FIM Sidecar World Championship.
Donington Park, Race One.
All the talk round the paddock before the 18 lap race was, “will it rain?” teams were looking to the skies deciding whether it would be wet or slick tyres. The tyre provider “Avon” were flat out fitting wet tyres to wheel rims. There was no need though, the sun was out, and the limited spectator capacity round the Donington Park circuit were ready and waiting for some three wheel action.
As the lights went out, Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau got a flier into “Redgate” corner, Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement slotted into second spot, Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries were right with Ellis and Clement. On the outside of Schlosser/Fries was Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood they got a good start, right on the inside hugging the rumble strip was Pekka Paivarinta and Ilse de Haas, they were looking to nip up the inside and slot in behind Schlosser/Fries.
The drama was about to start once again for Kershaw and Charlwood, on the outside behind them was Tommy Philp and Tom Bryant and running up the inside of them was Lewis Blackstock and Paddy Rosney, they had a good line and drive out of the corner and gave chase to Paivarinta and De Haas. Philp and Bryant were heading to the outside of the track but Kershaw and Charlwood were right there too. The two teams got entangled with each and other. The sidecar wheel arch of Philp/Bryant was right up inside the rear wheel of Kershaw/Charlwood. Both teams were to continue on track but they both arrived into pit lane, the pit crews were working franticly to change the wheel arch on Philp/Bryant, and a rear wheel on the machine of Kershaw/Charlwood which was punctured.
Lap two saw John Holden and Jason Pitt arrive into pit lane, their race was run, a cooked clutch was their problem.
Reeves and Rousseau were on top form they were starting to push hard and try and break Ellis and Clement who were sticking with leading pair. Reeves and Rousseau on lap three had the fastest lap of the race a time of 1:37.251, however drama for Reeves and Rousseau at “Hollywood” leading into the flat out section of “Craner Curves” they caught a team which resulted in the team taking to the grass all the way down “Craner Curves” Reeves and Rousseau managed to control their machine at high speed on the grass and rejoin the track at “Starkeys Bridge” they rejoined the race in sixth place.
Ellis and Clement had a healthy lead now over Schlosser and Fries who were in a good second place but Paivarinta and De Haas were putting pressure on the second place team. Paivarinta and De Haas did manage to pass Schlosser/Fries but this was short lived as Schlosser/Fries retook the second place.
Behind the second and third place teams there was a good battle going on between Lewis Blackstock and Paddy Rosney and Sam and Adam Christie they were sticking to each and other throughout the race.
Lap eleven of the race saw Tommy Philp and Tom Bryant pull into pit lane for a DNF. They rejoined the race after their incident with Kershaw and Charlwood, but for them a badly damaged wheel was making their machine uncontrollable out on track.
As the race came to a close Ellis and Clement had a healthy lead over Schlosser and Fries. The team took the chequred flag to the joys of team mechanics on pit wall; this was their first win and a home win for Ellis, and a first top spot for Clement.
Schlosser and Fries were just over 3 seconds down on Ellis and Clement but never the less a great second spot for them and they managed to keep the third place team of Paivarinta and De Haas at bay. The top three teams enjoyed the race and had no machine problems and they will have to do it all again in tomorrow’s race.
Reeves and Rousseau fought hard throughout the race after their grass tracking excursion. They managed to fight their way back up to fourth spot, but just could not get back up with the leaders, the gap was too much, not the result the team wanted, but better than nothing at all.
A great battle for the fifth and sixth places in the race. It was Sam and Adam Christie who took the flag only 0.227 in front of Lewis Blackstock and Paddy Rosney. These two teams enjoyed the race and look forward to doing battle again tomorrow.
A good seventh spot for Robb Biggs and Jeroen Schmitz they had a lonely race in the end but a good solid result for the team, Biggs was a little despondent after the race feeling they should have been further up the field, but in the end he was happy with the result.
A great result for Harry Payne and Mark Wilkes, eighth, they had very little track time due to mechanical and handling problems, also driver Payne, this was his first time driving the long bike; he normally drives the shorter F2 bike. They will be looking forward to the second race tomorrow now the team has got a race under their belts.
Also a god result for another young team, ninth for George Holden, son of John Holden, and Oscar Lawrence. They were happy with the race result, but like Biggs in seventh spot, driver Holden wanted more, but it is all great experience racing at this level for the young team.
Rupert Archer and Phillip Hyde took tenth place, not what the team wanted but a finish none the less, they had a lot of mechanical problems throughout the weekend.
Kevin Cable and Kyle Masters took eleventh but a lap down. Cable was not happy, the team made some adjustments to their machine before the race but these were not good. Their machine was a nightmare to drive. They will be going back to what they had before, and hopefully have a better race tomorrow.
Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood were three laps back as they took the flag for twelfth place. They will regroup for the race tomorrow and hope that they will have a trouble free race.
The second of the 18 lap races will start at 15:15 local time.
Mark Walters