With thirteen weeks till the start of this year’s Isle of Man TT Races, entries for the world famous event have already started to be received by the Manx Motor Cycle Club. The closing date for entries is the 24th of March 2005 and historically, the majority of completed forms will be received in the final week before the closing date, but already some of the ‘star names’ hoping to make their mark on this years event have sent theirs in.
Winner of the 2004 Production 600cc event Ryan Farquhar has entered all five races backed by the ‘Works’ MSS Discovery Kawasaki team, and he will be looking to add to that win at this years event. He is joined on the entry list by two of the fancied newcomers attending this year’s event Les Shand from Scotland and Englishman Paul Shoesmith.
Other notable entries received so far include former Manx Grand Prix stars Roy Richardson and Davy Morgan, French World Endurance star Bruno Bonhuil and one of the sensations of TT 2004, Italian Stefano Bonetti.
In the Sidecar Class local aces Nick Crowe and Darren Hope have been quick off the mark to get their entries in and they will be hoping to take the fight to fellow locals Dave Molyneux and Dan Sayle this year, having taken a brace of second place finishes behind the pairing last year. Among others, joining Crowe and Hope on the entry list at this early stage are Sidecar racing stalwarts Roy Hanks and Dave Wells.
David Cretney MHK, Minister for the Department of Tourism and Leisure and Chairman of the TT Co- Coordinating Committee commented:
“Once the entries start coming in for the TT, it signals the beginning of another years TT racing. It is encouraging to see some of our newcomers amongst the early entries and we are very optimistic that overall this year’s entry will be amongst the strongest assembled for the TT for some time. Everyone involved in the event is working very hard at present and all in all it is shaping up to be a tremendous Isle of Man TT Races.”
Any rider wishing to obtain the entry forms and supplementary regulations for this years event, should contact the Manx Motor Cycle Club by e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone on 00 44 1624 644647.