England cricket legend Darren Gough completed a key chapter in his summer of Bennetts Biking Dream Challenges yesterday after fulfilling a lifetime dream to experience the thrill of the Isle of Man TT.

Gough was given the ultimate ‘access all areas’ TT experience, the highlight being to ride a lap of the famous 37 ¾ mile Mountain Course under the guidance of TT star ‘Milky’ Quayle. To cap it off, Gough got up close to the Superbike TT race with a grid walk, a place at the very best race vantage point at the bottom of Bray Hill, and a ‘closed lap’ of the Mountain Course in the official course inspection car.

Gough’s weekend was organised by Bennetts, the UK’s No.1 Bike Insurance Specialist, who are also an official sponsor of the Isle of Man TT. His TT experience is part of a series of Biking Dream Challenges which have been set up for him by Bennetts this summer after discovering that Gough harboured a dream to learn to ride different types of motorcycle.

Having undertaken further bike training with the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and out on the TT track on a sports bike, Gough will soon take on his next challenge on an altogether different type of motorcycle.

Reflecting on his TT experience, Gough, said: “I’ve always been a fan of watching sports bikes but it’s always been BSB, WSB and MotoGP. To come here and take in the TT has been amazing. I take my hat off to these guys. You can imagine that’s what motorcycle racing was like 100 years ago - just pure skill and guts.”

Hannah Squirrell, Bennetts Marketing & Ecommerce Director said, “The Isle of Man TT is a completely unique event and we are extremely proud to support it, so when we heard of Darren’s Biking Dream, we knew we could help him fulfil it.  He is an excellent ambassador for motorcycling and we’re glad he is able to spread a positive message.”

Institute of Advanced Motorists director of policy and research Neil Greig said: "This is a major change in traffic law enforcement and the IAM is concerned that issuing fixed penalty tickets for careless driving downplays the seriousness of the offence.

Careless covers a wide range of poor to reckless driving behaviour that often merits further investigation. 

"This could free up traffic police time and allow them to maintain a higher profile. But without traffic cops out on the road to enforce this new approach it will have little impact on road safety."

For the second time at the 2013 Isle of Man TT Races, fuelled by Monster Energy, the Sure Formula Two sidecar event saw debut winners with former World Champions Ben and Tom Birchall leading from start to finish to take their first victory around the Mountain Course.

Having been forced to retire from Saturday’s three-lap encounter when leading, the Nottinghamshire brothers made no mistakes this time around and took a 17.3s victory from Dave Molyneux/Patrick Farrance with Conrad Harrison/Mike Aylott having to settle for third on this occasion.

The Birchalls signalled their intentions from the start moving into a two-second lead at Glen Helen on the opening lap, with first race winners Tim Reeves/Dan Sayle slotting into second and Harrison a further one and half seconds back in third. Molyneux lay in fourth from John Holden/Andy Winkle and Gary Bryan/Jamie Winn.

There was no change at the top of the order over the remainder of the lap and a lap of 114.490mph gave the Birchalls a 10.7s lead over Reeves/Sayle with Molyneux/Farrance now moving up to third. Harrison/Aylott slipped back to fourth with Holden/Winkle and Bryan/Winn still in fifth and sixth.

Circulating ahead of Reeves/Sayle on the roads, the Birchalls extended their lead to 11.5s at Glen Helen on the second lap and that soon increased when the first race winners were forced to retire at Ballaugh. That promoted Molyneux/Farrance and Harrison/Aylott up into the podium places with Holden up to fourth and Dougie Wright/Martin Hull now getting the better of Bryan/Winn for fifth.

The Birchalls second lap was their personal best at 114.662 and although Molyneux/Farrance also lapped in excess of 114mph, they were now 16s behind. However, they were a similar distance clear of Harrison/Aylott with the top six remaining the same.

On the final lap, the Birchalls were able to maintain their advantage over Molyneux/Farrance and they took a superb victory thus following in the footsteps of Reeves in adding a TT victory to their World Championship success of 2009.

Harrison/Aylott took their fifth TT podium together with Holden/Winkle comfortable in fourth. Wright/Hull retired at Kirk Michael on the final lap and so Bryan/Winn took fifth with Gary/Dan Knight wrapping up their excellent TT campaign with sixth. Frank Lelias/Charlie Richardson did likewise in seventh with Wayne Lockey/Luke Capewell in eighth ahead of Dean Banks/Ken Edwards and Mick Donovan/Aaron Galligan, all of them achieving their best TT results.

Drivers who hog the middle lane or tailgate other cars face on-the-spot  fines of £100 and three points on their licence under plans unveiled  today.

Police are also expected to get powers to issue instant fixed penalty notices for not giving way at a junction or using the wrong lane at a  roundabout. Details of crackdown on anti-social motoring are due to be released by the Government in a statement to Parliament this morning.

Transport minister Stephen Hammond told the Daily Telegraph: "Careless drivers are a menace and their negligence puts innocent people's lives  at risk. "That is why we are making it easier for the police to tackle problem drivers by allowing them to immediately issue a fixed penalty notice  rather than needing to take every offender to court. We are also increasing penalties for a range of driving offences to a level which reflects their seriousness and which will ensure that they  are consistent with other similar penalty offences."

Until now such activity has generally gone unpunished because of the bureaucracy involved in prosecuting a case. A motorist has to be stopped by a police officer, a summons issued and evidence presented in court. Other changes being brought forward by the Government include increasing  the fine for using a hand-held mobile phone while driving or not wearing a seat belt from £60 to £100.

The fixed penalty for driving without insurance is expected to double from £100 to £200. AA president Edmund King said: "An increase in the standard motoring fixed penalty fine will help deter those who commit motoring offences including mobile phone use. We are also pleased to see that at long last new powers and fines will be given to the police to tackle the top three pet hates of drivers - tailgaters, mobile phone abusers and middle-lane hogs."

IAM comment:

Institute of Advanced Motorists director of policy and research Neil Greig said: "This is a major change in traffic law enforcement and the IAM is concerned that issuing fixed penalty tickets for careless driving downplays the seriousness of the offence. Careless covers a wide range of poor to reckless driving behaviour that often merits further investigation.

"This could free up traffic police time and allow them to maintain a higher profile. But without traffic cops out on the road to enforce this new approach it will have little impact on road safety."

It seems the wearing of compulsory Fluorescent/Yellow HI Viz/Jacket/Vest by French bikers while riding has gone away for now.  

France’s National Road Safety Council requests that the new road safety recommendations to be translated into regulatory text by the Government. The recommendation from the council is similar to that which is obligatory for motorists, which would be to carry a high visibility vest under the motorcycle seat, in a bag, in the box top etc and for that vest to be worn in case of an emergency stop. We cannot leave the article without mentioning our previous reporting on the Hi-Viz issue which spilt across the channel into the UK.  

That is to state that the Hi-Viz issue was not a European Union issue, there was no European proposal, it was a national French issue and there were no plans by the UK or Northern Ireland Governments or agencies to introduce Hi-Viz here.  

Although we have said that this is a French National issue it is worth keeping an eye on the issue as riders from the UK need to be kept informed for trips across the channel.  

For now at least, the wearing of a yellow vest while riding a motorcycle in France is not mandatory.  

Read the full article on Right To Ride EU