Moly's toughest TT
TT sidecar legend Dave Molyneux says he has never had a harder TT.
After claiming victory in the Bavaria Sidecar B race on Wednesday afternoon – his second win of the week and 13th in total – Moly admitted it had been one of his toughest fortnights.
Although a pre-event favourite, the pairing of Molyneux and Rick Long looked like they would struggle for a podium position after a trouble-hit practice week.
However, they benefited from the mechanical woes of fellow Manx crew Nick Crowe and Daniel Sayle to take both sidecar race wins.
Speaking after securing Wednesday’s win, to make him the third most successful TT competitor in history – Moly said:
‘I’ve never had a more difficult TT, no way.’
‘I’ve had two unexpected wins to be dead honest with you. Coming into it I was thinking we could win. By half way through practice week it just wasn’t going to happen, that was my view. It shows how things can turn around.’
Despite struggling in practice, Moly said he had never considered withdrawing from the Centenary races.
‘If it meant finishing sixth, I’d have finished sixth. You enter it, you do it and you do your best. That’s it. And we’ve done our best.’
Wednesday race got off to a dramatic start for Moly and Long. They were late to the start line due to problems starting the sidecar outfit, and there were concerns about the machine’s reliability with just minutes to go.
However, a dog was reported to be loose on the course causing a 15 minute delay. That proved just enough to putting Moly and Long in the clear.
Molyneux explained:
‘As soon as I blipped the throttle the thing started to crackle and shut down. The dashboard was the only thing we hadn’t changed in the last 24 hours, since the last practice. Whoever delayed it, God knows what the delay was, gave us that breathing space.’
‘It gave us 10 minutes to fit it and five minutes to spare. That’s it, the dashboard! We put it on and it went.’
After being told the delay was caused by loose dog, Moly admitted he is no canine fan, but added:
‘I want that dog!’
Wednesday win also made Long the most successful sidecar passenger in the TT’s history. Once he knew victory in sight, Long admitted he was pleading for reliability.
He said:
‘I was thinking please, please keep going, don’t stop, don’t start misfiring like it did yesterday on the practice lap. I had a record to beat myself!’
‘The fortnight we have had. It has been really hard, but it’s over now.’
The pair’s victory came at the expense of Crowe and Sayle, who retired on the last lap just moments after setting a new sidecar lap record.
Moly and Long were both sorry for their colleagues.
Long said:
‘I feel sorry for Nick and Dan, I really do.’
Molyneux added the lap record, which beat his own mark, was some consolation:
‘When I was told that, I was absolutely delighted for them. It is a little bit of reward for them, for all the hard work that’s gone in.’
‘I really am absolutely delighted for them, that’s just a little they have got out of it.’