Racing continues today in the Isle of Man TT Festival with the second legs of both the Supersport Junior TT and the Sidecar. The Supersport machines race over four laps, or 150 miles, with a scheduled start of 10.45am while the sidecar crews come to the line at 1.15pm at the start of their 113 mile journey.

The A events of both these classes saw dramatic racing with the lead changing several times – in the case of the sidecars over the last few miles – and spectators witnessed some of the week’s most exciting action.

Ian Lougher will be all out for a double when he starts at number 6 in the Isle of Man Steam Packet Supersport Junior TT B Race. Forty seconds later Superbike winner John McGuinness, the man who finished second in the Junior A race, gets underway. 

Although Lougher won the earlier event he had only featured in 11th position on the practice leaderboard which was headed by Ryan Farquhar at 121.924 miles an hour. It was Farquhar who had been disputing the race lead with Lougher before he was forced to retire at just over half distance while holding a marginal advantage.

Local crew Nick Crowe and Darren Hope claimed their first ever TT victory when they narrowly won the Sidecar A race from Steve Norbury and Andy Smith. Favourites Dave Molyneux and Dan Sayle had stormed into an early lead only to retire on the second of the three laps.

Norbury and Smith began the final circuit with a six seconds advantage but as the two outfits started the mountain climb for the last time Crowe and Hope were on level terms and by the finish had gone ahead to win by just 2.3 seconds.

While Crowe and Hope will be all out for the double in the Hilton Hotel and Casino Sidecar Race B Norbury and Smith will be anxious to make up for Saturday’s disappointment. Also entering the equation is the outfit of John Holden and Jamie Winn who were third. But one thing is for certain – Molyneux and Sayle will take some beating if their machine keeps going, while much of the interest will surround whether any of the teams can duck under the 20 minute-lap barrier.

ENDS