Holden & Winkle continue to set pace in sidecar qualifying

[Mago]

With perfect conditions lasting long into the evening for qualifying for the 2016 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy, the Formula Two sidecars enjoyed a good session, which got underway at 8.05pm.

After setting the quickest time on Monday evening, John Holden/Andy Winkle again topped the leaderboard, improving their speed to 113.15mph. It was close though with father and son team Ian and Carl Bell only marginally slower at 112.98mph.

Dave Molyneux and passenger Dan Sayle led the field away swiftly followed by Ben and Tom Birchall, Holden/Winkle, Tim Reeves/Patrick Farrance, Alan Founds/Aki Aalto and Gary Bryan/Jamie Winn. Conrad Harrison was next to go and he had a new passenger on board, Jason Crowe having replaced Dean Kilkenny who was reported to have an injured leg.

The Birchalls and Reeves/Farrance were early retirements though, stopping at Ballacraine and Laurel Bank respectively, but Molyneux, who experienced a water leak on Monday, got his first lap of 2016 in at 112.48mph.

Founds/Aalto and Karl Bennett/Lee Cain also clocked in excess of the 110mph mark but Molyneux pushed his machine away from the session, clearly with more work to do in the garage.  The Bells, who left the line towards the rear of the field, lapped at 111.63mph while Harrison was timed at over 107mph as he got used to both his new passenger and new outfit.

Founds/Aalto continued onto a second lap as did Bennett/Cain but they only got as far as Glentramman second time around. Founds improved to 111.55mph with Bryan/Winn recording 108.34mph, slightly slower than Wayne Lockey/Mark Sayers who lapped at 108.84mph.

However, the Bells moved up to second overall with their near 113mph lap whilst Australian Dwight Beare, with Ben Binns in the chair, recorded his first ever 110mph lap. Meanwhile, newcomers Lewis Blackstock/Patrick Rosney only just missed out on their first 100mph lap with a speed of 99.6mph.

Tim Reeves/Patrick Farrance and Colin Buckley/Robbie Shorter both hit the bales at Laurel Bank and Kerrowmoar respectively but both crews were uninjured.  Stephane Hubert, passenger to Dan Knight came into contact with the wall at Quarry Bends but was reported to be OK after being checked by the doctor. Kevin Jones, passenger to Dave Dermott, came off the sidecar at Burnside, at the end of Cronk Y Voddy and was taken to Nobles hospital with reported leg and arm fractures.