FIM Sidecar World Championship.
Oschersleben.
Race one report.
It was blue skies as the sidecar teams took their places on the grid for the start of the first 21 lap race in Oschersleben. Unbelievably the sun was out it was a dry track, compared to the morning and early afternoon it was a different day.
As the lights went out it was Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries who got the whole shot into the first corner from Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement, next up was Bennie Streuer and Kevin Kolsch, tucked right in their wheel tracks was Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood. A great start for Ted and Vincent Peugeot, they slotted into fifth. Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer slotted in behind the Peugeot’s. Pekka Paivarinta and Ilse de Haas did not have a good start they spun up their rear wheel off the line. There was a small gap then it was Peter Kimeswenger and Ondrej Sedlacek. Right out on the outside was Cedric and Arnaud Pierard but this was short lived as Kevin Cable and Charlie Richardson were right beside them looking for the pass. Harry Payne and Callum Crow were next up with Claude Vinet and Christophe Pouillot at the back. Unfortunately Pierre Leguen and Leopold Rouby did not make the start.
By lap 2, Ellis and Clement had taken the lead from Schlosser and Fries, with Payne and Crow up to seventh; with the rest of the field keeping the places they had in lap one.
Lap three saw Kershaw and Charlwood up to third in front of Streuer and Kolsch. It was a good fight at the front with the four teams matching lap times, but nobody getting the better of their rivals.
Paivarinta and De Haas were on the move though and they caught up to the Peugeot’s, but getting past was a different matter, the two teams were stuck together, but if Paivarinta De Haas did get bye they would break the tow and start pulling away, but this did not happen until lap seven leaving Paivarinta and De Haas a lot of work if they were to catch up to the leading pack. The next lap saw the Peugeot’s spin and run off track for a DNF.
It turned out to be a lonely race for Wyssen/Hoffer, Payne/Crow and Kimeswenger/ Sedlacek, these three teams were all in their own race, but keeping their place safe.
There was a great battle between Cable/Richardson and the Pierard brothers for ninth and tenth place. The Pierard brothers tried so hard to pass Cable/Richardson, but it was not to be, Cable/Richardson fought off the efforts each time the pass was attempted.
Vinet and Pouillot were another team to have a lonely race at the back in eleventh place.
Lap eight also saw Streuer/Kolsch retake the third place from Kershaw/Charlwood, and they did their upmost to catch the leading pair of Ellis/Clement and Schlosser/Fries, but there was to be an abrupt end to the race.
Way out to the west the sky was so black, rain was on its way again but this was to be heavy, heavy rain. As the leaders went over the line starting their fourteenth lap, by the first corner, the red flags came out to halt the race. It was a great instinct decision by race control to halt the race due to the rain. By the time the entire field had crossed the line on the lap, and all slowed down for the red flag, the track was awash with water, imposable to race with slick tyres. The race result was given.
Ellis/ Clement took the win from Schlosser/Fries, edging them closer to the championship. Streuer/Kolsch, third with Kershaw/Charlwood, fourth. Paivarinta and De Haas, fifth place on their comeback to the championship. Wyssen/Hoffer took sixth. A great seventh place for Payne and Crow on a loaned bike. Kimeswenger/Sedlacek took eighth. Cable/Richardson ninth place from the Pierard brothers in tenth. Vinet/ Pouillot took eleventh.
The second 21 lap race will be tomorrow, starting at 13.15 local time.
Text and pictures Mark Walters