It had been some two decades in the making, but when it came, it was highly popular. Conrad Harrison who had first raced the TT back in 1993 finally broke his duck with a winning drive in a dramatic three lap Sure Sidecar race.

The Bradford racer had been so close in earlier years with second and third placings but this time around with Mike Aylott in the chair he powered his Printing Roller Services Shelbourne Honda to a comfortable 17 seconds victory.

“Nice to win – I’ve got a full set of medals now having finished second and third before. The first time I came to the TT it was a case of just wanting to do it – I had a one way ticket and had to qualify to get the money to go home – now I have the win, a good win, the win for the team, something you share,” said Harrison who had also clocked his fastest ever lap on the Island at an average speed of 114.647mph en route to that milestone victory. Aylott enjoyed that lap, though he reflected: “It felt really good though hard work and we did not make any mistakes anywhere.”

It was a race of fluctuating fortunes but Harrison and Aylott had the staying power while others faltered.

From the start it had been the Birchall brothers Ben and Tom who made the running, determined to take their second win on the Island. They inched clear in a hard fought first lap ahead of John Holden/Winkle with the record 16 times Sidecar TT winner DaveMolyneux and his chair-man Patrick Farrance running third just ahead of Harrison/Aylott and Tim Reeves/Gregory Cluze back in fifth.

The Birchalls had built up a four seconds advantage going into the second lap but they crashed heavily at Black Dub with race officials reporting they were conscious but had sustained “minor injuries.” Molyneux took over at the front with Holden and then Harrison adrift but comfortably clear of Reeves, whose hopes of a repeat of his TT success of last year were fading by the halfway point.

Molyneux looked all set to add to his record winning haul as he ran his DMR Kawasaki some 21 seconds clear as he powered into the third and final lap, but it was not to be as his outfit developed a mis-fire and he was forced to pull off at Hawthorn.

Harrison had the lead and there was no way he was letting it go – only a second up on Holden, he edged further clear helped to a degree as his rivals had some machine anxieties, to take the victory with Reeves, passengered by Gregory Cluze, a distant third.