Michael Sweeney followed illustrious former race winners including Freddie Frith, Bob McIntyre, Charlie Williams and TT rider liaison officer Richard 'Milky' Quayle in winning the Junior Manx Grand Prix, appropriately on the day that the meeting celebrated its 90th anniversary with a past parade of former winners. The Irishman emulated his 2010 Junior MGP victory with a dramatic last lap victory after race leader James Cowton ran out of fuel on the last mile.

Northern Ireland's Stephen McKnight, who finished third in both the 2011 and 2012 Junior Manx Grand Prix races, had the honour of being first away from Glencrutchery Road but by Glen Helen on the opening lap Yorkshire man James Cowton, starting fourth, had established a lead of almost a second over Ireland's Michael Sweeney who was fastest qualifier. Stephen Harper was a further two seconds back in third with McKnight and Tim Poole completing the top five.

McKnight was first back to the grandstand (19:12.996/117.8049mph) but Cowton was the fastest on the opening lap with 18:55.123/119.659 which gave him an eleven second lead over second placed Michael Sweeney (19:06.369/118.485) with McKnight (19:12.996/117.804) in third and Andy Lawson (19:14.801/117.620) moving into fourth, pushing Stephen Harper (19:16.303/117.467) down to fifth.

Cowton held the lead on the second lap with 19:02.121/118.926 but an efficient refuelling pit stop from Sweeney's team at the end of the second lap saw him close the gap by an estimated six seconds with 2009 Manx Grand Prix Senior Race winner Michael Russell's lap of 19:10.118/118.099 moving him into the top three.

Cowton again put the hammer down and established an eighteen second gap by Glen Helen and his third lap of 19:52.315/113.920 saw him going into the last lap with a 25 second lead over Sweeney with Russell retaining third.

However, in a dramatic conclusion to the race Cowton, after going through the final checkpoint at Cronk-Ny-Mona still holding a 16 second lead was reported to be out of fuel at the Nook, just a few hundred yards from the finish of the near 150-mile race.

Sweeney came through to win in 1:17:20.911/117.070, with Michael Russell (1:18.01.810/116.047) moving up into the runners-up spot and 2009 Newcomer Race C runner up Andy Lawson (1:18.11.598/115.805), who moved from sixth going into the last lap, taking the final podium place.

A race report will be available on youtube by the end of the day via the Manx Grand Prix Races dedicated Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/themanxgrandprix

After a terrific fourth placed qualification followed up with a battling third place in the race, the RAF Reserves in association with Honda were excluded from the results at Cadwell Park due to rider Simon Andrew’s part in the crash with another rider.

The verdict was a bitter blow for the RAF recruitment-backed team that had shown their true pace all weekend. The tight and twisty Lincolnshire circuit favours a bike with handling ability over outright horsepower and the team worked tirelessly to hone the chassis.  

Immediately showing pace in the practice sessions, Andrews, 30, went on to produce a qualifying lap that was just 0.042s off a front row position to lead the second row in fourth. For the team made up from of two MOD civil servants and an RAF Cpl based at RAF Marham, they were still making improvements to the bike for morning warm-up and for the race so that Simon could challenge for the win.  

When the lights went out, Andrews was baulked by one of the front row riders and almost had to take to the grass to avoid contact. Despite losing a couple of places, the Evesham rider regrouped and set about reducing the gap to the leaders and set the fastest time of the race on lap 4.   With the faster Ducati of Palmer in his sights, Andrews knew he had to make his move quickly. On the entrance to Charlies corner, the pair unfortunately clashed and saw both riders take to the grass. The no.6 Fireblade was able to re-join the track and cross the line in third place, but Palmer crashed heavily.  

Despite taking the podium and spraying the champagne, championship officials elected to ‘exclude (no.6) for unfair manoeuvre which resulted in an accident to another rider (no.33)’. Though a hard move, many figures within the paddock described it as simply a racing incident.   Stripped of the 16 championship points, the team left Cadwell Park secure in the fact they had shown their potential and vow to continue the momentum to the next round at Donington Park on September 8.  

After the race, Simon Andrews said: “Well, Superstocks is supposed to be level playing field but we’re quite a bit down on power. So I have to overtake mid corner or somewhere that’s not power orientated. The manoeuvre I put on Tristan was a bit rushed by me; we both went for the same bit of tarmac and, unfortunately, we both ran off track. I spoke to him after the race and apologised for the incident, but in my eyes, it was a racing incident and not a dangerous overtake.  

“The officials’ decision is a real shame for the team not to get this result as we have been strong all weekend and made some changes to the bike that have worked fantastically. But we’ve got a good set-up for Donington, but it’s a horsepower track so we’ll have a fight on our hands with the Kawasakis and BMWs, but we’ll try our best as usual.”  

Team Manager, Lee Hardy, said: “It’s great to be back at the front and be able to show our true potential. It’s taken a long time to get here, but the Honda is now working well and we’re finally in a ‘sweet spot’ with set-up; every change we made went in the right direction. Just shame the race ended the way it did.   Regarding the incident, it’s a narrow track and that sort of thing happens. The Ducati of Tristan Palmer was a lot faster than our bike and the move by Simon was aggressive but - according to many people in the paddock - not over hard. But we take the rough with the smooth and are confident for Donington Park.”  

The next round is at Donington Park, 6-8th September

Monday night's practice at the 2013 Manx Grand Prix saw a number of challengers to Michael Sweeney posting their fastest times of the week ahead of Wednesday's Junior MGP.

The Irishman still tops the leaderboard with a time of 19:17.580/117.338mph that he set on Saturday's session but Stephen McKnight (19:24.856/116.605), Tim Poole (19:26.730/116.418), James Cowton 19:27.227/116.638) and Colin Stephenson 19:30.806/116.012) all set their fastest times of the week.

In the newcomers A race, Alexander Picket is clearly the man to beat following the 114.810 he set in Thursday's practice but Anthony Cooper posted his quickest time of the week with 112.730. Callum Collister (109.515), Joe Faragher (106.107) and James Neesom (105.528) all clocked their fastest times in monday nights session, while Ben Rea topped the board in the Newcomers C session with 104.162 from the qualifying session. Rea's time also nudged him into the Lightweight top five board, topped by Alistair Howarth 106.735) from last Saturday's session.

In the SuperTwin qualifying session, only Rab Davie of the top five qualified riders improved his time, clocking 110.675 with James Cowton's 113.041 set in last Saturday's session the fastest by over a second from Colin Stephenson (111.959).

Wednesday 28th will see the Newcomers A, B and C Races away at 10.15 with the Junior MGP race scheduled to be away at 13.30. The SuperTwin and Lightweight Race will take place on Friday at 10.15 with the 90th anniversary meeting concluding with the Senior MGP Race at 14.00.

The Manx Motorcycle Club are pleased to announce their continued association with Greenlight TV who will film this year’s races. In an innovative development, a free online highlights programme will be available to view through its online channel MGP TV www.youtube.com/themanxgrandprix the Monday, Wednesday and Friday of race week. This link will also be accessible through the Club’s website.

Club Chairman Harvey Garton commented, “We are pleased to again be working with Greenlight TV who produced the ITV4 programme Grand Prix Racer covering last year’s races. In the new format, we will now be able to make available a practice report and same day race coverage. We have an excellent entry in all classes including the Newcomers Race which attracted a record 65 entries, demonstrating the continued popularity of the MGP”.

David Beynon for Greenlight TV commented “We’re delighted to be working with the Manx Motorcycle Club again on this the 90th Manx Grand Prix. Road Racing has been at the heart of Greenlight from day one and the Manx GP holds a very special place within the road racing calendar”.

Practices conclude on Monday 26th August with the Newcomers and Junior races to be held on Wednesday 28th August with Supertwins, Lightweight and Senior races to be held on Friday 30th August.

The TT Races Paddock turned the clock back to 1967 with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company '67 Senior TT Re-enactment at today's Classic TT presented by Bennetts.

Giacomo Agostini and John McGuinness recreated the Italian legend's battle with Mike Hailwood in the Diamond Jubilee Senior TT, which was ultimately won by the Englishman after Hailwood clawed back Agostini's lead before Italian's chain broke on the fifth lap, handing victory to Hailwood.

John McGuinness appeared riding a Mike Hailwood replica Honda owned by John Chapman while Giacomo Agostini paraded his own MV Agusta.

John Watt, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Commercial Director flagged the pair off at around 4.20pm with Mike's wife Pauline and son David joining the illustrious duo on the start-line.

At the end of the lap John McGuinness said that it was 'a real honour' to be chosen to represent Mike Hailwood while Giacomo Agostini joked that John had stopped to help him fix his chain on the Mountain.

In keeping with the 1967 theme, Mylchreest Motors used an Austin Healey 3000 for the course inspection, the same model as the company used at the 1967 TT Races.