TT 2025: Crowe brothers shatter sidecar lap record in dominant win

Manx duo lap at 121mph in emphatic victory

Manx duo Ryan and Callum Crowe shattered the Sidecar TT lap record as they soared to victory in the first three-wheeled race of TT 2025 this afternoon.

The reigning champions finished a one minute and 17 seconds clear of their nearest challengers Ben Birchall and Patrick Rosney and set a sensation lap benchmark of 121.021mph on their final lap.

Finishing behind them were Ben Birchall and Patrick Rosney whilst Lee Crawford and Scott Hardie completed the podium in third.

Victory for the Crowe brothers also means it's three sidecar races unbeaten on the Snaefell Mountain Course since taking their first two wins last year.

Having dominated the timings in practice, the reigning champions Ryan and Callum Crowe had the hammer down from the outset.

By the time they'd reached Ballaugh on the first lap of two, they'd already soared just over 20 seconds ahead Lewis Blackstock and Oscar Lawrence in second who in turn were just 0.318 seconds in front of Ben Birchall and Patrick Rosney.

There was then a trade of places at Ramsey with Birchall and Rosney moving up into second and just 0.2 seconds clear of Blackstock and Lawrence, whilst the pairing of Lee Crawford and Scott Hardie were also edging themselves into contention on the run over the Mountain section.

Heading onto the second and final lap, the Crowe brothers were rampant out front with a full 36.2 seconds between they and the second-placed outfit of Birchall and Rosney who in turn had worked themselves a cushion of just over 2.4 seconds to Blackstock and Lawrence in third who were fighting off the advances of Crawford and Hardie just 0.5 seconds outside the podium places.

In behind the ever-commanding Crowe brothers, Crawford and Hardie moved up ahead of Blackstock and Lawrence into third in what was proving to be a last-lap shootout for the two remaining podium places.

And as lap two wore on, the Ryan and Callum Crowe were then adding to their lead in the race to start moving into sidecar lap record territory and 9.2 seconds quicker than the current benchmark at 120.6mph going into Ramsey.

Entering the latter stages, the podium battle took a different turn as Blackstock and Lawrence dropped down the order after having to stop and make adjustments giving Crawford and Hardie a healthy 31.5-second cushion in third to Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement who were lifted into fourth heading into the north of the Island.

Blasting through sector records on the final run to the finish, the sheer pace of Ryan and Callum Crowe was put into full focus as they crossed the line with a record-breaking 121.021mph, eclipsing the previous benchmark of 120.6mph set by Ben and Tom Birchall two years ago.