Sidecar up for final round

The final round of the FIM Sidecar World Championship is heading to the famous circuit of Le Mans in France. There will be one 18 lap race on the “Bugatti” circuit which runs in a clockwise direction and is 4.185 km long. It looks like the championship is going to go to Pekka Paivarinta and Adolf Hanni, who are sitting with 186 points. If they do it would be Pekka’s fourth title and Adolf’s third. But in racing you never know! Closest to them is Ben and Tom Birchall, who have been dominant in the last six races, they have won all six, had pole positions and lap records. Since the last round in Germany, they were competing in a round of the British championship where they had an accident and have had to have repairs to their machine, could this affect their preparation for this race, they are sitting with 166 points, 20 points adrift of Paivarinta and Hanni. Third in the championship with 158 points are Jorg Steinhausen and Ashley Hawes. Jorg and Ashley were disappointed after the last round in Germany, saying that they lost the championship there. They could still get second spot in the championship with a good result in Le Mans; they are only eight points behind the Birchall brothers. Sitting fourth in the championship, and their first full season, is Scott Lawrie and James Neave, they have 108 points. This is another new circuit for the team, so they will have to get another good result here to stay fourth, they can’t get into the top three now, but they will have to watch as fifth in the championship is Kurt Hock and Enrico Becker, they are 15 points behind on a total of 93. Kurt and Enrico have had a torrid start to the season but have regrouped and had good results in the last few rounds. Hock and Becker have had good results in Le Mans in the past and like the circuit. With 73 points and sixth in the championship are Michael Grabmuller and Manfred Wechselberger. They have had some mechanical problems the last two rounds and have had to fight hard to get points. They will need to fight for the sixth position though as Petri Makkula and Timo Karttiala are only 5 points behind them with a total of 68, in seventh. These two teams will need to watch out though as the young Dutch team of Bennie Streuer and Geert Koerts have been steadily getting good results and good points for their championship. They have 66 points, only 2 off Makkula and 7 points off Grabmuller. The 18 lap race will be on Saturday, and a large crowed is expected. All teams will be hoping the weather will be kind to them for the last race in the 2013 championship.