SIDECAR racer Allan Schofield is hoping to come up with a special delivery himself after receiving a "present" as he bids for honours in the Isle of Man TT.

Allan (pictured below) and his sidekick, Ian Simons, retired licking their wounds after again blowing up an engine on the first lap of Saturday's first race.

"It was a real sickener," said Allan, who hails from York Street in Bury. "We had moved up to third, just four seconds behind the leader when it happened."

That, as they say, appeared to be that after putting another engine out of action in earlier practice and also blowing up the one they managed to repair and start with on Saturday during last week's warm-up.

A quck phone call saved the day though and Nigel Wesley, one of Allan's racing mates from Ipswich, came to the rescue by shipping out a third engine to the beleagured pair.

"I loaned him my old chassis some time ago," said Allan, "so Nigel owed me one."

Allan and Ian were left kicking their heels yesterday as bad weather delayed the start of the second sidecar race, but they were hoping for better things.

"We will definitely have to try harder," added Allan. "We have altered the sump on the engine and the oil pick up. When we do get out we'll be aiming to finish as high as we can, even though I suppose we should settle for just getting round."