Chris Palmer won the opening Singles 350cc race of the Pre-TT Classic at Billown in perfect conditions on Saturday afternoon. Roy Richardson led out of the traps, but the fuel pipe came off his 350 Aermacchi in the first mile.

Mike Hose was 0.368s in front of Palmer by the end of the lap, but he retired on lap two when the chain of his PW Bultaco snapped.

Palmer then controlled the race on the Ripley Land 7R AJS to win by 5.19s from Bill Swallow (Aermacchi) with Rich Hawkins a distant third on his converted Ducati road bike.

The leading 250 was the Ducati ridden by Bob Millinship, finishing seventh on the road. There was a close dice for the remaining podium spots with Keith Shannon and Ian Ward eventually squeezing out 85-year-old Ted Fenwick.

The opening sidecar race was red flagged after leaders Lenny Pallister and Ian Marriner crashed on the exit to Cross Four Ways on lap three. They were not seriously injured.

The result was given to Mike Bellaby and Kal Underwood on the 1040cc BMW by 20 seconds from Andrew Bailey and Ian Beaumont (900 BMW).