FIM Sidecar World Championship.
Race one report.
Donington Park.
It was hot! Temperatures in the high twenties, a massive crowd stayed on to watch the first 18 lap race for the FIM Sidecar World Championship.
It might have been a depleted field, but what a show the sidecar teams put on for the spectators.
As the lights went out it was Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries who got the drive from the line with Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement right with them, but going into the first corner Ellis and Clement got the better of Schlosser and Fries and took the lead. Harry Payne and Mark Wilkes were next up with the Christie Brothers Sam and Tom right with them. The Christie boys were certainly on the pipe as they drew up alongside Kershaw and Charlwood on the outside and the two teams could not be separated heading down towards “Craner Curves”. Bennie Streuer and Kevin Kolsch were right in the wheel tracks of Kershaw/Charlwood and Christie/Christie. Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer were next with Rob Biggs and Jake Lowther sticking with them. Kevin Cable and Charlie Richardson were side by side with Rupert Archer and Steve Thomas, with Pierre Leguen and Leopold Rouby next.
Next time round Ellis/Clement led Schlosser/Fries with the Christie Brothers third, Kershaw and Charlwood had the better of Payne and Wilkes in fourth and fifth place, Streuer and Kolsch were sixth.
The top three teams settled down and Ellis and Clement were starting to make a small gap on Schlosser and Fries, who were also making a gap on Kershaw and Charlwood, but this was all to tighten up pretty quick. But still Ellis and Clement were trying to make a break for it. Payne and Wilkes by now had slotted into fourth place with the Christie Brothers next, but again there was nothing in it. Streuer and Kolsch were now locked in battle with Wyssen and Hofer and this was to be a good battle with the two teams swapping places often. Biggs and Lowther were on their own, but they were setting good lap times. Another great battle was going on at the back between Cable/Richardson and Archer/Thomas; again these two teams were swapping places often. Leguen and Rouby were on their own at the back.
At the front the battle raged on with none of the top three teams getting away, they were all evenly matched and as the laps counted down it looked like any one of the three could take the win, the pace was hot.
Payne and Wilkes were in a safe fourth but starting to fall back from the leading three. The Christie Brothers in turn were in a good safe fifth place.
The Wyssen/Hofer, Streuer/Kolsch battle raged on but Wyssen/Hofer were increasingly under pressure from Streuer/Kolsch and it was inevitable that Streuer/Kolsch would pass, but could they make a gap and get away, the answer was yes, a couple of small mistakes from Wyssen/Hofer broke the tow from Streuer/Kolsch and they started to make a gap.
Biggs and Lowther were in a safe eighth but they were starting to slow slightly, there was nothing visible for the team to slow, but they soldered on.
Lap 15 of the race saw Archer and Thomas retire from the race, leaving Cable and Richardson in a safe ninth place, with Leguen and Robuy tenth.
At the end of the race it looked like Schlosser and Fries could make a challenge for the lead and possibly the race win, but Ellis and Clement had everything under control. The team were delighted with their race win and extended their points in the championship. They had no problems throughout the race and will be going for another win in tomorrow’s race. Schlosser and Fries took second place just in front of third place team of Kershaw and Charlwood. All three teams were congratulating each and other on the slowing down lap and waving to the crowd who had just watched a great race. Kershaw and Charlwood were credited with the fastest lap and new lap record, a time of 1:36.282, the team were delighted with this.
Payne and Wilkes took fourth place, driver Payne was suffering from leg cramps, this was the reason for the team falling back on the leaders. This has happened before, so the team is looking into making adjustments, and try to solve this problem.
A great fifth place for the Christie Brothers Sam and Tom, they really enjoyed the race especially mixing it with top teams at the beginning of the race, they are looking forward to tomorrow’s race.
Streuer and Kolsch took a hard fought sixth place, the team were reasonably happy with this, but their machine is suffering from front end handling problems. And they were not so happy with how their engine was performing.
Wyssen and Hofer took seventh place, the team are very happy with this and they enjoyed their battle with Streuer and Kolsch. They had no machine problems and hope for another good day tomorrow.
Biggs and Lowther took eighth, the team had mixed reactions to this result, passenger Lowther really enjoyed his race, but driver Biggs was not so happy, he had big problems with the seating within the fairing of his machine, giving him problems braking and changing gear.
After all their problems at the beginning of the weekend, a great result for Cable and Richardson, they took ninth place. However driver Cable was suffering towards the end of the race, with the team trying to find the problem that plagued them earlier, there was a lot of things getting moved about with their machine, and they were not getting placed in the exact place as before, this was a problem for Cable, but none the less they enjoyed the race.
Tenth place went to Leguen and Robuy, they were happy with this, they had no problems with their machine, but the team were a little nervous when the blue flags were getting waved as the faster teams were bearing down on them as they did not want to interfere or obstruct with their battle. But they enjoyed the race and are looking forward to the race tomorrow.
The second 18 lap race will start at 15.15 local time.