Klaus
Klaffenbock and Daniel Sayle
took their second victory of
the week in yet another nail
biting finish at the 2010
Isle of Man TT Races fuelled
by Monster Energy when they
won the second Sure Sidecar
race on Thursday afternoon
by just 1.12seconds. The duo
overturned a ten-second
deficit going into the final
lap to overhaul long time
race leaders John
Holden/Andy Winkle on the
final run over the Mountain
while Conrad Harrison and
Kerry Williams finished in
third place for their first
ever TT podium.
Simon
Neary and Paul Knapton set
off quickest and they led
through Glen Helen on the
opening lap, albeit by just
0.25s from Dave Molyneux and
Patrick Farrance but there
was disappointment for Tim
Reeves and Dipash Chauhan
who were reported as having
stopped at the Highlander.
Holden and Klaffenbock were
holding on to third and
fourth ahead of Harrison and
Gary Bryan but there was
further drama just a few
moments later when fourteen
time champion Molyneux
retired at Crony y Voddy,
less than two miles further
up the road from Glen Helen.
That
was of little concern to
Neary though and at Ramsey,
his lead was now over ten
seconds having caught, and
passed, Holden on the road.
Klaffenbock was up to third
with Harrison, Tony Elmer
and Bryan now occupying the
top six. However, the drama
wasn’t over yet as Neary
failed to make it past the
Bungalow, thus handing the
lead to Holden. The Leeds
driver, competing this year
for five-times winner Nick
Crowe, had retired at
Casey’s, just after the
Mountain Box and Elmer was
also reported to be in
trouble also stopping on the
Mountain before proceeding.
Meanwhile, Reeves had also
rejoined but got no further
than Glen Helen before
stopping once more, later
reporting that the head
gasket had blown.
At the
end of the first lap, Holden
led by 8.89s from
Klaffenbock who was over 23
seconds clear of Harrison,
Bryan, Greg Lambert with
Dave Wallis completing the
top six. On the second lap,
Holden again lapped quicker
than Klaffenbock with
113.569mph, and had extended
his lead to 10.15s, the top
six remaining the same apart
from Roy Hanks who moved up
to sixth at the expense of
Wallis who retired, just as
he had done in the first
race.
It was
on the third and final lap
that Klaffenbock really flew
and slowly but surely began
to eat his way into Holden’s
lead. It was down to 8.75
seconds at Glen Helen, less
than 5 at Ramsey and less
than 3 at the Bungalow. As
the crews swept through
Cronk ny Mona for the final
lap, just a couple of miles
from home, Klaffi led for
the very first time by just
a quarter of a second and
when Holden crossed the line
first, the countdown began.
And, with the fastest lap of
the race, 114.157mph,
Klaffenbock had done it and
made it a double for the
week by just 1.12s.
For
Holden, it was the
bridesmaid position once
more, his seventh TT podium
in total, whilst Harrison
and Williams were delighted
to record their best ever TT
position and first ever TT
podium in third. Likewise,
Bryan in fourth notched up a
personal best just ahead of
Greg Lambert and 19-year old
local passenger Jason Slous.
Hanks took sixth with Rob
Handcock/Mike Aylott putting
in a superb drive to finish
seventh with Dave
Kimberley/Robert Bell,
Gordon Shand/Stuart Graham
and Brian Kelly/Dickie Gale
rounding out the top ten.
Elmer, meanwhile, recovered
from his first lap problems
to claw his way back up to
11th.