Crowe takes 4th Sidecar win; Reeves 3rd on debut.
Nick Crowe took his 4th Sidecar win alongside new passenger Mark Cox, having paased early leader John Holden. World Champion Tim Reeves made a stunning debut to finsh third.

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Sure Mobile Sidecar Race A After a dramatic Superbike Race we did not have to wait long for more drama in the Sidecar Race A. The race was expected to be a duel in the sun between Dave Molyneux / Daniel Sayle and fellow Manx driver Nick Crowe / Mark Cox. It was not to be Moly’s day as the outfit struggled to leave the line and went no further than the end of pit lane; clutch problems were suspected to be the cause. This was a bitter disappointment as Dave had spent most of the night working on the machine following a problem in Friday’s practice. Hopefully the machine will be in perfect order for the second leg. As the field reached Glen Helen the expected script was being ignored by John Holden / Andy Winkle who had the lead on corrected time from Crowe / Cox. Crowe had a moment early in the lap so was easing himself into the race. At Ballaugh Crowe’s Honda powered outfit led on the road, but it was the Relentless livery of Holden that had the lead by 7 seconds on our vintage stopwatch. Next on the road and corrected time was the Padgett’s Manx Gas outfit of former World Champion Klaus Klaffenbock / Christian Parzer; sadly Klaafi’s run of bad luck continued; he was forced out at Ramsey. The action was fast and furious as the outfits skipped over the bridge, Steve Norbury / Rick Long 4th on our watch just a couple of seconds ahead of Simon Neary / Jamie Winn. Reigning World Champion Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance were going well and had closed significantly their starting interval on Andy Laidlow / Tim Dixon who like Klaffi failed to complete the first lap. At Ramsey Nick Crowe had cut the deficit by a second and as he found his rhythm he cut that in half by the time that he crossed the line to charge down Bray Hill for the second time. John Holden /Andy Winkle lapped at 113.507mph, Crowe/Cox at 113.213mph and third crew Norbury/Long at 111.914mph. The top six was completed by Simon Neary / Jamie Winn; Phil Dongworth / Stuart Castles and Tim Reeves / Patrick Farrance who lapped at over 110mph; truly wonderful for a newcomer to the event. At Ballaugh on lap 2 our very unofficial timing had Crowe in front by just one second; but Norbury/Long were missing; putting Neary/Winn into third place. We could not separate Dongworth and Reeves for fourth place; they were 14s behind Neary. Then we received the announcement that Norbury/Long had retired from the race at Handley’s. At Ramsey, Crowe/Cox had increased their lead to 4 seconds; but the battle for fourth had a gap of just 0.24s at Ramsey. Meanwhile at Ballaugh Jean-Claude Huet / Jonathan Huet were lucky to get away with clipping the low wall alongside the bridge; after coming in rather too quickly. Over the mountain Crowe upped the pace and with the aid of the fastest lap of the race at 115.066mph increased his lead to 9.39s. Neary was a further 41s behind; he in turn had 16s advantage over Reeves who had Dongworth just 0.67s behind him. Nigel Connole / Dipash Chauhan completed our top six. Having had a moment at the Black Dub on lap 2 Holden had decided to settle for a safe second. Nick Crowe rode to his boards and duly recorded his fourth TT victory; passenger Mark Cox tasting victory for the first time; by a margin of 21.44s seconds from John Holden / Andy Winkle. A final twist saw Neary/Winn retire from the race, costing then a podium finish. The main interest was on the battle between Reeves and Dongworth; we had the former in front by just under 2s at Ballaugh. A final lap at 111.296mph gave Reeves a podium finish at his first TT; a feat last achieved by the late great Jock Taylor 30 years ago! Doug Wright was another notable performer; in only his second year he lapped at over 110mph to claim 6th, just behind his former passenger Dipash Chauhan. The second race promises to be absolutely superb. Only one incident was reported; French crew Jean-Louis Hergott and Christophe Darras crashed at Waterworks, Darras suffering an ankle injury. 1. Nick Crowe/Mark Cox 114.372mph 2. John Holden/Andy Winkle 113.751mph 3. Tim Reeves/Patrick Farrance 111.096mph 4. Phil Dongworth/Stu Castles 111.011mph 5. Nigel Connole/Dipash Chauhan 109.926mph 6. Doug Wright/Stuart Bond 109.817mph
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