Yokohama riders secure 1st, 2nd place in TT sidecar races

This year's Isle of Man TT races saw a win and a second place for sidecar racer John Holden on Yokohama tyres; Holden took second place in the first of the season's two sidecar races and then went one better on the rescheduled second race to claim his long overdue maiden win. Commenting, Yokohama HPT’s head of Motorsport Mark Evans said: “I am delighted that John and [sidecar passenger] Andy [Winkle] have finally achieved their TT win. It's been a long time coming but all the more deserved for it.” Fellow Yokohama runner Tim Reeves narrowly missed out on the podium twice, finishing fourth in both races.

The first race saw former world champion Klaus Klaffenbock enjoying a dramatic battle throughout the race, with Klaffenbock coming out on top. The second race was initially scheduled for Wednesday of race week but was delayed until Thursday, due to bad weather. Once again, it was Holden and Klaffenbock who were at the sharp end of the action but by the time the pair reached the world-famous grandstand at the start/finish straight, Klaffenbock had lost time and Holden and passenger Andy Winkle came through to claim their first TT win.

“It’s also fantastic to see our crossply tyres end their production with such a strong showing. We will begin testing the replacement radial tyres with the sidecar teams soon and I hope that we will be able to emulate the success we achieved with the Sports2000 car race series, when we did the same. In that situation, the organisers and drivers seem very happy with the replacement, which offers greater performance and longevity than the previous version, so we are hopeful that the sidecars experience the same.

“In the meantime, I offer my congratulations to John and Andy as well as Tim [Reeves] and Gregory [Cluze] for narrowly missing out on the podium on both occasions.”

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