Birchall Brothers take first blood

Ben and Tom Birchall shone throughout the eleven laps of the Sprint race at FIM Sidecar World Championship at a sunny Schleiz, Germany. As the lights went out it was Marcus Schlosser and Thomas Hofer from 4th on the grid they got the hole shot followed by Reeves and Cluze with Paivarinta and Hanni right with Reeves. By lap 2 Schlosser lost the lead to Paivarinta, Reeves and Birchall leaving him to battle with Hock and Becker. As the race progressed the battle for the lead was down to Paivarinta and Birchall who were pulling away from the rest of the field, both were changing places all through the 11 lap race with Paivarinta setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 4 with 1.29.836 Schlosser managed to get back into 3rd and started to pull away from Reeves and Hock who were having their own battle, with Hock and Becker getting the better of Reeves and Cluze to finnish 4th. GP newcomers Barry James and Jamie Winn finished a creditable 7th just getting beaten by Roscher and Kamerbeek. On lap 4 Young German Rookie passenger Kretzer injured his heel on a corner rumble strip leaving the team unable to finish the race. Photo Credit and Article by Mark “Wally” Walters Result of the Sprint race and Provisional Classification
1 (16) Birchall/Birchall 25 pts
2 (1) Paivarinta/Hanni 20 pts
3 (72) Schlosser/Hofer 16 pts
4 (12) Hock/Becker 13 pts
5 (77) Reeves/Cluze 11 pts
6 (66) Roscher/Kamerbeek 10 pts
7 (3) James/Winn 9 pts
8 (27) Lawrie/Neave 8 pts
9 (11) Moser/Walker 7 pts
10 (56) Rutz/Waefler 6 pts
11 (8) Remse/Knapton 5 pts
12 (24) Spendal/Hill 4 pts
13 (2) Steuer/Endeveld 3 pts
14 (37) Knight/Knight 2 pts
15 (61) Bertrand/Seret 1 pt
16 (4) Pichler/Pichler -
17 (7) Gallerne/Schreiber -
ABD (18) Kretzer/Kretzer -