THE Manx stranglehold on the sidecar TT ended today when victory in the second Sure Sidecar Race went to Klaus Klaffenbock, his second win of the week.

Austrian Klaffenbock produced a fabulous 114 mph final lap to win by just over a second from John Holden and Andrew Winkle.

“It means more to me than the first one,” said Klaffi. “I knew we were 10 seconds down - maybe we were sleeping a bit on the first two laps. This is great, absolutely great. It makes me proud.”

After Isle of Man riders had dominated the sidecar event since 2003, it was left to Dave Molyneux to challenge on behalf of the Island for the win but it ended all too soon with retirement at Cronk y Voddy on the first lap.

It was Klaffi’s second TT win after many years of chasing the top honours which have been dominated by Manx drivers Molyneux and Nick Crowe.

After Molyneux’s unexpected early exit the attention switched to Klaffenbock (Honda) with passenger local man Dan Sayle. But the man in form for the first two laps today was John Holden, currently lying second in the British sidecar championship.

With Molyneux out and Tim Reeves also retiring early on the first lap with a blown gasket, Holden seized control of the race on the second circuit, with Klaffenbock in hot pursuit. The gap extended to 10 seconds after the first two laps but had closed slightly by Glen Helen to 8.7 seconds with Conrad Harrison/Kerry Williams (Honda) almost a minute further back in third.

Klaffenbock sensed his opportunity and turned up the pace, reducing the gap further to just 6.4 seconds by Ramsey, and over the mountain closed even further on Holden to just over two seconds at The Bungalow. 

There was an anxious wait at the finish for Holden after he crossed the line and he had to wait and watch as Klaffenbock blasted down Glencrutchery Road to win by the tightest of margins.

It was Holden’s 7th podium finish and he felt he had done enough to win. “When we saw a board in Ramsey saying plus 6 seconds I thought we had done it, but fair play to Klaffi.”