Sidecars excluded from second road-racing event

Sidecars will be excluded on safety grounds from a second motorsport festival on the Isle of Man this year, it has been confirmed.

Organisers of the Southern 100 Road Races said they had taken the "difficult decision" to exclude the class from next month's event.

Isle of Man TT organisers last week suspended all further sidecar laps on the Mountain Course following Ryan and Callum Crowe's crash in a qualifying session.

The Southern 100 Club said "current uncertainties surrounding the stability of modern sidecar designs under certain racing conditions" meant "running the class without a definitive, expert-led technical review would introduce an unacceptable level of risk".

The club previously said it was "conducting a thorough review of the situation" because the event's regulations "align" with the TT's.

It said the "complex and aerodynamic and technical questions" being asked about sidecars could not "be responsibly resolved" within five weeks.

The Southern 100 Road Races are will take place on the 4.25-mile (6.8km) Billown Course in the south of the island.

Organisers said technical officials had spent the past week "evaluating whether safe, robust and enforceable regulatory modifications could be introduced".

However, the ACU Compliance team and leading competitors pointed out that there was not enough time for this to happen.

The club said while it was "deeply saddened to have to make this decision" its "absolute priority must always be the safety of our competitors, marshals, officials, and spectators".

The suspension was a "temporary pause to safeguard the long-term future of the category", it said.

The club said it remained "fully committed to sidecar racing" and would "actively participate in the upcoming wider consultation process alongside the TT organiser, promoter and industry experts to ensure the class can return to the Billown Course safely in 2027".

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