Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes got their Isle of Man TT Races campaign underway in solid fashion on Monday when they took fifth place in the first Formula Two Sidecar race, also posting a new personal best lap of the Mountain Course at 114.777mph. It made Wilkes the fastest ever sidecar newcomer passenger in the history of the event.
 
With Wilkes making his debut around the 37.73-mile course, the Klaffi Honda pairing were hoping for a good week of weather during practice to post as many laps as possible but the island’s climate had other ideas and a number of sessions were lost due to inclement conditions and they only managed nine laps during the course of the week.
 
Nevertheless, the Kent duo posted a near 110mph lap on their first night on track on Tuesday and with a lap of 114.350mph on Friday evening, they placed fourth on the overall leaderboard. They were set for a 115mph+ lap during Saturday’s final practice session only for a broken earth wire to halt their charge but Mark had already, unofficially at least, become the fastest sidecar passenger newcomer.
 
The first 3-lap race finally got underway just after 3pm on Monday afternoon but only three miles into the race, Tim noticed that the bike wouldn’t pull up the Ballahutchin on the exit of Union Mills and this was later traced to a blocked fuel pump.
 
It meant their race was compromised slightly but, mindful of the fact that laps would be crucial, he pressed on and although not the speed or position they wanted, an opening lap of 112.421mph put them in fifth place at the end of the opening lap.
 
Enjoying a battle on the roads with Alan Founds/Jake Lowther, Tim and Mark increased their pace to a best ever 114.777mph lap second time around, which made Mark officially the fastest newcomer passenger of all time. And with a third and final lap of 114.681mph, they crossed the line after 113.19 miles in a good fifth place.
 
Tim Reeves: “With Mark being a newcomer, practice week was always going to be about building up our speed gradually but we did 110mph on our first flying lap and had then got up to 114mph so I can’t praise him enough, he’s been faultless. A 115mph lap was on the cards in final practice but I lined up for the race start as if I was with a full-time TT passenger and after only a handful of laps together, that was phenomenal.”
 
“Unfortunately, not far into the race, I knew the bike wasn’t running right and it wasn’t pulling like it had been during practice. It was intermittent but I nearly pulled in at the end of the first lap and having been caught by the Founds boys, I didn’t want to get in their way. I was very mindful though of how important it was for Mark to get more laps so we kept plugging away and in the last two laps, I did my fastest sectors ever so it’s all about stringing together them now on each lap.”
 
“All things considered, fifth is a good result first time out and my aim for Friday is to be as consistent as possible and get back on the podium, which will be a superb way to end the week.”
 
The second three-lap sidecar race is scheduled to get underway at 10.30am on Friday.
 
Photo courtesy of Mark ‘Wally’ Walters.