Mansfield brothers Ben and Tom Birchall secured a 10th TT victory with another dominant display in the week’s second Sidecar race.

Like the rest of Thursday’s packed schedule, the race was shortened to two laps from the usual three.

This didn’t knock the Birchalls out of their stride though as they piloted their LCR Honda to a seventh sidecar win a row as they crossed the line 20.511 seconds up on John Holden and Lee Cain.

The latter pair were runners up for the second time in the week, 34.383 seconds ahead of Peter Founds and Jevan Walmsley who picked up a second TT podium in third.

A delighted Ben Birchall said after the race: ’That was hard. Two laps puts a bit of pressure on us all.’

After drawing level with 10 wins with sidecar legend Rob Fisher, Birchall added: ’Ten wins is such an honour.’

After picking up his 12th sidecar podium in a row, Holden added: ’Twelve podiums in a row is amazing reliability and thanks to the Silicone Engineering/Barnes Racing team for that.’

Founds said: ’We pushed a bit harder than in the first race. The confidence is building between us.’

Behind the top three, Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes were third a minute behind Founds and Walmsley.

Gary Bryan and Philip Hyde were fourth just behind Reeves and Wilkes, French pair Estelle Leblond and Frank Claeys completing the top six.

Alan Founds and Jake Lowther, who finished third on Monday, retired at Sarah’s Cottage on the opening lap.

Conrad Harrison and Andy Winkle also pulled out early on.

Ramsey’s Craig Melvin and Stuart Christian retired on lap two, while fellow Manxie Dave Molyneux and Harry Payne finished 10th.

Full report in issue three of TT News - on sale tomorrow.