Crowe and Cox take control

After the bitter disappointment of retiring from both sidecar races at the Centenary TT, Nick Crowe roared to victory in the first Sure Mobile Sidecar TT race at the 2008 Isle of Man TT.

The Suzuki-powered outfit of Dave Molyneux and Dan Sayle led the field away, but after running just the length of the pit straight the machine pulled off with mechanical problems.

Many thought that would leave the race Crowe’s for the taking, but the outfit to snatch the lead was the TAS-backed machine of John Holden and Andrew Winkle.

However, Crowe and passenger Mark Cox were soon on it and took the lead on lap. They built their advantage to secure victory by more than 19 seconds. It was Manxman Crowe's fourth TT victory.

Holden and Winkle took a comfortable second place, to add to the two runners-up spots of last year.

Behind the leading pair, a battle was raging between the outfit of Phil Dongworth and Stuart Castles and World Champions Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance.

At the end of three laps, Reeves/Farrance had the advantaged, taking the final step on the podium by less than three seconds from Dongworth and Castles.

It was an amazing result for Reeves and Farrance in their first ever TT.

Speaking after the race Crowe said:

‘It was a pretty slow start to the race, so I just kept my head down. We had a big moment going into Ramsey, a big slide, and I thought I had a puncture.’

'I just kept my head down and tried not to make any mistakes.’

Holden added:

'The first lap was good, I knew we were leading it and I could see Nick. On the second lap I had a big moment at Black Dub and that knocked my confidence a bit.’

‘But I dug in and kept going.’

Reeves was clearly delighted to prove his doubters wrong.

‘I always believed in myself. We’ve had so much help from Nick and Dave. So many people knocked us, but I think we just p*ssed on their cornflakes.’

‘I shall definitely be back.'

World Champion Klaus Klaffenbock and passenger Christian Parzer were once again forced to retire with mechanical problems.


1 Nick Crowe/Mark Cox 2008 LCR Honda 600cc 114.855
2 3 John Holden/Andrew Winkle 2008 LCR Suzuki 600cc 113.887
3 10 Tim Reeves/Patrick Farrance* 2008 LCR Suzuki 600cc 111.296 * Newcomer
4 11 Phil Dongworth/Stuart Castles 2007 Ireson Honda 600cc 111.098
5 7 Nigel Connole/Dipash Chauhan 2008 LCR Honda 600cc 110.562
6 14 Douglas Wright/Stuart Bond 2006 Shellbourne Honda 600cc 110.305
7 12 Gary Bryan/Robert Bell 2006 Baker Yamaha 600cc 108.629
8 15 Tony Elmer/Darren Marshall 2006 Ireson Yamaha 600cc 108.294
9 8 Roy Hanks/Dave Wells 2008 DMR Suzuki 600cc 108.873
10 18 Greg Lambert/Sally Wilson 2008 DMR Honda 600cc 108.055