The Steam Packet Southern 100 International Road Races reach another mile-stone in its illustrious history - fifty actual years of Sidecars racing on the Billown Course.

Seven years after the first Southern 100 Road Races in 1955, Sidecars were included in the race programme which proved to be an exciting affair with Charlie Freeman and Fred Wallis disputing the lead throughout the nine-lap race, Freeman taking victory by just one second after some 38.25 miles, with a speed of 70.23 mph.

1969 saw the first of the Sidecar Championship Races, won by the now familiar pairing of Charlie Freeman and Billy Nelson, taking their total victories around the 4.25-mile course to five.


Between 1989 and 1995 two Sidecar Championship categories were held, Open and Formula 2, with the Open class being dropped for safety reasons in 1996 the Formula 2 class remains, the latest Champions being brothers Ben and Tim Birchall who took the prestigious title on their debut in 2012.

Over the years, there have been 30 Southern 100 Sidecar Champions, topping the list is local man, Dave Molyneux with seven titles to his name between 1986 and 2003 shared with three passengers, Paul Kneale (1), Karl Ellison and Craig Hallam (3 each).

Two crews share five victories, Charlie Freeman and Billy Nelson between 1962 and 1969, Lowry Burton with Marty Murphy, Pat Cushnahan, and Julian Tailford in the chair (at different times) between 1980 and 1988.

Another Manxman, Nick Crowe with passengers Darren Hope (3) and Dan Sayle (1) has four titles to his credit consecutively between 2004 and 2007.

Geoff Bell, Bill Davie and Ian Bell have three wins apiece, although Ian Bell has the distinction of being, so far the only competitor to have won the Sidecar and Solo Championships, having taken the Solo honours in 1987.

John Watson, Allen Steele and Klaus Klaffenböck each have two Championships to their names.

2013 sees the fiftieth actual running of the Sidecar Championship race (with no races in 2001) and the organising club is extremely appreciative of the continued sponsorship of the prestigious race by Petrochem Carless who have supported the race since 2009.

The 2013 Steam packet Southern 100 International Road Races take place on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 8th, 9th, 10th & 11th July, with the Sidecar Championship race taking place on Thursday afternoon.


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