This year's Isle of Man TT races saw a win and a second place for sidecar racers using Yokohama tyres, maintaining the Japanese manufacturer's amazing record of success on the island. John Holden took second place in the first of the season's two races and then went one better on the rescheduled second race, to claim his long overdue maiden win.
The first race, on Saturday of race week, saw former world champion Klaus Klaffenbock begin to hunt Holden almost from the start of the race. By the end of the first lap, he had caught Holden on the road and was ahead on time by virtue of the staggered start. The pair enjoyed a high-drama battle throughout the remainder of the race but it was Klaffenbock who eventually won out.
Fellow Yokohama runner Tim Reeves was looking good for third place but a sticking throttle meant that he dropped time and was demoted to fourth by the end of the race.
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 due to problems on the outfit and Holden and passenger Andy Winkle came through to claim their first TT win.
Once again, Tim Reeves was forced out of the third podium position, this time by less than a second.
Commenting, Yokohama HPT Ltd's Head of Motorsport Mark Evans said: "I am delighted that John and Andy have finally achieved their TT win. It's been a long time coming but all the more deserved for it.
"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."
