(Reuters) – A second rider has died after a crash in qualifying for the centenary edition of the Manx Grand Prix motorcycle races on the Isle of Man, organisers said on Wednesday.
Ian Bainbridge, a 69-year-old Briton who had been a regular competitor in the event since 2005, died on Tuesday evening at the exit of Kirk Michael village during the second qualifying session.
Gary Vines, a 33-year-old British rider who competed in this year’s TT races as well as being a Manx regular, died in Sunday’s first qualifying session after an accident at Ballagarey.
The Manx Grand Prix was first run in 1923 as the Manx Amateur Road Races and features mainly amateur riders competing over the island’s TT course.
The races on modern and classic bikes serve as a feeder for the better-known TT but differ from that event in not featuring sidecars.
Like the TT races the Manx ranks among the deadliest events in motorsport.
Spaniard Spaniard Raul Torras Martinez, 46, died at this year’s TT races in June and became the 267th fatality in the history of the Mountain Course since 1911.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond)
