FIM Sidecar World Championship
Gamma Racing Day, AssenWith 87,500 sun soaked spectators cramming the grandstands in Assen, a drama filled 17 lap race was about to unfold.
Before the race had started there was drama. 20 sidecars lined up on the grid ready for the lights to go out when waved yellow flags appeared. Jakob Rutz and Thomas Hofer on their “Sidecar- Racing-Team-Rutz” LCR, Yamaha developed an electrical problem, they were to leave the grid and start from pit lane. The 17 lap race was now 16 laps due to the sidecar teams getting one more warm up lap. Rutz and Hofer were to start the race but lasted only 3 laps, the problems they had on the grid had returned.
It was Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze with their “Team E-Aide Motorsport/Remse Racing” LCR, Kawasaki, who were first into the first complex of corners. Right on their tail was Bennie Streuer and Geert Koerts on their “Team Streuer” LCR, Suzuki. Pekka Paivarinta and Kirsi Kainulainen with their “44-Racing” LCR, BMW were shadowing Streuer and Koerts but they had to watchfull of Sebastien Delannoy and Kevin Rousseau on their “Team SAND SEB 72” LCR, Suzuki, they were alongside and would have the better line into the first corner, it turned out good for Paivarinta/Kainulainen though. John Holden and Ashley Hawes on their “John Holden/Barnes Racing” LCR, Suzuki got a good start they were right on the tail of Delannoy/Rousseau. These five teams stayed in these positions for most of the race. On lap seven an incident involving Colin Nicholson and Ilse de Haas on their “RCN Factory Racing” RCN, Yamaha, who were having a good battle with Kees Kentrop and Jeffrey Verhagen on their “Connect Roke Racing Team” LCR, Yamaha and John Smits and Danny de Haas on their “Sidecar Racingteam Smits” RCN, resulting in Nicholson/de Haas, needing medical treatment.
With Reeves and Cluze looking like they were to have another win. There was more drama. On lap ten they were to blow their engine, but this was to cause a fire with their machine. One of the engine conrods had fractured a fuel pipe soaking the machine with fuel which then ignited. This gave Streuer and Koerts the lead in the race. Paivarinta/Kainulainen had also been passed by Delannoy/Rousseau. Delannoy was on the move and he was catching Streuer/Koerts.
On lap eleven of the race the red flags came out due to the Nicholson/de Haas incident and the race was declared.
Streuer and Koerts were to take the race win, and the cheers from the massive crowed proved it was popular win too. The whole team were so pleased with the win, but were concerned about the wellbeing of Nicholson/de Haas. This win puts Streuer/Koerts going to the last two races in Germany leading the championship with 140 points Delannoy/Rousseau were to take second place and they too were really pleased with Delannoy saying “I really like this track I have had some great results here, I was catching Streuer but second place is a great result for us.
Paivarinta/Kainulainen were to take the last podium place, with Paivarinta saying “A good result but I could not keep with Delannoy when he passed us. Also Kirsi did a great job this weekend, she is not one hundred percent fit, what a fighter she is. We are only four points behind Streuer now, and Reeves is eleven points off us. The last two races are going to be hard”. John Holden and Ashley Hawes took fourth place and were so happy with this result with Holden saying “At last, a good result for the team, the season has been bad for us but this is great. We can go to Germany now with some confidence. And I hope we can do the same if not better.
Mike Roscher and Anna Burkard on their “Roscher-Burkard-Penz13 Racing” LCR, BMW were to take fifth place. They had a trouble free race and had a good battle at the start of the race with Smits, Kentrop, and Milan Spendal with FreddyLelubez in the chair on their “Spendal/Remse Racing” LCR, Yamaha. Roscher said after the race. “The bike was good, but I found it spinning a fair bit, but a good result for us, it takes us to fourth in the championship” Smits and de Haas would take sixth place. They were happy with the result and had no problems with their machine throughout the race.
Kentrop and Verhagen were to take seventh place. The team were really happy with this and the whole team said “The bike was good after our problem with the rear wheel bearing in Q2, a great result for all of us”.
A very happy Milan Spendal and Freddy Lelubez took eighth place, with Spendal saying “We had a good start to the race with some good battles but as the race went on we just did not have the speed to keep up with the other teams when they passed us, but we are happy”. Eero Parm and Meius Mairon on their “Parm Racing Team” LCR, Kawasaki took ninth place, they had a trouble free race and Parm said after “This is all good experience for us, some more world points, we will be hoping we can do the same in Germany”
Kees Endeveld and Jeroen Remme took tenth place, a great result for the team with this being their first world championship race. They had no problems with their “Sidecarshop Racing” RSR, Yamaha.
The final two races in the championship will be at Oschersleben in Germany in three weeks and with the championship points table at the top as close as it is, it will be a great weekend.