History was made on Saturday when the Isle of Man TT Races took to the 4.25-mile Billown circuit near Castletown for the first time and the sun drenched meeting saw Ian Lougher and Chris Palmer add to their haul of TT wins.

The races, which saw two strokes back on the TT schedule, saw Lougher and Palmer take their 8th and 3rd TT wins respectively with the Welshman taking the honours in the 250cc class and his English counterpart the 125cc encounter.

With perfect conditions once again gracing the Island, riders were warned of cement dust (covering melting tar!) on the Church Bends and Ballanorris sections and it was the 12-lap 125cc that got proceedings underway. There was disappointment for Andrew Neill on the warm up lap as he retired with a broken chain whilst Michael Dunlop opted out of the race in preference to the 250cc. When the lights changed it was Ian Lougher who got the initial advantage but at the completion of the first lap it was Chris Palmer who had seized control to the tune of 3 seconds. Lougher was in second with leading British Championship contender, and circuit newcomer, James Ford in an excellent third.

Palmer doubled his advantage second time around but Ford dropped down to 12th after problems at one of the hairpin corners and this allowed Nigel Moore up into third. At the front of the pack, Palmer was racing away with it and, lapping three seconds a lap quicker than his rivals, he was over 15 seconds clear at half race distance. Daniel Sayle, already a TT winner on three wheels, was up into third with Moore dropping down to fourth ahead of Ford, who had ridden brilliantly to haul himself back up to fifth.

The pattern for the race seemed set but there was drama on the penultimate lap when Lougher went missing and he was reported as having stopped at Castletown Bridge with a broken chain. This meant that Palmer’s winning margin was a huge 34 seconds at the end of the 12 laps and he came home ahead of Sayle for his third 125cc TT victory. Irishman Moore took a solid third ahead of Ford, Chris McGahan, Peter Wakefield, Sam Dunlop, Paul Dobbs, Robert Knight and Barry Davidson.


For many of the field there was little respite as the 250cc was soon coming order starters orders and it was again Palmer who had the led at the completion of the first lap. However, it was a lot closer this time with Lougher, Ryan Farquhar and Dunlop right on his rear wheel but Davidson was already out, having stopped at Castletown Corner.

The lead was exchanging hands with frequent regularity and on lap time Lougher hit the front to lead by 0.9 seconds from Farquhar, Dunlop and Palmer. Andrew Neill was in a safe fifth with Davy Morgan one place further back.

Lap 3 saw Farquhar hit the front for the first time and a lap later it was Dunlop’s turn to lead, the front three separated by just 0.7 seconds. Palmer was beginning to drop back and at half race distance, he was over 12 seconds adrift, although there was still nothing between the top three. Lap 7 saw Lougher set a new lap record and he was beginning to make a break to get ahead of Farquhar by just over a second. Dunlop soon realised that the Welshman was making his escape attempt and got by Farquhar but on the ninth lap his race was over, the young Ballymoney man, one of the stars of the week, out at Ballabeg.

Farquhar was happy with second whilst Palmer just held off the closing Neill to take the final podium spot. Morgan had a strong, if lonely, ride into fifth with the top ten completed by Paul Owen, Phil Harvey, Paul Shoesmith, Samuel Dunlop and Chris Barratt. John Burrows was unlucky to retire from tenth in the closing stages.