Most Number of Sidecar Wins

With by far the most number of Scarborough sidecar wins to his name is Bedlington's Ian Bell. Ian is one of a select band of riders, who has won races on both two and three wheels, being an Oliver’s Mount leader board solo rider before switching to sidecars.

As a member of the famous Bell family, he followed in the footsteps of his father Geordie and older brother Geoff, who were both regular three-wheeler competitors at Scarborough.

To give an idea of how determined Ian Bell was to win at Scarborough, at the end of the 2002 season after being crowned British ACU/FSRA Super Formula II Champion he made special thanks to all his friends and sponsors, among his many thank you messages were the following :

"Michael Brandon for the best brakes in the world – don’t think some of the marshals at Scarborough would agree, but they are when you put them on !"

"Autominster for all the paintwork that keeps it looking professional all year, not much patching up this year – only Scarborough !"

As you can see from all of his 38 Oliver’s Mount wins listed below, he has remained loyal to Yamaha throughout his racing career :

Eddy Wright has taken 21 wins during the 30 years he has been racing at Scarborough. The Leeds motor cycle dealer has been a leading light in the Formula II sidecars in more ways than one, with his bright orange fluorescent outfit leading the pack into Mere Hairpin on many occasions. In recent years Eddie’s son, Dougie has followed in the family tradition taking up Formula II sidecar racing, making his Oliver’s Mount debut in 2006.

Racing up the order, with 13 wins, is Bradford’s Conrad Harrison. An HGV driver for the Royal Mail for over thirty years since leaving school, Harrison’s racing career, like many of the sidecar fraternity, began by passengering for father, Mick in 1988, but it wasn’t too long before he took over the controls himself. Harrison has had many passengers over the years, and in his own words: “I’ve had quite a few and, believe me, they’re like rocking-horse sh*t !”. His first ever passenger was Lee Patterson, who ironically is now back in the chair with him and is also the Managing Director of Printing Roller Services, which are the main sponsors of their Shellbourne Honda outfit.

The late Dave Saville, another versatile rider whose career saw success on both two and three wheels. An engineer from Bawtry, Saville started out as a sidecar passenger, but when his driver-friend, Fred Brindley caught flu during the 1968 TT practice week he took over the controls of the outfit and never looked back, going on to claim the British Championship on two occasions and 13 Scarborough wins. He was instrumental in starting up the Formula II 350cc sidecar series and will be best remembered for his heroic performances on the Sabre Racing FII sidecar outfit and enjoyed many fine Formula II sidecar battles with Eddie Wright around the narrow confines of the Oliver’s Mount track.

Also with 13 wins is Nigel Connole and Nick Crowe. Scunthorpe driver, Connole, almost completed a clean sweep of wins during the 2006 Scarborough season, only to be bettered by Simon Neary in the second leg of the FII sidecars at the September Gold Cup meeting. Crowe, a labourer from Jurby, has the distinction of never being beaten at Oliver's Mount and took a hat-trick of wins at the 2008 September Gold Cup meeting, over the weekend he broke his own class lap record a total of six times, carving a colossal 1.699 seconds off his previous best and setting a new record of 1m 53.495, 77.078 mph. Crowe is also the holder of the Formula II sidecar lap record at the Isle of Man TT.

On 12 wins is Manxman Dave Molyneux, famous for being the most successful TT sidecar racer ever. Besides his racing achievements, Molyneux is also in demand for his sidecar fabrication skills, as he now supplies many of his competitors with sidecar racing chassis. His high tech outfits include super-light and super-strong carbon-kevlar bodywork, featuring Formula One-style bodywork technology that acts like an upturned aircraft wing to suck the outfit on to the roads, magnesium wheels and narrow steel perimeter frames built by his own hands.

Next is Greg Lambert, having recorded ten Oliver's Mount wins. Lambert is a self-employed engineer from Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire. He started racing at the age of 17 in his fathers BSA sidecar as a passenger, however once he’d made the switch to driver and purchased his own TZ350 Formula II outfit, there was no stopping him. His successes to date have also included being on the podium at the 2003 TT and wins in the British & European sidecar Championships.

Charlie Freeman’s total of seven wins is a great achievement as he only had the luxury of one sidecar race per meeting, unlike today’s meetings where there can be as many as four races over a weekend. In 1964 he failed to finish any Scarborough race due to mechanical failures but returned to the Mount in 1965 with a vengeance, winning the sidecar events at both April Spring National and June Cock o’ the North meeting. Freeman and his loyal passenger Billie Nelson, both hailed from Eckington, with Nelson going on to be a top solo competitor riding Freeman Norton’s.

Completing the top ten is Cumbrian charge-hand fitter and motorcycle mechanic, Rob Fisher, he has an unblemished record of never being beaten at Oliver's Mount, during the 1993/94 seasons he was victorous in all six of his races.

Following is a list of the top ten drivers who have taken the most sidecar wins in the history of the Oliver's Mount races (Up to and including the Steve Henshaw Gold Cup Road Races - September 2009) :