Southern 100 starts this evening

The Southern 100 gets under way this evening with a full practice session on the Billown circuit in the south of the Island.

The rider line-up includes the usual front-runners of Ian Lougher (pictured), Guy Martin, Ryan Farquhar and local stars Conor Cummins and Chris Palmer.

Meanwhile, double TT 2008 sidecar champions Nick Crowe and Mark Cox will be looking to add to their success on the Mountain Course.

But there will be a change in the passenger's chair for Klaus Klaffenbock following the recent arrest of regular passenger Christian Parzer on suspicion of possessing cocaine.

He will ride with one of Crowe's former partners, Darren Hope.

Roads close at 6.05pm with the session due to start at 6.20pm.

Racing will be tomorrow and Wednesday evenings and all day on Thursday, and there will be full commentary on Manx Radio's AM 1368 service.