FIM Sidecar World Championship,
Assen, Netherlands,
Race two report.
With the temperatures in the mid-twenties the track was dry and the sidecar teams were all ready to go. The lights went out and it was pole sitter Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement with their LCR, Yamaha, who led the field into the first complex of corners. A great start from Pekka Paivarinta and Ilse de Haas with their LCR, Yamaha, they were right on the tail of Ellis and Clement.
Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau with their Adolf RS, Yamaha, slotted in behind Paivarinta and De Haas. Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries with their LCR, Yamaha, were right on the tail of Reeves and Rousseau. Bennie Streuer and Jeroen Remme with their Adolf RS, Yamaha, had a good start and right behind Schlosser and Fries. Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood with their LCR, Yamaha were in sixth spot with a fast starting Robb Biggs and Jeroen Schmitz in seventh. Harry Payne and Mark Wilkes with their LCR, Yamaha were fending off Ted and Vincent Peugeot on their LCR, Yamaha, with Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer with their LCR, Yamaha, looking for a gap between Peugeot and Peugeot.
As the beginning of the race started to settle down, Paivarinta and De Haas had dropped back to fourth place behind Reeves and Rousseau, who were now putting pressure on Ellis and Clement for the lead, and Schlosser and Fries.
There was a great battle brewing between Biggs/Schmitz, Peugeot and Peugeot and Payne/Wilkes, these three teams were going at it hammer and tong.
Also another good battle between Wyssen and Hofer and Endeveld and Crome with their LCR, Yamaha who did not get such a good start but had made up good time to get on the tail of Wyssen/Hofer.
Kevin Cable and Kyle Masters with their LCR, Yamaha had a good start and were in a close battle with Benjamin Leneau and Nicolas Bidault with their LCR, Yamaha for the majority of the race until the French team pulled into pit lane with three laps to go with mechanical problems. This left Cable and Masters to finish the race out on their own, but it was a good weekend for the team, no machine problems and two good finishes, they were to take the chequered flag in tenth place.
Claude Vinet and Damien Common with their LCR, Yamaha had two race finishes it was hard for the team at times but they persevered and finished the race in eleventh place.
Lap nine saw Bennie Streuer and Jeroen Remme pull out of the race with an electrical problem.
The top five teams were setting good lap times, but it was Schlosser and Fries who were putting pressure on the now leaders Reeves and Rousseau. Ellis and Clement were in third spot with Kershaw and
Charlwood up to fourth in front of Paivarinta and De Haas.
Biggs and Schmitz had now managed to make a safe gap between them and Peugeot and Peugeot, who intern had made a safe gap between them and Payne and Wilkes who were having slight problems with their gearbox in the tight “Strubben” corner.
With four laps to go in the race Reeves and Rousseau were slowing rapidly, driver Reeves sat up, they had a problem, this let Schlosser and Fries through for the lead. Reeves and Rousseau came to a halt driving off the track letting the rest of the field through. The team are not sure what the problem was, they were very happy how their race was going up till then, the team think it could be an electrical sensor problem.
As the race came to an end a delighted Schlosser and Fries took the win and the fastest lap for the race again, a time of 1:43.666.
Ellis and Clement crossed the line in second place 1:319 down on Schlosser and Fries. This made up for their disappointment from race one yesterday.
Another great result for Kershaw and Charlwood, they took third place. They are starting to get their championship well up and running now after their problems at the beginning of the season.
A better day for Paivarinta and De Haas they took fourth place, the team are happy with this and will get all ready again for the next round in Croatia in four weeks’ time.
A great fifth place for Biggs and Schmitz, the team were really pleased with this, “If only yesterday was the same” said Biggs.
A delighted Peugeot and Peugeot took sixth place. The whole team are so pleased with how this weekend has gone for them.
Another pleased team is Payne and Wilkes, they took seventh place, another great result. Considering they only came to Donington Park two weeks ago to see how they would fare in the championship, four race finishes, and maybe talk about another round later in the year.
Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer took eighth place, they were happy with this, driver Wyssen said after, “We don’t have the pace to stay with the other teams but our suspension and handling is getting better, we will see how we get on next time out”.
Kees Endeveld and Hendrik Crome took ninth place, a better day for the team. They could have not done any better than they did, so they are happy. Driver Endeveld has decided to retire from racing at the end of the year; he has been racing now for 16 years, and wants to spend more time with his young family.
The next round will be in Croatia in a few weeks’ time.
Mark Walters.