There was disappointment for Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze in the opening Sidecar race at the Isle of Man TT on Saturday when they could only manage fourth place in the three-lap race as a sticking throttle put paid to any chances they had.
Having shone in final qualifying, the duo were confident of at least a podium finish but a sticking throttle put paid to their chances and they had to nurse the bike home from half race distance.
Their opening lap of 111.889mph saw them lying in third but they were already some 27 seconds down on the pace setting Klaus Klaffenbock and Daniel Sayle and their immediate concern was keeping Conrad Harrison and Mike Aylott at bay, the pairing less than four seconds adrift.
Although Reeves was able to increase in pace second time around with a lap of 112.881mph, they were slipping further and further behind the leaders and with the throttle problem getting worse, he was constantly having to flick the switch on and off to keep the bike running.
Reeves was still in third going into the final lap but Harrison was lapping quicker and by Ramsey he'd pushed Tim back to fourth. Their final lap of 110.916mph meant that they finished fourth, some 12 seconds down on Harrison.
"I'm at a bit of a loss to know what to say to be honest, I'm just bitterly disappointed. The bike was flying on Friday night and our sector times showed we would have lapped at around 114mph if we hadn't ran out of fuel but it just didn't go our way today," said a clearly disappointed Reeves.
"The bike didn't feel right from the start and on the second lap the throttle started sticking, right from the Sulby area onwards. It freed off a little in Parliament Square but then started again soon after so I had to keep flicking the switch on and off to try and free it up.
"You can't race like that so I was surprised to be in third to be honest as I couldn't drive, or race, anywhere near the level I wanted to be at. It's just no good racing round here when you have a problem so I just had to nurse the bike home and I'm bitterly disappointed. We've got a few days now to have a good look at the bike and give it another go on Wednesday."
