It was good to see the chairs back, but the original field of five was soon reduced to three outfits on Saturday,
then two by Sunday. Dave Molyneux and Ben Binns lead Harry Payne and Centre sidecar trials champion
Olly Lace in race two on Saturday afternoon. They won two races apiece
(JW200712(5201)

It was good to see the sidecars back in action at Jurby for the first time in two years, even if numbers once again slipped after day one.
(11th /12 July)

Ryan and Callum Crowe set off like a rocket in the opening race on Saturday in the Triumph-engined LCR outfit.

But there was bitter disappointment for the Jurby siblings when the over-bored 675cc triple suffered ’breathing issues’ towards the end of lap two.

This left Dave Molyneux and Ben Binns in the driving seat, although Harry Payne and Olly Lace were never far away from their rear-wheel in what was both men’s first appearance on the track as a driver and passenger respectively.

At the chequered cloth, the difference between the two Yamaha-engined outfits was 0.262 of a second.

It was good to see Michael Jackson returning from the hand injuries he suffered in the 2019 TT to finish third with Richard Murphy - the latter in his first race for nine years.

Payne, who chaired for Molyneux in the 2019 TT, pushed his former driver even harder in race two and at times appeared to be trying a little too hard, but he and Lace held on to again finish only two tenths of a second down in the all-yellow outfit.

Sunday was Molyneux’s turn to suffer a mechanical and his Yamaha’s clutch went in the first race.

This left Payne and Lace well in control to register their first brace of wins on Manx soil together. Jackson and Murphy made the most of the track time to rack up two second places to their thirds on day one.

’Great weekend had by all I should think...’, said Harry. ’We were very happy to be lapping in the low 1.11s going anti-clockwise for my first race as a driver and Olly’s first race at all round Jurby. It was great to be chasing Moly round too.’

He added that their motor was suffering with high oil temperature all weekend, so they made some changes to make before the next round in August.

They were nonetheless happy with their pace and the handling of the bike was improved after a few tweaks made by Ryan Crowe, who kindly lent them a hand after having to pull out of the weekend himself.

In the solo class, Mikey Evans and Jamie Cringle were again close throughout the Centre and club 600 races.

Evans won the first ’open’ race on the clockwise course by 0.446s, with Ryan Kneen edging Rory Parker out of third in the closing stages.

Ozzy Madey was fifth and Tomo Burnett the first of the 750cc class in sixth.

Cringle won the first 600cc race on Sunday by 0.099 of a second from Evans, but the latter turned it around in race two to win by 0.108. They were that close throughout.

The pre-injection class wins both went to David Watling.

The final race of an excellent weekend went to Cringle in the closing Centre championship event.

Evans later admitted that the BMW was not the best of bikes off the start line. He lost a number of places and quite a bit of time but ultimately made up most of it before settling for a safe runner-up spot some 5.3s down on Cringle, who - it has to be said - came of age with a string of flawless rides throughout the weekend.

Ryan Kneen was third on his Charmer Builders Bee-em, with Parker and Madey again going well. One to watch though is clubman Seb Spiers who sixth ahead of leading ’750’ Paul Cassidy and 600cc Suzuki mounted Illy Quayle.

The next race meetings are on Sunday, August 16 and Saturday, August 29, with a final regular meeting on Sunday, September 20.

The end-of-season Endurance meeting is on Sunday, October 18.