Once again the TT practice has fallen foul to the poor weather conditions leaving Mansfield Sidecar racers Ben and Tom Birchall the dilemma of whether to go out on the untimed lap or to stay put in the garage on Wednesday evening.
The only two laps completed so far were the two on Saturday when Ben and Tom were the fourth fastest riders on the course.
Wednesday brought more rain and low cloud to the Isle of Man and after a lengthy delay the organisers decided to permit the riders out on the course for untimed practice.
Ben and Tom completed one lap of the 37.73-mile course and Ben said: “Conditions were far from ideal out there. It was a really hard decision for the organisers to make but eventually we did get out there. For the first six miles the conditions were ok and it was dry but for the rest of the lap it was wet. We opted for slick tyres so we could get some data on the dry part but once we hit the wet surface it was a different matter. We just rode round the rest of the lap at a slow rate of knots and brought the outfit back to pits safely.
“It’s not what we need as we have to get some fast laps under our belts tonight (Thursday) and Friday so we can make final preparations for the first race on Saturday.”
The first three lap Sidecar race is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 1 at 2pm.
Photo by Peter Bull
