FIM Sidecar World Championship.
Grobnik, Croatia,
Race one report.
Drama for Kees Endveld and Hendrik Crome with their LCR, Yamaha, they were not to start the race, their machine would not run due to an electrical problem that has been plaguing the team for some time now.
18 laps were hard for man and machine, temperatures in the mid-thirties as the lights went out. Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries with their LCR, Yamaha took control of the race with Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement with their LCR, Yamaha right on their tail. Bennie Streuer and Jeroen Remme got a great start with their Adolf RS, Yamaha they took the third place spot just in front of Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau with their Adolf RS, Yamaha. Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood were in fifth place with their LCR, Yamaha, just in front of Pekka Paivarinta and Ilse de Haas with their LCR, Yamaha. Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer were in seventh place on their LCR, Yamaha. Peter Kimeswenger and Kevin Kolsch were in eighth place with their LCR, Yamaha.
Jenez Remse and Manfred Wechselberger with their Adolf RS, Yamaha were locked in battle from word go with Claude Vinet and Melanie Farnier on their LCR, Yamaha. Vinet and Fernier over cooked their braking into the downhill right hand corner trying to take the place from Remse and Wechselberger, this move did not stick for them as they went wide leaving Remse/Wechselberger in a good position. However it was not long before Vinet/Fernier got passed, but another move by the team under hard braking caused Remse/Wechselberger take avoiding action which left them taking to the grass. They regrouped and rejoined the race but the gap was too large for them to challenge mid race for the eighth place. The team did make up ground towards the end though as Vinet/Farnier were starting to have tyre problems, but there was not enough laps left to make a pass. Remse/Wechselberger took ninth place with Vinet/Farnier eighth place.
Up at the front the pace was hot, Schlosser and Fries were starting to take control of the race, Ellis and Clement were starting to get pressure from a fast charging Reeves and Rousseau who had passed Streuer and Remme for third. Reeves and Rousseau were certainly on the move, they passed Ellis and Clement and gave chase to Schlosser and Fries, it was a couple of laps before he did get passed though, the team showed the nose of their fairing to Schlosser a few times but thought the better of making the move. It was at the end of the start finish straight that Reeves and Rousseau did eventually make the pass. This was short lived though; Schlosser and Fries retook the place from Reeves and Rousseau for the lead again. Ellis and Clement were still holding station in third place in front of Kershaw and Charlwood who had fought hard to get passed Streuer and Remme who were in a safe fifth place in front of Paivarinta and De Haas. It was like a freight train at the front with the six teams setting similar lap times.
Wyssen and Hofer as too for Kimeswenger and Kolsch had a lonely race in their positions. They were to finish the race in sixth and seventh place.
There was drama once again for Reeves and Rousseau with four laps to go they were to pull into pit lane and straight to their garage, they had suffered cooling problems, this was another DNF for the team.
The final two laps of the race were exiting for the two leading teams, Schlosser/Fries were still out in front but Ellis and Clement were visibly catching, it was a bit like cat and mouse, Schlosser/Fries just had the legs on Ellis/Clement but Ellis/Clement were so much faster through the downhill right hander through to the uphill left onto the back straight. But it was not to be for Ellis and Clement, the chequred flag came out to the delight of Schlosser and Fries another race win for the team.
Ellis and Clement were pleased with their second place and really enjoyed the race; The team were also credited with the fastest lap with a time of 1:31.501. They will have another go tomorrow for a race win.
Kershaw and Charlwood held their third place, another happy team, Kershaw said after “It was a great race, great racing all together with no problems.”
Streuer and Remme took fourth place, the team was happy with this, but Streuer did say after “I lost all momentum when we came up behind two back markers, I could not make up the time we lost, but we are happy with how things went.”
Paivarinta and De Haas took fifth place, Paivarinta was having rear grip problems, and once that problem started it was go steady for the race finish.
Tomorrow there will be the second 18 lap race starting at 11:45 local time.
Mark Walters.