Bike India – August 2019

S

idecarracingsureis a spectacle.Thisis a

dangerouscategorywhereindriverand

passengermustbeincompletetunewitheach

otherandthecourse.

Thedriverkneelsbehindtheengineasthe

passengermovesabouttheplatformtotransfer

weightfromsidetoside,dependinguponthe

corner.Themachinesarepoweredby600-cc

Supersportenginesthatscreampastat

ridiculousspeeds.Well,anunderstatementat

theIsleofManTouristTrophy.

RaceOne

Thesidecarclassinrecentyearshasbeen

dominatedbytwobrothers,BenandTom

Birchall.Raceonesawthemattempttowin

theirsixthconsecutivewinontheirLiveYour

AdventureHaithLCRracebike.Thiswasto

bethecaseasthebrotherscruisedtoa fairly

comfortablevictoryandwereclosetosettinga

newrecordwhileatit,too.JohnHoldenand

Lee Cain onthe Honda SBR finishedin a

strongsecondplaceandwerefollowedby

AlanFoundsandJakeLowtherontheCloud

VapersYamaha.Thatwasthepodiumforrace

oneoftheLocate.imSidecarevent.

LOCATE.IM SIDECAR

the racer and they began their final section of

the course with Lee in first, followed by Hillier,

Hickman, Harrison, and Dunlop. Pit-stops

would have to be perfect and a tense time for

teams and riders alike; however, the weather

intervened at this juncture and the race was cut

short. The order remained the same with Lee

Johnston winning his first TT, with James

Hillier and Peter Hickman taking the second

and third spot, respectively, on the podium.

Race Two

Race two saw the Triumph of Peter Hickman

and Dean Harrison on the Kawasaki leap-frog

each other for the lead throughout the race.

This slalom between the two was spurred on by

Harrison fighting it out for his first victory at

the Isle of Man.

In a lonely third place was James Hillier,

who scored another podium but a win still was

elusive for the Quattro Plant Wicked

Coatings rider.

ThedaybelongedtoPeterHickmanashetook

victoryfromDeanHarrison.Harrisonmadea

mistake on the final lap that saw himrunwide

andeventhoughhesavedthelap,hehadlosta

littletoomuchtimeandsettledforsecondplace.

ConnorCumminsontheHondatookfourth,

followedbyJamieCoward’sYamahaandMichael

Dunlopona Honda.RaceonewinnerLee

Johnstonfinished ninth, alittle disappointingfor

the Ashcourt Racing Yamaha rider.

Race Two

Race two started once again withthefavourites,

the Birchall brothers, starting strong.However,

this time John Holden and LeeCainwouldnot

allow them a smooth victory. TheSBRHonda

team of Holden and Cain pushedtheBirchall

brothers and the fight was

on. Both teams gained and

lost time throughout the

race, but in end it was the

Birchall brothers who

claimed a much harder-

fought victory.

The battle for third was

between Peter Founds and

Jevan Walmsley on their

Rowtec Engineering

Suzuki and Tim Reeves

and Mark Wilkes on the

Team Berlin powered by

H&S Yamaha. Founds and

Walsley finally took the

third spot on the podium

after quickening their pace

and getting closer to

challenge for second spot.

It was a good finish for Tim Reeves and Mark

Wilkes, though, as they had come back with

a DNF (did not finish) in race one.

The most successful TT Sidecar racer, Dave

Molyneux, and his partner, Harry Payne, could

not do much as they finished in 10th place.

Peter Hickman

takes victory in

race two

The Birchall

brothers racked

up yet another

successful TT

http://www.bikeindia.in August 2019 Bike India 105

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