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| Moly Back with a Bang
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DAVE Molyneux and Karl Ellison smashed the outright sidecar race record for the Jurby Airfield circuit in a thrilling head-to-head with new kids on the block Nick Crowe and Darren Hope last Saturday.
Double TT winners together in 1993, Molyneux and Ellison have only ridden a handful of races since teaming back up at the beginning of the season.
Their comeback ride at Jurby last month was stifled by ongoing problems with the fuel injection system on the new 600 Honda.
But, after replacing the injectors with good old carbs for Scarborough a fortnight ago, the pair were back on song at Jurby this time with two wins from two starts.
‘We had slicks on for the first race and we managed to make an early break of it ahead of Nicky and Darren. With a clear road we were able to put in some quick laps, so I wasn’t altogether surprised we were inside the race record at the finish,’ said Moly later.
Their race record of 8mins 25.5secs lopped an incredible 15.6s off the standard set by Crowe/Hope in May of this year; though the latter crew were well inside that mark themselves this time also.
Due to the threat of rain Moly fitted intermediate tyres for the second race and it was they who had to do all the chasing on this occasion.
Crowe and Hope certainly showed the old masters a trick or two in the art of three-wheel powersliding, but when Nick got the Ireson framed outfit a little too much sideways on the penultimate lap Moly had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
‘Their new Yamaha has loads of grunt out of the corners and we really struggled to keep with them.
When they got out of shape on the big right hander leading onto the runway I had to mow down a couple of cones on the inside to avoid smashing into them, losing about 50 yards in the process.’
Molyneux and Ellison chased after the Jurby pair down the start and finish straight, but were still some yards down leading into the bottom chicane.
‘It was then that I saw two slower outfits up ahead and I had a feeling that Nick would try and go up the inside of them into the right hander, so I launched it up the outside and came out of the corner the better.’
At the line Moly and Karl had little more than a bike’s length in hand, with new resident Nigel Smith and passenger Roy Hutchinson a distant third.
Molyneux and Ellison were unable to contest the final race due to a prior engagement, leaving Crowe and Hope some 16s clear of former Isle of Man champions Brian and Neil Kelly at the close of the six lapper.
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