COUNTY rider Phil Dongworth is aiming to build on his first Isle of Man TT podium place today.

Dongworth and partner Gary Partridge finished second in Sure Sidecar race one behind multiple winner Dave Molyneux 12 months after missing out on a first podium by three seconds.

Favourites HM Plant Honda’s Nick Crowe and Mark Cox were forced to retire, leaving Molyneux and Dongworth’s crews to scoop glory.

With Crowe and Cox likely to return to the roads for race two, Dongworth knows he will have to produce the race of his life to retain his spot on the podium.

“I’m fairly pleased with the lap times and I’ll just have to try and go a bit quicker today,” the Stanford Bridge star said. “The podium has been nine years coming so it’s taken a while but I’ve got there now and I want another one.

“The race was absolutely fine and there were no problems at all really which was great.

“The bike was sweet as a nut and so to get on the podium was great.”

Highlights of the 2009 TT races will be shown every evening on ITV4 from June 5.

For further information on TT races go to iomtt.com or for details on visiting the island go to visitisleofman.com.