Birchall brothers double up

Birchall Brothers Ben and Tom followed up their Sprint race win with a Gold Race success, on Sunday at FIM Sidecar Worlds Championship in Oschersleben, Germany. With overcast skies and spots of rain falling, it was a dry race start, the 21 lap Gold race got under way. Straight away it was the Birchall Brothers Ben and Tom who got the hole shot into the first series of bends on their “Mitchells of Mansfield” LCR, Suzuki followed closely by Jorg Steinhausen and Ashley Hawes on their “Steinhausen Racing” LCR, BMW, right on there tail was Pekka Paivarinta and Adolf Hanni “Team Suzuki Finland” LCR, Suzuki, a small gap and it was Michael Grabmuller and Manfred Wechselberger on their “Polizeisportverein Wels Motorsport” LCR, Kawasaki, next up was Scott Lawrie and James Neave on the “ Team SLR” LCR Suzuki. By the second lap the Birchall Brothers had pulled out a bit of a gap to Steinhausen who was fending off Paivarinta. Lawrie and Neave were egger to get by Grabmuller and try to tag onto second and third place teams. By the end of the second lap leading into the third lap the rain was falling a little harder, on the fourth lap the red flags came out stopping the race, as the teams came into pit lane the rain was spitting, but it was not wet enough to fit wet tyres for the second part of the race, as time passed the rain had stopped and the track was dry for slick tyres, but it was deemed a wet race. It was a 14 lap race now, and as the lights went out once again it was the Birchall Brothers who led into the first complex of bends, followed by Steinhausen, this time round it was Lawrie and Neave who slotted into third with Paivarinta desperate to get by and tag onto the back of Steinhausen, Kurt Hock and Enrico Becker on their “Hock Racing” LCR, Suzuki, were right with them too. As the race progressed the Birchall Brothers were starting to pull out a healthy gap on Steinhausen, who was starting to get a lot of pressure from Paivarinta and Hanni. Steinhausen fought hard to keep in front of Paivarinta, but when Paivarinta and Hanni did get by they started to chase after The Birchalls, they started to leave Steinhausen and Hawes behind. Paivarinta was making good lap times and was starting to catch the Brothers Ben and Tom, Ben was watching his pit board though and he controlled the race from the front to cross the line in first place. Saying after the race “I think it was the right decision to stop the race, It has been a great weekend for us two wins good points” Tom also said “I had no problems in the race, myself and Ben would like to thank all our sponsors and friends who make this possible for us, we hope we can do the same in the next round” Second place went to Paivarinta and Hanni who could not just catch the Birchalls. Pekka said after the race “I am happy with the race, I drive at 110 percent but just could not catch Ben and Tom, but still happy” Adolf said “It is good points for us in the championship, and I would like to thank Pekka for a great drive today” Taking the chequered flag for third was Jorg Steinhausen and Ashley Hawes it turned out to be a lonely race for them when Paivarinta passed them. Jorg said later “we just don’t have the power to stay with the leading two, both Ashley and I are trying so hard but we can’t just get there” Ashley said “it’s not what we wanted but it is good points for the team, who have worked so hard over the weekend for us” Scott Lawrie and James Neave had a great battle with Kurt Hock and Enrico Becker, Lawrie and Neave could not stay with Steinhausen and Paivarinta so they were settling for a fourth place, but Hock and Becker had different ideas they wanted that fourth place, the two teams had a great battle. Hock and Becker did manage to pass Lawrie to take the flag in fourth place and Lawrie and Neave fifth with the flag, but for Lawrie and Neave it was to turn out better than it was for Hock and Becker, there was enough of a time difference for Lawrie and Neave to have fourth place from the two part race. Text & photos Mark Walters