FIM Sidecar World Championship.
Grobnik, Croatia,
Race two report.
With wall to wall sunshine the sidecar teams took their places on the grid for the second 18 lap race here in Croatia.
The lights went out and it was Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries with their LCR, Yamaha who took the lead from Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement on their LCR, Yamaha, Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau were right on the tail of Ellis and Clement with their Adolf RS, Yamaha, next up was Pekka Paivarinta and Ilse de Haas with their LCR, Yamaha, Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood with their LCR, Yamaha were in Paivarinta/De Haas wheel tracks for the fifth spot.
Bennie Streuer and Jeroen Remme were next up with their Adolf RS Yamaha, it was all go on the grid for the Dutch pair as they and their team were checking their machine, they had a problem with their engine, but they did manage to start and finish the race. Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer with their LCR, Yamaha were next up. There was a gap before it was Kees Endeveld and Hendrik Crome with their LCR, Yamaha.
Peter Kimeswenger and Kevin Kolsch were in ninth spot with their LCR, Yamaha followed by Janez Remse and Manfred Wechselberger with their Adolf RS, Yamaha, Claude Vinet and Melanie Farnier with their LCR, Yamaha were at the back.
The three teams of Schlosser/Fries, Ellis/Clement, Reeves/Rousseau started to make a gap early on in the race from the rest of the field and it was looking to be a right ding dong battle between the three teams. Paivarinta and De Haas tried there upmost to stay with the three at the front but they started to fall back.
Kershaw and Charlwood had broken free from Streuer and Remme and were hunting down Paivarinta/De Haas. It was obvious that Streuer/ Remme were having issues with their machine, but they persevered with it.
Wyssen and Hofer were having a good battle with Endeveld/Crome until on lap ten cruel luck again for Endeveld/Crome, they were to pull in with a broken gear change, this left Wyssen/Hofer to continue for a lonely race.
The teams of Kimeswenger/Kolsch, Vinet/Farnier, Remse/Wechselberger were all on their own for the race, but again Remse/ Wechselberger hit problems, they pulled into pit lane with gearbox issues, they did however manage to rejoin the race but they were two laps down.
At the front it was all action. The breakaway top three teams were having a great battle, with Reeves/Rousseau passing Schlosser/Fries multiple times and then Schlosser/Fries repassing, Ellis and Clement were right in amongst all the action.
With two laps to go, it was Reeves/Rousseau with a slender lead over Ellis/Clement with Schlosser/Fries a good couple of bike lengths back. Schlosser/Fries fought back well and managed to catch and just pass Ellis/Clement for the second place in the race following an ecstatic Reeves/Rousseau over the line. The top three teams were separated by only 0.160 at the chequred flag. Reeves and Rousseau were credited with the fastest lap of the race too, a time of 1:31.201.
Fourth place went to Kershaw and Charlwood, a good result for the team but they fought a vibrating back wheel throughout the race when their back tyre spun on the rim.
Paivarinta and De Haas took fifth place, the team was happy with this, they could just not stay with the leaders today, but a good result for the team.
Streuer/Remme fought on throughout the race with engine problems, they took sixth, good result for the team considering their machine problems.
Wyssen/Hofer took a lonely seventh place, but the team are happy with this and were enjoying the race with Endveld/Crome until they had to retire.
There is a good break now for the teams until the next round in October, that will be at Oschersleben, Germany. It will be a busy month October, the last three rounds including Oschersleben are then.
Mark Walters