Sidecar ‘A’ Race report Monday afternoon June 5th 2006

Nick Crowe and Darren Hope kept the Manx flag flying when they had a comfortable victory in this afternoon’s VisitIsleofMan.com Sidecar ‘A’ race in the Isle of Man TT. It was a second win for the local crew, after opening their account last year, and they also recorded their first sub 20 minutes lap of 19 minutes 55.97 seconds (113.571 miles an hour).

Steve Norbury and Scott Parnell had established a slight lead in the opening miles but Crowe and Hope were not in arrears for long. They caught their rivals, moved ahead, steadily increased their advantage and at the chequered flag there was a 47 seconds gap between the two outfits. John Holden and Andrew Winkle worked their way up from seventh position at the end of lap one to take third spot.

Predictions that the race would be one of the most open of the week – particularly with the enforced absence of Dave Molyneux and Craig Hallam who crashed in practice - were soon confirmed when news came through that only around ten seconds covered the first eight outfits at Glen Helen on lap one.

Norbury and Parnell were the early leaders but Crowe and Hope overhauled them towards the end of the lap and took a lead of less than one second. Klaus Klaffenbock and Christian Parzer were third, eight seconds further back, but hit trouble shortly afterwards and eventually had to retire.

By Ramsey Hairpin on lap two Crowe and Hope had opened up a lead of 11 seconds which they stretched to 16 by the end of the lap. Norbury and Parnell were comfortably ensconced in second place. Simon Neary and Stuart Bond, who had held third place for much of the race, crashed at Brandywell on lap three and were taken to hospital by the rescue helicopter. Neary injured his leg while his passenger suffered arm and leg injuries.

Passenger Simon Briggs went to hospital with an arm injury after falling out of his sidecar at Kerrowmoar. Earlier, in the Superstock event, Emmanuel Cheron was taken to hospital by helicopter suffering from arm fractures while Rob Frost crashed in the solo practice which followed the Sidecar Race. He was thought to have possible ankle and shoulder fractures.

Sidecar ‘A’ Race Result:

1. Nick Crowe/Darren Hope, Honda, 1 00 27.15 (112.342);
2. Steve Norbury/Scott Parnell, Shelbourne Yamaha, 1 01 14.26 (110.902);
3. John Holden/Andrew Winkle, Honda, 1 01 56.71 (109.635.)