/Wilkes finalised the top six.
Notable retirements towards the completion of lap 1 included Conrad Harrison/Andy Winkle, whilst outstanding Mountain Course newcomers Ryan Crowe/Callum Crowe, second Sidecar TT race stint, ended before the race started due to major technical issues.
Lap 2:
13 seconds clear at Glen Helen, 14.6 clear at Ballaugh Bridge, the Birchall’s were homing in on another piece of TT history.
As on Monday afternoon, maintaining a rapid, relentless pace, Ben Birchall/Tom Birchall crossed the chequered flag at the end of the second and last lap, to take their total of TT victories to ten.
Seven Sidecar race victories in a row, level on TT wins with Rob Fisher, Ian Lougher, Stanley Woods, and the legendary Giacomo Agostini, you can’t laud enough plaudits onto the now unquestioned TT legends.
John Holden/Lee Cain who for the sixth Sidecar TT race in a row, finished runners up, were 20 and a half seconds behind the Birchall brothers.
Pete Founds/Jevan Walmsley rounded out the podium finishers, whilst Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes battled their way to a solid fourth place finish.
Gary Bryan/Phil Hyde secured fifth, Optimark Road Racing’s Estelle Leblond/Frank Claeys finished a fine sixth, as Lewis Blackstock/Patrick Rosney, Allan Schofield/Steve Thomas, John Lowther/Scott Hardie and Dave Molyneux/Harry Payne wrapped up the top ten finishers.
Locate.im Sidecar TT race 2 result, is as follows:
1 Ben Birchall/Tom Birchall
2 John Holden/Lee Cain
3 Pete Founds/Jevan Walmsley
4 Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes
5 Gary Bryan/Phil Hyde
6 Estelle Leblond/Frank Claeys
7 Lewis Blackstock/Patrick Rosney
8 Allan Schofield/Steve Thomas
9 John Lowther/Scott Hardie
10 Dave Molyneux/Harry Payne
11 Dan Knight/Matthew Rostron
12 Darren Hope/Lenny Bumfrey
13 Wayne Lockey/Mark Sayers
14 John Saunders/James Saunders
15 Andy King/Alun Thomas
16 Mick Alton/Stephen Bonney
17 Maria Costello MBE/Julie Canipa
18 Francois Leblond/Marlene Couillard
19 Gary Knight/Daniel Evanson
20 Dave Quirk/Karl Schofield
21 John Shipley/Andrew Haynes
22 Brian Alflatt/Aaron Gorman
23 Kevin Thornton/David Hainsworth
24 Mark Codd/Liam Gordon
3 Wheeling – Words by Stevie Rial
