In perfect weather conditions, the race, which was shortened to two laps, started at 16:30 on Friday afternoon. The Manx duo took the lead from the start and never relinquished it until the chequered flag. On their Opul/Kelproperties LCR Honda, they continuously extended their lead – initially 9.5 seconds at Glen Helen and later 23 seconds at Ramsey Hairpin. In the end, they won with a lead of 1:08.903 minutes.
Dominance from the start
The Crowes demonstrated their strength on the very first lap. With an average speed of 119.950 mph (approx. 193.01 km/h), they drove the fastest standing start lap ever recorded in the Sidecar category. Their top speed of 161.472 mph (approx. 259.8 km/h) was recorded at the Sulby Speedtrap.
The results from the first race of the week were repeated in the following positions: Ben Birchall and Patrick Rosney (Hager/Wyckham Blackwell LCR Honda) once again secured second place, followed by Lee Crawford and Scott Hardie (Team ARC/SJH Bodyworks LCR Kawasaki) in third.
Battle for the podium
Behind the leading duo, a close battle developed for third place on the podium. After the first lap, Blackstock/Lawrence (Dave Holden Racing LCR Yamaha) were just two tenths of a second behind Crawford/Hardie. However, the latter were able to pull away as the race progressed, while Blackstock/Lawrence later had to retire from the race at Lambfell.
Personal bests in the chasing pack
Fourth place went to Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement (Brookland Sand & Aggregates CES Yamaha) with a lap time of 115.065 mph (approx. 185.2 km/h), directly followed by the impressive newcomers Clarke/Johnson (Eddy’s Moto CES Yamaha), who set their personal best on the Mountain Course with 114.884 mph (approx. 184.9 km/h).
There were also strong performances in the midfield: George Holden/Mark Wilkes (111.408 mph / approx. 179.2 km/h) finished the race in seventh place, Kershaw/Gibbons (110.927 mph / approx. 178.4 km/h) in eighth place, Lambert/Haynes (109.609 mph / approx. 176.4 km/h) in ninth place and the Belgian duo Van der Donckt/Van der Donckt rounded off the top ten with a new personal best (109.500 mph / approx. 176.2 km/h).
The TT future of the Crowes
With their fourth TT victory in a row, Ryan and Callum Crowe have established themselves as the new dominators of the Sidecar category. Their combination of driving precision, speed and reliability makes them virtually unassailable at the moment. Whether they can continue their winning streak in the coming year remains to be seen – but there is currently no way around the Crowes.
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