The tragic balance of this year’s Tourist Trophy has risen to five victims. A father and son died in an accident during a sidecar race on Friday. It happened at the same place where the French rider died last Saturday.
The English Roger and Bradley Stockton crashed in the last lap of the second sidecar race as part of a race on a dangerous circuit on the Isle of Man.
Father Roger, 50, was the driver of the machine and drove his twentieth anniversary of the Tourist Trophy. He made his Snaefell Mountain Course debut 22 years ago.
His 21-year-old son Bradley made his co-driver debut this year. In the first race a week ago, the family pair took an excellent eighth place.
The tragic accident occurred only six days after the French rider César Chanal was killed by a sidecar at the same place about a mile after the start. The organizers originally identified his co-driver Olivier Lavorel as the victim. It was not until a few days later that the identification of the deceased was changed, with the second member of the crew in critical condition in the hospital.
After the Stocktons died, the number of victims of this year’s Tourist Trophy, which took place after a two-year coronavirus break, rose to five. Brit Mark Purslow was killed last week in qualifying, and Davy Morgan, 52, in Monday’s Supersport race. In total, over 260 competitors have died on the Isle of Man since 1907.
–
