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THE Crowe brothers of Jurby are set to go head-to-head with Ben Birchall and Kevin Rousseau again in this year’s TT and Southern 100.
Universally recognised by the three-wheelers as the biggest single two events on the calendar, Rousseau will also be defending his world title with former Isle of Man resident Harry Payne.
Ryan and Callum Crowe, who were inducted into the Hall of Fame and received the Team of the Year title at Thursday evening's Isle of Man Sports Awards, are also aiming for a full assault on the British championship.
For this they will be using a long-wheel-base outfit powered by a Triumph 675cc three-cylinder motor as opposed to a 600cc Honda-4 in the shorter F2 chassis on the roads.
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The latter pair have just returned from testing both outfits at the Almería track in the Andalucia area of Spain. Birchall will be carrying out more testing in the same country in late June.
The four-time World champion attended Southern 100 Racing’s annual dinner at the Palace Hotel on Saturday with his wife Kelly and their youngest two sons, but missed the previous evening’s media launch as his Friday boat from Heysham was cancelled because of gale force winds.
Now aged 48, and originally from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, Birchall revealed that he suffered a broken back last August in a fall from a mountain bike in the Lake District, close to his home in the Keswick region.
‘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 Rousseau, who lives within earshot of the famous Le Mans race circuit in France, were guests of honour for the Southern 100 function.
The pair won both sidecar races at last year’s event in what was Birchall’s first appearance on the Billown Course for seven years. Rousseau was on the podium previously at the Southern with Tim Reeves in 2022.
‘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.’
Last year they had a crash at the Mountain Box in one of the early qualifying sessions for the TT, 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.