With clear blue skies qualifying for the 2014 FIM Sidecar World Championship got under way. First on track were the Birchall Brothers Ben and Tom, they had a trouble free session coming into pit lane to make small adjustments to their “Mitchells of Mansfield” LCR, Suzuki, and a tyre change, they were to set the second fastest time of 2’10.325.
Setting the fastest time however was Jorg Steinhausen and Axel Kolsch on their “Steinhausen Racing “ LCR, BMW, they set a time of 2’08.206. They too had a trouble free session, but Jorg did say “ I think a wheel balance weight on the front might be rubbing on the brake calliper, we will need to check this, but it is not a big problem.” Setting the third fastest time were Kurt Hock and Enrico Becker on their “Hock Racing” LCR, Suzuki, although third, the team were not very happy how things went, Enrico said “the lap times are slower than last year, and we did not feel happy in the way the bike was handling on track, we will get this problem sorted for tomorrow though”
2012 champion, Tim Reeves with passenger Gregory Cluze, back after taking a year away from the championship, set the fourth fastest time of 2’13.827 on their “The Relocater” LCR, Kawasaki. They encountered problems though when the drive chain failed, leaving them with only three laps completed.
Fifth fastest time went to the Finnish pairing of Petri Makkula and Harri Asumaniemi on the “Team Makkula” LCR, BMW, the pair had no problems with their machine but driver Petri said “I am a bit rusty!! I missed some gears, but this was me and not a problem with the bike, tomorrow will be better”.
Sixth place went to Janez Remse and Jamie Biggs on their “Remse Racing” LCR, Yamaha,the team were very happy with how things went, and hope all goes well tomorrow.
Seventh place went to Uwe Gurck and Manfred Wechselberger on their “Polizei Sport Verein Wels” LCR, BMW, with a new bike to the team they were happy with the days performance.
Eighth place went to Jacob Rutz and Thomas Hofer on their “Team Rutz” LCR, Yamaha with a time of 2’20.092.
Weather tomorrow is to be better, and temperatures up on today. All the sidecar teams will be hoping for better times for their grid positions for Sunday’s race.
Text and pictures Mark Walters