FIM Sidecar World Championship.
Slovakia Ring,
Gold Race Report
Once again the skies were blue, and the sun blazing down on the sidecar teams.
The lights went out and it was Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes, “Adolf RS” Yamaha who were first to appear out of the shimmering heat haze, Pekka Paivarinta and Jussi Veravainen,”LCR” Honda, tucked in behind Reeves/Wilkes. Ben and Tom Birchall, “LCR” Yamaha, were next up with Bennie Streuer and Kevin Rousseau, “LCR” Kawasaki, slotting in behind, John Holden and Lee Cain, “LCR” Kawasaki, were in behind Streuer/Rousseau. Sam and Adam Christie “LCR” Yamaha, were a couple of bike lengths of the leading pack, the Christie brother’s had Michael Grabmuller and Sebastien Lavorel, “LCR” Yamaha right on their tail. Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer, “LCR” Yamaha, next in line, they were fending off Alan Founds and Tom Christie, “LCR” Yamaha. Scott Lawrie and Michael Fairhurst, “LCR” Yamaha rounded of the tenth place team.
Disaster was to hit John Holden and Lee Cain once again. They were to pull off track with their machine running on three cylinders. Not a memorable weekend for the team.
As the race settled down the top four teams were having a great battle swapping places all throughout the 5.922km circuit length, lap after lap.
Lap six saw the demise of Scott Lawrie and Michael Fairhurst, their clutch gave up, leaving them with no drive at all.
As the leading four teams were swapping places for the lead. There also was a great battle going on behind. Wyssen/Hofer, the Christie brothers, Founds/Christie, Grabmuller/Lavorel, they were all battling and swapping places for the 5th to eighth places.
Grabmuller/Lavorel were the next team to fall by the wayside, their engine oil temperature was way too high, so they pulled off track. This was a terrible weekend for the team, engine blow up’s, electrical problems, and now this.
This left Wyssen/Hofer locked in battle with Founds/Christie, and the brothers, Sam and Adam Christie. These three teams were going at it hammer and tongs just like the leading four teams. Unfortunately for the Christie brothers, their engine was to blow on lap eight, leaving them to watch from the sidelines. The team, however were not downhearted. They enjoyed every racing lap here, and the great battles they had throughout the weekend.
As the closing stages of the race were approaching, the top four teams were still swapping places. For the lead, Reeves/Wilkes would be in front, then you would turn round and it was the Birchall brothers in the lead, then Reeves/Wilkes back in the lead. These two teams had made a small gap on the third and fourth place teams of Streuer/Rousseau and Paivarinta/Veravainen, who were swapping places just like the two leading teams.
The start of the last lap saw Reeves/Wilkes and the Birchall brothers side by side more than once trying to get the race win, with them doing this, Streuer/Rousseau followed by Paivarinta/Veravainen managed to get really close again, any mistakes by the leading pair would be taken with open arms by third and fourth teams.
As the flag came out it was an overjoyed Reeves and Wilkes who took the race win from the Birchall brothers by 0:401. The two teams, congratulating each and other on the slowing down lap. The fastest lap of the race went to the Birchall brothers, they set a time of 2:12.591.
Bennie Streuer and Kevin Rousseau took the third spot just in front of Paivarinta and Veravainen in fourth. It was a great demonstration of great sidecar racing by these four teams.
A good gap of 33.622sec separated the top four teams and the eventual fifth place team of Wyssen/Hofer who just managed to stay in front of Founds/Christie in sixth. These two teams were happy with how things went and enjoyed the battle.
A good seventh place for Peter Kimeswenger and Jens Lehnertz, “LCR” Kawasaki. That would be two solid seventh places for the team over the weekend. They are really happy with this.
Another happy team would be Jakob Rutz and Marcel Fries, “LCR” Yamaha. They took eighth place, it was a lonely race for the team, but none the less they are happy with this result.
Ninth place would go to Tassilo Gall and Sophie Sattelberger, “LCR” Suzuki, they had a lonely race too, but were lucky even to finish, their front mudguard came off their machine during the opening laps of the race. So this result is good for the team.
Tenth place would go to Janez Remse and Eamon Mulholland, “Adolf RS” Yamaha. By the closing stages of the race the team were struggling with a slipping clutch, they coaxed their machine to the finish line. So another team happy to finish the race.
The next race will be in Germany at the Sachsenring, in the middle of June.
FIM Communications