As the sidecar teams took to the track, once again drama for Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood. They were pushed back into pit lane by Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer on the sighting lap. The drive chain on their machine had broken. The team worked franticly on the machine to try and get on the grid for the warm up lap. This was not to be, it would be a race start for the team from pit lane.
As the lights went out it was Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau who slotted into first spot, a great start from the team, who once again were pushed back to the pit during warm up in the morning, they had cooling problems, the team had to work fast to rectify this problem before the race.
Pole sitter Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries slotted into second spot with Pekka Paivarinta and Ilse de Haas in third spot. Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement were in fourth place. Josef Sattler and Luca Schmidt were in fifth.
Peter Kimeswenger and Kevin Kolsch had a spin in the second corner on lap one but were able to regroup and continue.
Kershaw and Charlwood were trailing at the back; they were not going full gas until they knew their tyres were up to temperature, and checking that their drive chain was all ok.
The first lap saw, Reeves/Rousseau and Schlosser/Fries jostling for the first place, by the end though it was Reeves/Rousseau who came out on top.
The top five teams were to battle it out for the whole 15 lap race, there was no passing going on but the pace was fast and it was like a freight train.
Kershaw and Charlwood were now back in the groove, they were pushing hard and making their way up the field. They caught up with Kees Endeveld and Hendrik Crome who were having a good battle with Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer just like the race yesterday. It was a few laps before Kershaw and Charlwood got passed but once they did they started chasing down the top five teams.
Peter Kimeswenger and Kevin Kolsch were out on their own in the race but were setting consistent lap times.
Janez Remse and Manfred Wechselberger were out on their own too.
Kevin Cable and Kyle Masters were in eleventh place, they were happy to get a race start, they had electrical problems yesterday, so to get racing was good for them.
By half distance in the race, Reeves and Rousseau were making a small gap from Schlosser and Fries but it was a tyre game again. Paivarinta and De Haas were sticking with Schlosser/Fries as was Ellis and Clement with Paivarinta/De Haas. Sattler and Schmidt were in a safe fifth place but were in touch to pick up the pieces if any team in front made a mistake.
In the final stages of the race it was looking like Schlosser/Fries were close enough to make a move on Reeves and Rousseau, a couple of times you could see Schlosser show Reeves the nose of his machine, but Reeves knew Schlosser was right with him. Paivarinta and De Haas were getting a bit of pressure from Ellis and Clement in the final stages of the race too.
As the chequred flag came out it was an overjoyed Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau who narrowly took the win from Markus Schlosser, only 0.052 separated the two teams.
Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement just managed to pass Pekka Paivarinta and Ilse de Haas for the third place on the run to the line.
Another solid result for Josef Sattler and Luca Schmidt, fifth place was good for the team and after all the trouble they had at the beginning of the weekend a great result.
What a weekend for Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood!! But their sixth place result today is good for the team. In the final stages of the race the team knew they could not catch the leading five teams so they rode a fast but steady race.
Like yesterday Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer were locked in battle with Kees Endeveld and Hendrik Crome, but it was Wyssen and Hofer that turned the tables, they took seventh place with Endeveld/Crome eighth.
Like yesterday’s race, another lonely race for the ninth place team of Peter Kimeswenger and Kevin Kolsch, they were happy with this after their second corner spin.
Janez Remse and Manfred Wechselberger took tenth place, the team were happy with this but also thought they could have been better, but none the less a finish and championship points.
Kevin Cable and Kyle Masters took eleventh place. They were happy with this as it was their first time racing at this level, and the team was not 100% sure if they had solved the electrical problem that plagued them throughout the weekend.
There will be no rest for the sidecar teams as they are heading to Donington Park in England to join World Super Bikes next weekend.
Mark Walters