Birchall brothers storm first Isle of Man TT Sidecar race

Ben and Tom Birchall have maintained their winning run in the Sidecar races at the Isle of Man TT with a dominant display in the 2019 opener.

With five consecutive Sidecar wins at the TT, the Birchall brothers remained unchallenged throughout on their charge to victory with the LCR Honda over the three-lap opening Locate.im Sidecar TT race in the category.

Having just missed out on producing the first 120mph Sidecar lap at the TT on Lap 2, the Birchalls did set a new race record to win by 48.116s from John Holden and Lee Cain for a sixth straight Sidecar victory at the TT. The victory also marks Tom Birchall as the new wins record-holder in the Sidecar class at the TT.

Alan Founds and Jake Lowther held off a late attack from Peter Founds and Jevan Walmsley to complete the podium, 28.626s off Holden/Cain, with newcomers Ryan and Callum Crowe rounding out the top five and breaking the previous newcomers lap record with a 113.34mph.

Lewis Blackstock and Patrick Rosney grabbed sixth place almost 30 seconds off the Crowe duo with Gary Bryan and Philip Hyde taking seventh place.

Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes retired early pulling up at the bottom of Bray Hill on the opening lap, while Dave Molyneux and Harry Payne stopped at Bradden Church on the same lap.