Sidecar newcomers Tom and Ben Birchall had a spot of bird trouble during practice last night when they hit a pheasant close to Sulby but thought it was a glancing blow and carried on with their lap.

On the second lap, however, the pair were forced to pull in at Barregarrow as the impact had flattened their outfit's exhaust, which overheated the engine and burst the fuel tank.

The boys have had to buy a new engine from a road bike, a new exhaust and some new bodywork and don't expect to be quite so quick as they were in Monday's race.