Emotional Molyneux wins sidecar race at Isle of Man TT

The Isle of Man’s Dave Molyneux and Rick Long have won the first sidecar race at the Isle of Man TT.

The islanders started the race and were first past the time keepers around the 37.73mile course but had to wait for John Holden / Andrew Winkle before their victory could be confirmed.

The pair, on a brand new sidecar machine after their disastrous fire last year, were in second position behind Holden / Winkle until the final lap. Their average speed going in to lap two was 110.576mph.

An emotional Molyneux, who had given up the thought of racing again after last year’s accident, said: “I rode my heart out. I have never gone into bends so quickly. I am just so happy.”

Holden / Long had extended their early lead to as much as 11.67secs on lap two on the Suzuki K6, but then the second place pair pulled back the tie to just over two seconds after a yellow flag.

Molyneux / Long had taken the lead by the time they got to the Glen Helen section by just 0.14secs.

From there they put their heads down not knowing they were leading to create a 5.37sec lead by the Bungalow.

Holden was quickest leading up to this section with a recorded speed of 141.30mph but it was not enough with the Honda team winning by 6.5secs in the end.

Two sidecar teams expected to finish well in this race were Nick Crowe and Klaus Klaffenbock. Both retired on the first lap but hope to be out for Wednesday’s second sidecar race.

Three makes in the top three

Top 10 results:

1. Dave Molyneux/Rick Long 2007 Honda CBR 600cc
2. John Holden/Andrew Winkle 2007 Suzuki K6 600cc
3. Steve Norbury/Scott Parnell 2007 Yamaha YZF R6 600cc
4. Simon Neary/Stuart Bond 2005 Yamaha R6 600cc
5. Allan Schofield/Peter Founds 2006 Suzuki K6 600cc
6. Nigel Connole/Jamie Winn 2005 Honda RR 600cc
7. Conrad Harrison/Kerry Williams 2003 Honda CBR RR 600cc
8. Tony Elmer/Darren Marshall 2006 Yamaha R6 600cc
9. Glyn Jones/Chris Lake 2006 Honda RR 600cc
10. Andy Laidlow/Patrick Farrance 2006 Suzuki GSXR 600cc