FIM Sidecar World Championship.
Donington Park, race two report.
The rain was spitting as the sidecar teams took to the track on their sighting lap, it was decided by race organizers that there would be a five minute delay till the start of the warm up lap. With that done the track was slightly damp so two warm up laps were given to the teams, that was to bring the race distance down to 17 laps.
Big disappointment for championship leader Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries, they left their garage in the paddock heading to the track when their engine decided to fail, they got to pit lane and just went back to their garage so it was a non-start for them.
Disappointment for Robb Biggs and Jeroen Schmitz, they had mechanical problems, a suspect dropped valve, and they did not start either.
Lewis Blackstock and Paddy Rosney were pushed off the grid onto the grass when their machine stopped and would not start. They did manage to get going though and joined the rest of the teams for the race.
As the lights went out, again it was Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau who got the run up to the first corner nipping up the inside of Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement. Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood got a great start and took the inside line into the first corner and slotted into second behind Reeves/Rousseau. Ellis and Clement were in third with Blackstock and Rosney in fourth. Pekka Paivarinta and Ilse de Haas were up behind Blackstock and Rosney in fifth place. Tommy Philp and Tom Bryant were right on the case of Paivarinta and De Haas in sixth spot. Sam and Adam Christie were in seventh place fending off John Holden and Jason Pitt in eighth. Harry Payne and Mark Wilkes got a great start and managed to get up the inside of Holden and Pitt exiting the first corner. George Holden and Oscar Lawrence were in tenth spot fending off Rupert Archer and Phillip Hyde with Kevin Cable and Kyle Masters at the back.
Cable and Masters race was over with four laps done, they had clutch problems.
As the race settled down Ellis and Clement managed to pass Kershaw and Charlwood for second place and gave chase to Reeves and Rousseau, but Kershaw was happy with this as he could stay with the two teams in front.
Paivarinta and De Haas were out on their own in fourth place but hunting them down was Blackstock and Rosney and right on their tail was Philp and Bryant. The Christie brothers were on their own, but Payne and Wilkes were closing down on them.
John Holden and Jason Pitt were out on their own having a nightmare race, all weekend they could not get their machine to handle well and it was not going well for the team in this race.
George Holden and Oscar Lawrence were out on their own too, but a spin coming onto the start finish straight was to put them further back down the field, with four laps of the race to go they were to pull into pit lane, the team were having some brake problems, but this was not the cause of the spin earlier.
As the race came to a close the three teams out in front were holding station but it looked like Kershaw/Charlwood were keeping a safe distance, but close enough if the two leading teams were to cause any trouble to each and other.
Philp and Bryant were having a great race they had passed Blackstock and Rosney and were on the hunt for Paivarinta and De Haas. It was not long before they had caught up and made the pass for fourth place.
The last lap of the race was a ding dong battle between the leading teams with Kershaw and Charlwood lying in wait for any mistakes. And these did happen, there was contact between Reeves/Rousseau and Ellis/Clement a number of times but the final corner was it, Kershaw and Charlwood were in charge now leaving the other two teams to sort themselves out. Kershaw even had time to look back at the goings on. The flag came out to a jubilant Kershaw and Charlwood who took the win.
Reeves and Rousseau had been on the inside of Ellis and Clement when the two teams collided, Ellis and Clement managed to control their machine which got into a tank slapper after Reeves and Rousseau broke free to cross the line in second place, with Ellis/Clement Third.
A great fourth place for Philp and Bryant, the team was so happy with this result after driver Philp felt that their machine was down on power earlier in the weekend
Paivarinta and De Haas took a good fifth place, it was all the team could do, Paivarinta said “That was it, I could not do any better, but we are happy with the result”.
Blackstock and Rosney took sixth place but it was a hard fought sixth, not with any other team, but they had something happen to the front of their machine leaving driver Blackstock fighting with it all the time in corners.
Seventh place went to the Christie brothers, they made changes to their machine before the race and they were not good changes, in the end they stayed out of trouble, and it was valuable time on their machine.
A great result for Payne and Wilkes they took eighth place, after all the problems the team had over the weekend they are going home very happy, so much so they are thinking about heading to the next round in Assen, Holland in two weeks.
Holden and Pitt took ninth place, the team are not happy with this, driver Holden fought all weekend with the handling of his machine, and by the end of the race today he is still getting a bit of trouble with his knee which he had medical treatment during the winter months.
Rupert Archer and Pillip Hyde took tenth place, the team were happy with this and are pleased for the race finish.
The next round is in Assen, Holland in two weeks, the sidecar teams will be looking forward to this as most like Assen, which is known as the “Cathedral of Speed”.
Mark Walters.