14th Classic win for Swallow
Bill Swallow took his 350cc Aremacchi to a hard earned victory in the first race of the 2008 TT Festival, the Singles Race. Roger Birkenhead took the honours in the 250cc class.
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 The first race of the 2008 TT Festival saw Bill Swallow take a hard earned victory in the Blackford’s Singles Race; his 14th win at the meeting. The preceding practice sessions; held in sunny conditions had seen some fast laps put up. The leader boards suggested that the racing would be close in every class. The change of the lights saw the field charge along the Castle town by-pass towards the 90 degree right hander at Ballakeighan. As the riders jostled for position it was local man Rich Hawkins who was best on the brakes, others that we noted at the sharp end were Bill Swallow, Allan Brew, Paul Dobbs and Paul Coward. On lap two the field had become less congested and it appeared that any one of Swallow, Coward, Dobbs or Brew could take the honours. Behind them the top six was completed by Hawkins and the impressive newcomer Chris Swallow, son of Bill. In the 250cc class Roger Birkenhead had eked out a lead from the similar Ducati of Alan Smallbones; Mike Barry completing the first three. On lap three it appeared that Swallow has the race under control as he had pulled out a 2 seconds gap on Dobbs, with Coward’s Greeves a further 1 second in arrears and Brew just 0.5s behind him. The expectations for Swallow to have it all his own way proved unfounded. On lap four Swallow led by just a couple of machine lengths from Coward who had Dobbs glued to his rear wheel; this dice giving the sun drenched a real spectacle. Brew was a further 1.5s behind on our very unofficial timing. Behind them it was as you were for the lower leader board placings and in the 250cc class. On lap five it was Swallow by a couple of metres from Coward, with Dobbs a similar distance behind as the pace of the race increased. With the aid of the fastest lap of the race Coward had closed to merely inches behind Swallow as they hammered down the long straight leading to the right hand bend at Iron Gate for the final time. Their pace had given them 1.5s in hand over Dobbs on our timing. On the flat out run through Great Meadow the Greeves proved faster than Swallow’s Aermacchi and Coward edged ahead. Swallow used the slipstream to enable him to retake the lead going into the fast left hander at Stadium. At the final tight right hander at Castletown Corner Coward dived up the inside in front of Swallow; however Bill’s wider line allowed him to get the power on first and he took the victory by just over half a second. Dobbs duly took the final podium place some 5 seconds behind Coward. If the remaining races are as good as this one we are in for a treat on Monday; hopefully the weather will also be as good. Blackford’s Pre-TT Classic Singles Race. 350cc 1. Bill Swallow Aermacchi 85.088mph 2. Paul Coward Loder Greeves 85.027mph 3. Paul Dobbs Aermacchi 84.633mph 4. Allan Brew Aermacchi 84.127mph 5. Rich Hawkins Ducati 82.973mph 6. Chris Swallow Ducati81.818mph 250cc 1. Roger Birkenhead Ducati 73.834mph 2. Alan Smallbones Ducati 71.929mph 3. Mike Barry Ducati 67.068mph
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