Dave Molyneux and Patrick Farrance - Photo Credit: Isle of Man TT
Dave Molyneux has clinched his sixteenth Isle of Man TT victory after he and Patrick Farrance won the second Sidecar race on Wednesday, completing a double at this year's event. The DMR duo didn't enjoy the same dominance as Tim Reeves and Dan Sayle led them until the final lap.
Unsettled weather caused a delayed start but when the race did finally get underway, Ben and Tom Birchall were the quickest out of the blocks, leading Molyneux by three seconds at Ramsey. By the time they reached the end of lap one though, Reeves had a four second advantage over Molyneux with the Birchalls dropping to third.
| 2012 Isle of Man TT | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sure Sidecar TT Race Two | ||
| 1 | Molyneux/Farrance | 1:00:03.80 |
| 2 | Reeves/Sayle | +17.12 |
| 3 | B Birchall/T Birchall | +45.14 |
| 4 | Bryan/Winn | +2:20.24 |
| 5 | Wright/Hull | +2:34.26 |
| 6 | Lambert/Crowe | +2:47.88 |
Reeves kept his nose in front second time around but a 113.474mph lap from Molyneux had closed the gap to just eight tenths of a second. The signs were ominous early in lap three as Saturday's winner took a 1.75s at Glen Helen. The writing was on the wall from that point onwards and Molyneux would go on to set the fastest lap of the race, 114.486mph, to claim victory by a slightly flattering margin of 17 seconds, with Reeves having pushed him much harder than that gap suggests.
After their lightning start, the Birchall brothers faded to third, 45 seconds adrift, but the former FIM World Champions were comfortably clear of everybody else, aided by the retirement of Conrad Harrison and Mike Aylott, and secured their second TT podium just days after their first.
Gary Bryan and Jamie Winn took fourth for the second time this week with Douglas Wright and Martin Hull replicating their fifth place finish from race one, just ahead of Gregory Lambert and Jason Crowe who completed the top six.
