Pre-TT Classic Races: Sunday's results

Double victory for Manxman Joe Yeardsley 

The postponed Sidecar Race 1 got proceedings underway on Sunday.

It had been scheduled for the Saturday evening but poor weather and lack of time put paid to that, and so the chairs were sent out first on the final day of racing around Billown.

Conditions around the course were fairly good, although because of rain earlier in the day, there were some damp patches in places.

In the end it was a first win on the Isle of Man for Jack Gristwood and Alice Smith.

Alice follows in the footsteps of her winning family members:

In second place were Mike Bellaby and Dave Gristwood and Danny Quirk with Tony Thirkell and William Moralee in third. 

Next was Race 5, the 500cc Senior Classic, which provided plenty of drama and a real tussle for the top spot.

After leading for the first three laps, Laxey man Joe Yeardsley was overtaken on the start/finish line into lap four by Alan Oversby by under a second.

They remained virtually together going into the final lap and by Cross four ways Yeardsley snuck ahead again.

And in the end by just 0.08 of a second, the 18th closest finish in the history of racing in the south of the Island, Yeardsley took it, his second win on the Billown Course:

Alan Oversby was gracious in surrendering the top of the podium.

And Castletown man Paul Cassidy finished in third - the spot he kept most of the race, the first podium for him at Billown:

There were two classes in Race 6 - the 250 Classic and 125 Post Classic.

All eyes were on Sulby man Dan Sayle who had set an unofficial lap record in practice on his 125 machine.

He was on poll position and didn’t have best of starts but he was leading by the time he went through Cross Four Ways for the first time and it was a lead over two seconds by the end of lap one.

At the end of lap two - the class record was broken with Sayle putting in a speed of 85.454mph - the previous record stood at 82.230mph.

Sayle kept hold of the lead for the whole race; his first solo win in the course.

He told Chris Kinley the record was the icing on the cake despite a mechanical issue:

Second in the 125 class was Owen Monaghan, the previous lap record holder with Keith Shannon taking third:

In the 250s, Richard Ford was first, and Chris suggested he made it look easy:

Brian Mateer was second with Billy Cummins, father of one Conor Cummins, in third.

Race 7, the 350cc Junior Classic saw a full grid of 30 initially but on the start line Andrew Guy was unable to start.

Alan Oversby took an early lead in the seven lap race - just half a second ahead of Harley Rushton.

By Cross Four Ways it was all change with Will Loder a whisker ahead of Ruston and Oversby in third.

But the Bolton-Le-Sands man had climbed back up to second at the end of lap two with Loder still at the top of the pack.

However at the end of lap three, It was change again, with Loder leading Rushton in second and Nigel Moore moved up into third.

At the end of the next lap - Moore had moved up to second - more change than a hotel laundry.

In the end it was a second win of the weekend for Will Loder by 4.66 seconds.

Nigel Moore held on to second and Harley Rushton was third.  

Next was the consolation race, made up of riders who qualified but did not get a start in the Junior and Senior Classic races.

By this time on Sunday aftenoon, the road conditions were much improved and the sun was threatening to break through.

Always a bit of a lottery - it’s a hard race to predict as competitors can choose what machine they want to go on.

Colin Croft took an early lead, with newcomer Sam Naughton in second and John Cliffe third.

Croft kept extending that advantage - up to more than 20 seconds at the end of lap three, and more then 33 seconds into the final lap.

A commanding performance by Colin Croft, he wanted to celebrate with Chris Kinley:

Second was John Cliffe with Sam Naughton taking the final podium spot on his first time out in the Billown Course.

The penultimate race was the Post Classic Senior Superbike Race, and there was disappointment for Marcus Simpson from Douglas, he was unable to start because his machine had an oil leak.

All thoughts were on whether Joe Yeardsley could do the double.

He got away well and was leading by Cross Four Ways, accompanied by Peel man Marc Colvin in second and another Manxie, Paul Cassidy in third.

There was some change at the end of lap two - Andrew Farrell from Skerries being the meat in the Manx sandwich of Yeardsley in first and Colvin in third.

A great manoeuvre from Cassidy at Cross Four Ways on lap four saw him take second place by a smidge.

But it was double delight for Joe Yeardsley -  a second of the weekend and third win overall on the Billown course.

It seems he’d had a big lunch earlier:

Paul Cassidy took second - who said it was a great ride.

And third was Andrew Farrell, just taking it from Marc Colvin.

And the final race of the meeting saw the chairs out again, in the Sidecar Classic Race 2.

Despite fitting in an extra race into the afternoon schedule, organisers got this one underway on time as planned in the programme.

The winners of race one Jack Gristwood took an early lead,  but it was all change by the end of lap two - with Danny Quirk and newcomer passenger Sharon Reeves moving up.

But then an incident at Ballabeg called a halt to proceedings.

It involved one crew, who were reported to be ok but because there was so much oil on the course the race was stopped and a race result called.

So it was Danny Quirk and newcomer Sharon Reeves, second were Jack Gristwood and Alice Smith and in third Tony Thirkell and William Moralee. 

The next action on the Billown Course will be the Southern 100 from 8-11 July