Dave Molyneux and Dan Sayle leading race two through the right-hander at Cronk-y-Voddy named in Molys honour

Problems with the outfit’s ignition system forced Moly and Dan Sayle to pull their entry from the opening race, while snapped con rod bolts put them out of the second race last Friday.

‘Ben Birchall later told me that his Honda suffered the exact same problem in the opening race, as did Greg Lambert’s.

‘Ben and Tom’s engine had done five full laps [during qualifying and the first race] before it went bang at Sulby crossroads.

‘Ours did five laps and eight miles as far as Ballig. There was obviously something radically wrong with the bolts as they did less than 200 miles.

‘I felt it starting to falter coming out of Union Mills. It was dragging its bottom on the Ballahutchin.

‘The ignition issues also re-appeared and the engine momentarily cut out exiting Greeba Castle. By then the Birchalls were right on our tail and they touched the back of our outfit when it slowed up.

‘I was afraid of precisely that kind of thing happening in the first race, that was the reason I decided not to race.

‘When Ben and Tom went past, I dropped the clutch again and the engine restarted.

‘I hoped that I could nurse it to the finish, but that brief falter probably did the damage to the con rod bolts.

‘Heading down the straight after Ballaspur it momentarily blew and the bike locked up.

‘It went sideways as I yanked on the brakes. It was skidding on its own oil, but I managed to bring it to a halt at Ballig.’

Moly realised the engine had dropped oil, most of it off the racing line on the left-hand side appraching the bridge. He grabbed a container of cement dust and spread it on the affected areas while the marshals brushed it in.

The tragic incident involving Ian and Carl Bell occurred less than two minutes later, but that accident was on the corner at Ballaspur farm, several hundred yards before the point where Molyneux and Sayle’s machine went bang.

‘I’m done with Hondas now. The motors are based on 10-year-old technology and are too volatile when heavily tuned.

‘I kick myself now for going down the Honda route, but at the point that I split with Klaus Klaffenbock I had gone too far with the chassis to change motors to another make.

‘I now have to regroup. I’m going with Yamaha next year. The R6 is the best motor out there based on Supersport regulations. I already have a new chassis on the bench with a Yamaha slotted into it.

‘I am committed to the current Honda for the Southern 100, so I’m just going down there to ride it.

‘Once that is over, I will convert the chassis to also take a Yamaha, so I will have a back-up.’

Molyneux, winner of a record 17 sidecar TTs, is also reverting to his old fairings.

‘I’m dumping the new fairing. It looked good in principal, but it was making the bike jump for fun. There was no stability at speed and it became very hard to control.

‘It meant that I lost top speed. There was no downforce, so it was floating on corners. At places like Brandish and Hillberry I couldn’t get it to grip.

‘I guess the new fairing was a good exercise, but it needed wind-tunnel technology to test it and no one has the money to afford that.

‘It’s no good having a fast bike if it doesn’t handle.’

Molyneux remains confident:

 ‘We led Friday’s race on something that wasn’t up to it. I’m under no illusions about what we can do. It’s another day and another year.’

Molyneux and Sayle were scheduled to travel to Croatia this weekend for the world championship event, but the heavy losses of the last month or so have cost them dearly.