FOUR-TIME World Sidecar Champion Ben Birchall is serious about riding a solo in the Manx Grand Prix.

He provisionally placed an entry last year but he suffered a serious fall from a mountain bike near to his Cumbrian home in early August that scuppered his plans.

‘Honda lent me a bike for a parade lap that lit my fire. It has become an ambition to race a solo on the course,’ said Ben at the Southern 100 Racing’s annual dinner at the Palace Hotel on Saturday.

‘I was on a training ride when I came off the side of a mountain. I had to be airlifted to hospital by air ambulance as I’d broken my back in the fall. I broke all bar three ribs in my back so I had to have steel rods inserted.’

Birchall and Frenchman Kevin Rousseau were guests of honour for the function, but Birchall missed the previous evening’s media launch as his Friday boat from Heysham was cancelled because of gale force winds.

The pair won both sidecar races at last year’s Southern 100 in what was Birchall’s first appearance on the Billown Course for seven years. Rousseau, who lives within earshot of Le Mans track, was on the podium previously at the Southern with Tim Reeves in 2022. Last year he won the world championship with Harry Payne.

‘Kevin is a very good passenger, what the likes of him does is amazing,’ added Ben.

‘They have to be in the right place at the right time. If they’re in the wrong place you know about it. I’m hoping he is going to do a lot more with me going forward.

‘The Manx Grand Prix may not be the highest priority, but I would love to do it one year.’

Birchall and Rousseau are entering the TT together again, along with the Southern 100. Last year they had a TT practice crash at the Mountain Box in one of their first sessions together, ruling them out of the opening race, but they returned strongly to finish runners-up behind Ryan and Callum Crowe in race two.

Reigning Southern 100 solo champion Davey Todd missed last weekend’s functions as he was at former World Superbike Champion Colin Edwards’s Texas Tornado Boot Camp with team-mate and newly-announced 8TEN Racing co-owner Peter Hickman.

Three-time S100 solo champion and now Laxey resident Dean Harrison was in attendance and confirmed his intentions to ride in this year’s 70th anniversary event on his own Superstock-spec Fireblade and 600 CBR.

In addition he will ride the North West 200 and TT on the Honda UK Racing-backed machines.

Dean will be testing in Spain at the end of March. His father Conrad and mother Sam have also recently moved over to live in the Kirk Michael area.

Rob Hodson of Wigan announced he will be with SMT Racing for the third year on similar bikes.

Locals Joe Yeardsley and Paul Cassidy are also planning to contest the Pre-TT Classic and Southern 100 meetings on the Motor Isle-sponsored Billown Course.

Yeardsley will also to ride for Coleraine’s Trevor Scott at the North West 200 and TT aboard Aprilia RSV 1000cc and 660cc machines alongside Supersport outings on his own R6 Yamaha.

- The Southern 100 club monthly draw has raised £45,000 in total, with a cheque for another £6,500 presented on Saturday evening. A raffle raised £700 for the ACU Benevolent Fund.

Southern 100 Racing has donated £500 to the Manx Two Day Trial to assist the purchase of a new mobile phone-based digital scoring system.