FIM Sidecar World Championship.
Round Three,
Sachsenring, Germany. Preview.
The last time the FIM World Sidecar Championship raced at the former East German circuit in the state of Saxony was in 2014.
In 1927, the first race was held on an 8.7km public roads circuit, and the venue was dubbed “Sachsenring” in 1937. Between 1962 and 1971 the East German Motorcycle Grand Prix was held here, and when West German racer Dieter Braun won the East German race in 1971, thousands of fans sang the West German national anthem as he stepped on the podium. After that, entries were limited to east Europeans only.
In 1990, with western machinery becoming faster, racing through the village of Hohenstein-Emsthal was considered too dangerous. However, as part of the redevelopment of Eastern German infrastructures in the new unified Germany, a new 2.9km short circuit was built in the 1990’s. In 1998 the German Motorcycle Grand Prix was moved from the Nurburgring to the Sachsenring, now a faster 3.670km circuit which runs in an anticlockwise direction. As the venue is well known for its party atmosphere and large spectator attendances, this will be a great weekend for racing.
At the last round in the Slovakia Ring, the World Championship sidecar teams put on a great show for the spectators. The Gold Race saw the top four teams battle for the full 13 laps, swapping places all through the race.
Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes will be arriving here at the Sachsenring in a confident frame of mind. They lead the championship with 70 points. The team came back to the championship with an all-new “Adolf RS” chassis powered by the 600 Yamaha. The team is really happy with how things have gone so far and to be leading the championship so early in the year.
In second place in the championship is duo Pekka Paivarinta and Jussi Veravainen. They too are really happy. Passenger Veravainen got a whiff of the sweet smell of success when they took the top spot of the podium in Slovakia Ring by winning the Sprint Race. They will be looking for more success in Germany. And as at the Slovakia Ring, there will be two races here in the Sachsenring so a lot of points can be had over the weekend.
Current champions Ben and Tom Birchall are sitting in third place at the moment. They will be going all out the have a good weekend. In Slovakia Ring the Brothers had some electrical problems that left them well down the field in the Sprint race. Then contact with another team saw the brothers make repairs in pit lane before returning to the race, and salvaging some valuable points for their championship campaign.
The Swiss pairing of Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer find themselves coming to the Sachsenring in fourth place in the championship. Consistency has contributed to their championship so far.
The British pairing of Alan Founds and Tom Christie had a good weekend in Slovakia Ring, standing on the third spot of the podium in the Sprint race. And a good run during the Gold race which saw them battling hard with Wyssen and Hofer would end up with the pair finishing in sixth place.
Bennie Streuer and Kevin Rousseau were in the front group battling for the win during the Gold race at the Slovakia Ring. This was just what the team wanted as they had a DNF at the first round at Le-Mans France. They got their confidence back after the good race last time out and are currently sitting sixth in the championship.
Slovenian Janez Remse and his Irish passenger Eamon Mulholland have had a good start to their season. Another team who have been consistent so far in the championship, they have had good battles during the races so far. If it were not for a slipping clutch during the Gold race in Slovakia ring they could have been further up the championship board. They are sitting on equal points with former Champion Streuer
and his French passenger Rousseau.
Sam and Adam Christie must be very happy with how the season has gone so for far them. They have certainly made the other teams sit up and take notice. Consistently great qualifying times and good solid race results have had the team on a high. Unfortunately for the team though, a mechanical DNF during the Gold race at the last round was to put a sore dent in their championship campaign. Sachsenring will be another new circuit for the young “Rookie” Team.
This round in Germany will be the first of “back to back” rounds. The next two weekends will see the sidecar teams battle over four races.
There will be a 12 lap Sprint race on the Saturday and a 19 lap Gold Race on Sunday. Both races will start at 14:00 local time.
Mark Walters