FIM Sidecar World Championship.
Round Three,
Oschersleben, Germany, Preview.
The third round of the “FIM Sidecar World Championship” will take place at the 3.667km clockwise circuit of Oschersleben. Opened in July, 1997, as “Motopark Oschersleben” it was Germany’s fourth permanent racecourse after the Nurburgring, Hockenheimring and the Sachsenring. The circuit’s flat contour makes it smooth and fast, and is situated just south of Magdebourg in Germany.
With three races so far in the championship, we have had three different winners, and only eight points separate the top three teams. Oschersleben will have two races, so a lot is at stake at this round for championship points.
Pekka Paivarinta and Jussi Veravainen arrived at the last round at the Pannonia Ring, Hungary, with a race win and leading the championship, they left the Pannonia Ring with two third places and dropping to third in the championship, they may be third, but they are only one point adrift of the second place team of Ben and Tom Birchall. The Birchall Brothers had a good meeting in Hungary. They finished fourth in Le-Mans, off the podium, but with a win and second at the Pannonia Ring this brought them well back into the championship hunt.
Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes will arrive in Oschersleben with a seven point lead in the championship. Both Reeves and Wilkes will be hoping that they can emulate their “Gold Race” win in the Pannonia Ring. With the temperatures way up in the high thirties, the pair stamped their authority on the pursuing teams for the race win. All in all a good weekend last time out for Reeves and Wilkes, a win and a second.
Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries are coming to a circuit they like, driver Schlosser goes well here, if things are all good for the team, they will be looking for podium placings. They had a lot of work to do to their machine in the Pannonia Ring, but two solid fourth places to add to their third place at Le-Mans have them sitting fourth in the championship.
The fifth place team in the championship also like the Oschersleben track. Sam and Adam Christie, like always, work away steadily throughout the race weekends, their small team work hard on their machine, and it pays dividends with good solid results. And they love nothing better than a good battle. They fought hard all weekend in the Pannonia Ring with Bennie Streuer and Kevin Rousseau.
Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer have been working away steadily. They had some mechanical problems in Hungary, these problems left the team in a bit of a quandary, they did not know how hard they could push their machine during the “Sprint Race”. In the end though all was well and good points for the championship. Maybe not the results they wanted but solid results and they will come to Oschersleben sixth in the championship.
Seventh in the championship is Kees Endeveld and Jeroen Remme, they are really happy with how their season is going so far. Endeveld can’t believe how they have been getting on; the team are hoping to be in the top ten by the end of the season. However, if things go the way they have been so far, they will be far better than that. The races so far have been a lonely affair for the team, but the “Gold Race” in Pannonia Ring was a better deal for the team, a good battle with Janez Remse and Manfred Wechselberger was just what they wanted.
Only one point adrift of their fellow countrymen Endeveld and Remme is Bennie Streuer and Kevin Rousseau. Streuer and Rousseau DNF at Le-Mans, then at the Pannonia Ring a problem that the team cannot put their finger on. The team feels their machine is down on power, but they do not know whether it is a mechanical or electrical problem. They will hope that this problem will be resolved when they arrive at Oschersleben. The team like Oschersleben, and they want to move up the championship rankings.
Jakob Rutz and Bjorn Bosch are sitting ninth. Rutz and Bosch have had a funny old season so far. They have scored points in each race so far, albeit they have finished a couple a lap down. But race finishes equal championship points. The team know Oschersleben so they will be looking for more points.
Janez Remse and Manfred Wechselberger had a mixed weekend in Hungary. They had cooling problems, in the end they had to change an engine. The team worked hard, trying to get ready for the “Sprint Race”. However the pit lane gate had closed before they could get ready for the race. It turned out that the team missed it by only five minutes. They did make the grid for the “Gold Race” though. They had a great battle throughout the race with Kees Endeveld and Jeroen Remme. Both Remse and Weschelberger will be hoping for no problems in Oschersleben.
Again, like Pannonia Ring, there will be two races in Oschersleben. On Saturday 20th there will be an eleven lap “Sprint Race” starting at 18:00 local time. On Sunday 21st, a 21 lap “Gold Race” will start at 13:30 local time. Mark "Wally" Walters