Yahoo Sports Todd crowned Southern 100 solo champion
Davey Todd has been crowned solo champion at the Isle of Man’s Southern 100 road races for a second time.
After a blazing start, Todd took the lead over Michael Dunlop on the first lap of the 4.25-mile (6.8km) course, with Dean Harrison following closely behind the pair.
Todd, from Saltburn-on-Sea, held on to a narrow margin over the rider from Northern Ireland, which barely nudged above 0.5 seconds for most of the race.
Despite setting his own fastest lap on the Billown Course at 116.743mph, Dunlop had to settle for second place on the podium after Todd took the chequered flag three seconds ahead at the end of the nine-lap race.
While Bradford-born Laxey resident Harrison kept pace with leaders in the early stages, the gap to third place had begun to widen by the end of lap five, leaving him to cross the line five seconds back on the leaders.
After clinching victory in the 2024 Solo Championship race, Todd told Manx Radio: “I said I’d come here to keep that number one on the bike and that’s what I’ve done.”
Todd was the last rider to win the race in 2022, as the meeting was abandoned last year following a serious incident.
Despite missing out on being crowned champion, there was double victory for Dunlop earlier in the meeting, when he secured his 24th and 25th wins at the Southern 100 in the Senior and 600cc Challenge races.
The big bike race saw the Ballymoney man take the lead from pole-sitter Jamie Coward as they left the line but he soon faced a strong challenge from Todd.
Dunlop’s grip on the front of the race remained little more than a fraction of a second for much of the contest, and by Cross-Four-Ways on the penultimate lap Todd had taken a 0.3-second advantage.
A final push on the last lap saw the Northern Ireland rider take victory by 0.073 seconds, with the top two both on BMW machines and Harrison holding on to third place on a Honda.
The 600cc Challenge race was closely fought between Mike Browne and Dunlop, with less than one second between the pair for the majority of the contest.
There was disappointment for the Killeagh man however, when he came off at Castletown Bridge on the final lap, leaving Paul Jordan to take second, with Rob Hodson in third.
But Browne did manage to score his first win at the meeting in the 600cc Supersport A race during Thursday’s morning session.
In that instance the pole-sitter managed to overcome a strong challenge from Dunlop to finish on a 0.3-second advantage with the pair both competing on Yamahas.
The Honda-mounted Jordan made up the top three on the podium.
And Hodson secured his second win of the 2024 event in the shortened Lightweight race, pulling out a commanding 6.3-second lead on Coward before the Halifax man was forced to retire.
A red flag incident at Stadium Corner on lap three saw the race declared on the standings at the end of the previous lap, handing Hodson victory ahead of Todd and Michael Sweeney.
Organisers said the rider involved was conscious and had been taken to Noble’s Hospital “for further assessment and treatment”, while a marshal hit by debris had been treated at the circuit.
In the Supersport B race, newcomer Grant Thompson led from start to finish.
The Port St Mary man stretched the gap between his Kawasaki and the Yamaha of Bradford’s Adrian Harrison to 7.7 seconds by the end of the six-lap race, with Durham’s Aran Sadler in third.
In the final race of the meeting, Ben Birchall and Kevin Rousseau put in a blistering performance to take the 2024 Southern 100 Sidecar Championship.
The pair led from start to finish putting in two lap record-breaking circuits in the shortened six-lap race, finishing 7.3-seconds ahead of their nearest competitors.
The Mansfield driver and his French passenger set a new outright lap record speed of 102.498mph on lap four, setting a record-breaking pace once again on the following circuit with a speed of 102.713mph.
After a hard-fought battle for the remaining podium places it was Manxmen Ryan and Callum Crowe who came out ahead of Pete Founds and Jevan Walmsley, with all of the top three riding Honda machinery.
Speaking to Manx Radio, Birchall said: “I really, really enjoyed it, Kevin did brilliant job, the more time on the bike, the better it gets."
It marked Birchall and Rousseau’s second win at the 2024 event after securing victory in the earlier Sidecar Race, which was curtailed by the second red flag of the day, with Founds and Walmsley placed second and Michael Russell and Jake Roberts third.
Organisers said the driver involved in the incident was uninjured, and the passenger was “conscious, talking” and had been taken to Noble’s Hospital “for further assessment”.
The Solo Founders Consolation race had also red flagged earlier in the day following an incident at Great Meadow but organisers said the rider involved was "up and talking".
