The Place

From Mark Walters


FIM Sidecar World Championship.

Pannonia Ring,

Sprint Race.

The sun was starting to get lower in the sky, it was warm and still as the sidecar teams sat waiting for the lights to go out for the nine lap sprint race.

The long drag down to the first corner, it was Sam and Tom Christie who got a great start from Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau, Markus Schlosser and Luca Schmidt slotted into third with Pekka Paivarinta and Adam Christie next. Tim Reeves and Kevin Kolsch were next up with Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement next, Paul Leglise and Marjorie Cescutti were in behind Ellis and Clement. Lennard Gottlich and Lucas Krieg were just in front of Patrick Werkstetter and Valentine Pirat they were out dragging Rupert Archer and Ondrej Sedlacek down to the first corner. Next up was Markus Venus and Thomas Hofer with Joni and Tero Manninen next, Kevin Cable and Charlie Richardson were at the back.

All the teams round the first corner there was a big dust up into and out of the second corner, the Christie brothers followed by Payne and Rousseau were on their way, but there was tyre smoke and cement dust flying as the next group of sidecar teams jostled for position. Coming off the worst here was Schlosser and Schmidt they were caught up in a sidecar sandwich, there was contact with some teams, but remarkably all teams emerged relatively unscathed, but the big loser was Schlosser and Schmidt they were to come out of the corner with Ellis and Clement and Reeves and Kolsch breathing down their neck. Ellis and Clement did get by then Reeves and Kolsch did too.

The Christie brothers were out in front with Payne and Rousseau second, but Paivarinta and Christie were not letting the two teams in front get away, they were right with them, also Ellis and Clement were in there too they had caught the leading three teams, the race was on at the front!

Reeves and Kolsch were in front of Schlosser and Schmidt but Schlosser/Schmidt were not letting Reeves/Kolsch get away, this was a good battle, with the two teams passing and re passing.

Lap six saw Gottlich and Krieg blow their engine, that was it for them.

At the front the battle between the four leading teams was intense;
Payne and Rousseau were putting pressure on the Christie brothers for the lead, but they were having to defend their position, as Paivarinta and Christie were right on their tail.

Payne and Rousseau did get passed for the lead but the Christie brothers were staying with them, Paivarinta and Christie were holding third from Ellis and Clement in fourth.

Schlosser and Schmidt did eventually get passed Reeves and Kolsch and started to make a gap, but they were not gaining on the leading four teams out in front.

On lap eight the red flags came out the race was stopped. Werkstetter and Pirat had overturned their machine, their machine just let go and that was it for them.

The race was called.

Payne and Rousseau took the win and had the fastest lap of the race a time of 1:56.084, from The Christie brothers with Paivarinta and Christie third, Ellis and Clement were fourth.

Schlosser and Schmidt took fifth with Reeves and Kolsch sixth.
Leglise and Cescutti were seventh with Archer and Sedlacek eighth. Ninth place went to Venus and Hofer with Manninen tenth, and Cable and Richardson eleventh.

Tomorrow there will be a 15 lap race starting at 12.30 local time. Also there will be a 30 minute warm up for the team’s starting at 8am

Gold race provisional

H/K 120
Christie’s 108
M/L 107

Gold race

Race two report and photo from Mark Walters

FIM Sidecar World Championship.

Pannonia Ring,

Gold Race.

It was hot, temperatures in the high 20’s, low 30’s. 15 laps was going to be hard on man and machine, and it was going to be who could preserve their tyres.

Two teams would not start today’s race. Patrick Werkstetter and Valentin Pirat, the other is Lennard Gottlich and Lucas Krieg.

As the lights went out it was Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau who took the lead from Markus Schlosser and Luca Schmidt, Sam and Tom Christie were in third with Pekka Paivarinta and Adam Christie fourth, Tim Reeves and Kevin Kolsch were alongside. Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement were next up with Paul Leglise and Marjorie Cescutti in behind. Rupert Archer and Ondrej Sedlacek, Markus Venus and Thomas Hofer were next up with Kevin Cable and Charlie Richardson just in front of Joni and Tero Manninen.

There was a change heading into turn six, Leglise and Cescutti moved into fifth spot with Reeves and Kolsch sixth, Ellis and Clement seventh.

There was a good battle going on between Reeves/Kolsch and Ellis/Clement, this was to continue for the early stages of the race, the two teams were passing and re passing each another.

Lap one saw Venus and Hofer pull out with a technical problem.

The top four teams kept station, and this was to stay till the end of the race.

Lap five saw Reeves and Kolsch pull off track with mechanical problems.

On lap nine Ellis and Clement lost it and went upside-down, they were both ok but battered and bruised.

Leglise and Cescutti were in a great fifth place and on their own, Archer and Sedlacek were also on their own in sixth place. Cable and Richardson were fending off Manninen.

In the closing stages of the race Leglise and Cescutti lost the front end and went off but they managed to rejoin albeit way down in eighth, this put Archer and Sedlacek up to fifth.

Cable and Richardson lost the front too in the closing stages of the race letting Manninen through, but they still managed to keep in front of Leglise and Cescutti.

It was Payne and Rousseau who took a comfortable race win from the Christie brothers who were just in front of Paivarinta and Christie at the line.

Schlosser and Schmidt took a lonely fourth, a great result for Archer and Sedlacek who were on their own too, they took fifth. Joni and Tero Manninen took a good sixth with Cable and Richardson seventh, Leglise and Cescutti held on to the eighth place.

It was a depleted field but there was some good battles early on in the race.

Next weekend will be the next round in Most, the Czech Republic.