Birchall brothers win opening Sidecar TT and nudge 120 mph

2022 Isle of Man TT
Sidecar TT Monday

By Ben McCook

The Birchall brothers racked up their 8th TT win on the bounce when they wrapped up the opening 3 wheeling.media Sidecar race on Monday in their Hath Honda outfit. The rescheduled race was cut to two laps and was a real sprint to the finish. Ben and Tom were pre-race favourites and although they didn’t devastate the opposition, it’s fair to say that their 17s lead at the end meant that the real contest was for the runner-up spot.

At the chequered flag it was another pair of siblings, the Crowe brothers who stole it in the final metres but they didn’t have it easy… Ryan and Callum were put under some serious pressure on the final circuit by the number 5 outfit driven by Peter Founds with Jevan Walmsley in the seat. Founds put in a titanic effort in his FHO liveried LCR Honda on the 2nd and final lap, using every inch of the road, attacking the tiny gap to the Crowes all the time. It really added to the sense of excitement that Founds’ brother was part of the Manx Radio commentary team. His nerves were obvious as he described the final moments of the race.

Founds moved into 2nd position at the final time check at Cronk-ny-Mona for the first time but the Crowes responded in the run to the grandstand and got back in front to claim an unbelievable 2nd place.

It is only their 2nd ever race on the mountain course and the performance evoked memories of their father Nick in the late 2000s when he was the man to beat in the 3-wheeled races. Nick is a 5-time winner.

At 26, driver Ryan is just the sort of participant that the sidecar scene needs. Many of the drivers are in their 50s and 60s. Ben Birchall is a ‘young pup’ of the class at 45.

On the final lap the Birchall’s appeared to be on lap record pace… there was great speculation whether or not they could smash the 120mph lap once and for all… that speed is the sidecar Holy grail and must surely go soon. But in the end, they clocked a speed just shy of their own lap-record at 119.22 Mph.

Ben admitted afterwards that he had heeded advice given to him earlier in the day by John McGuinness. The 23 times TT winner had told Ben that he should concentrate on winning trophies and forget the lap record.

The 120 lap will go someday, but going by today’s action, it might be the Crowes who get it rather than the Birchalls if the young pretenders progress as expected. The 2nd Sidecar race takes place on Senior Friday, just before the main event.