A Very Wet Free Practice

As the sidecar teams were leaving the paddock, all had slick tyres fitted, as the track was dry and it looked if free practice was going to be a good test to see how the national teams would fair against the World championship teams. However as they were in pit lane getting ready to take to the track it started spitting with rain. The sidecar teams, still with slick rubber on, got one lap in before the heavens opened and the track was awash with rain. Most of the teams were quick to get into pit lane to change to full wet tyres, second in the championship Jorg Steinhausen and Axel Kolsch on their “Steinhausen Racing” LCR, BMW, however opted to stay out on track and see how much grip they would have on slick tyres in case the race turned out to be damp, this decision would be costly for them though, as when they came back to pit lane the change to wet tyres, changing them took longer than expected. The team however were happy setting the fifth fastest time of 2’02.424. Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze on “The Relocator” LCR, Kawasaki looked if they were putting in some fast times, but they were circulating with no transponder, so they did not post any time for the free practice session. Topping the times were Brothers Ben and Tom Birchall on their “Mitchells of Mansfield” LCR Suzuki with a time of 1’57.853, the team had no problems during the session and were very happy with the way the bike was handling in the very wet conditions. Second fastest time went to one of the “National Sidecar Trophy” teams, Roger Lovelock and Aki Aalto on their LCR, BMW, they were really pleased to be sitting in second position, their bike had no problems during the practice session, but driver Roger had big problems with his helmet visor steaming up. Another of the “National Sidecar Trophy” teams set the third fastest times Sean Hegarty and James Neave set a time of 2’01.798 on their LCR, Suzuki. They did not have a trouble free session though, they had brake problems causing them to run off track more than once, but still happy with the third spot. With a time of 2’02.347 it was Kurt Hock and Enrico Becker on their “Hock Racing” LCR Suzuki who slotted into fourth spot, again they were happy with how the practice session went and hope to improve in qualifying tomorrow. Having only completed three fast laps, it was Stephen Kershaw and Rob Wilson who took the sixth fastest time of 2’03.009. They were very happy with this time, and hope to improve in qualifying when they manage to get more track time in. With two qualifying sessions tomorrow, all teams will be hoping to improve on today’s times. However the weather forecast is for heavy rain showers, so this might be a problem for the teams.