WORCESTER'S Phil Dongworth suffered Tourist Trophy heartache as he narrowly missed out on his maiden podium finish in the Sure Mobile Sidecar race on the Isle of Man.

The 42-year-old, and sidecar pasenger Stuart Castles, finished fourth in a time of one hour 1.10 minutes - less than three seconds behind newcomer and world sidecar champion Tim Reeves.

But despite lapping the 37.73-mile course at over 111mph and grabbing a silver replica, Dongworth - who matched his 2005 best on the Isle of Man - was less than impressed after watching Nick Crowe top the podium.

"I am pleased with how it went - it was the best we could do with what we had but I wanted to get on the podium really," he said. "We were less than half a second off third at one point but could quite catch them.

"When you climb up the mountain you need a bit more engine power and a gap appeared on the straight and that cost us.

"The bike isn't going as well as it could but you make the best of what you have got. The weather hasn't been great but that hasn't affected us at all - our engine temperatures were fine."

In an action packed race last year's double champion Dave Molyneux failed to make it out of the pit lane, while fellow favourite Austrian Klaus Klaffenbock was also forced out at Parliament Square.

Dongworth - who made his TT debut in 1996 - is keeping his fingers crossed there will be further high-profile drop-outs when he takes to the course for Wednesday's final race.

"We are going to change the gears for Wednesday and try and get it revving a bit more and just do the best we can -that's all we can ask for," he added.

"I was hoping a few of the guys were going to break down and it would be nice if that was to happen again.

"The course is pretty similar to last year so that has helped me."

The Isle of Man TT Races will be shown every evening on ITV 4.

Check TV listings for BBC times. For further information on the TT Races go to iomtt.com