Ben and Tom Birchall dominance of the recent Sidecar TTs continued as they swept to a blistering victory on Saturday evening in the delayed opening three-wheel contest of the week.

The Mansfield brothers were almost in a race of their own as they broke their own lap record set last year not once but twice in successive laps.

A blistering first lap of 117.502mph (19 minutes 15.962 seconds) set the new standard before they went even quicker on their second lap with a circuit of 118.694 (19.04.353) on the IEG Racing Honda.

A slightly more sedate third lap saw them finish a comfortable 47.132 seconds ahead of John Holden and Lee Cain in their Silicone Engineering Honda.

Holden’s wife, Fiona Baker-Holden, and driver Tony Baker were involved in the red flag incident that saw the first start halted on the opening lap. Both were air lifted to hospital, Baker with a broken leg and Baker-Holden with soft tissue damage.

Holden and Cain, the latter becoming the fastest Manxman to lap the course in a sidecar race with a circuit of 117.370mph, were 21.901s ahead of Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes (Carl Cox Motorsport Honda) on corrected time at the end of the scintillating three-lap contest.

Peter Founds beat brother Alan into fourth, the latter having had to stop to make adjustments in the pits at the end of lap one, incurring a 10-second penalty when more team members than permitted worked on the outfit.

Conrad Harrison and Andy Winkle rounded out the top six in their Rod Bellas Honda.

Experienced Manx competitors Dave Molyneux and Dan Sayle were forced to retire the DMR Yamaha at the end of the opening lap when in sixth.Full report in issue two of TT News, on sale Sunday.