With the weather dry, bright, but windy, the lights went out and it was Markus Schlosser and Thomas Hofer on their “Sidecar Racing Team Schlosser” LCR, Suzuki who got the hole shot into the first corner, right on his tail was Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze on their “Remse Racing Team” LCR, Yamaha, Pekka Paivarinta and Kirsi Kainulainen on their “44-Racing” LCR, BMW were sitting third with John Holden and Stuart Ramsey with their “Sillicone/Barnes Racing” LCR, Suzuki, fourth.

Reeves and Cluze followed by Paivarinta and Kainulainen managed to overhaul Schlosser and Hofer and started to make a brake for it.  Schlosser and Hofer were under pressure from Sean Hegarty and James Neave with their “Hegarty Racing” LCR, Suzuki, who managed to get by Holden and Ramsey.  Reeves and Cluze were having a great battle for the lead with Paivarinta and Kainulainen.  When on lap four the red flags came out for an incident involving Tomas Axelsson and Artis Neilands on their “Sidecarracingteam 669” ART, Suzuki.

The restarted race was over 14 laps. And once again it was Schlosser/Hofer who got the hole shot into turn one followed by Holden/Ramsey with Paivarinta/Kainulainen right on their tails, with Reeves/Cluze fourth.  Sebastien Delannoy and Kevin Rousseau on their “Team Sand Seb 72” LCR, Suzuki slotted into fifth, with Ben and Tom Birchall with their “Birchall Racing” LCR, Honda, sixth.

Schlosser/Hofer were increasingly under pressure from Paivarinta/Kainulainen for the lead.  When Paivarinta/Kainulainen got passed they started to make a brake, and opened up a good lead over Schlosser/Hofer. Third place, Reeves/Cluze was under pressure of losing their third place to Holden/Ramsey who were closely followed by Delannoy/Rousseau.

Half way through the race it was still Paivarinta/Kainulainen leading Schlosser/Hofer.  Reeves and Cluze lost third to Holden/Ramsey who were followed by Delannoy/Rousseau.  Reeves and Cluze were now getting pressure from the Birchall Brothers who showed their nose a couple of times to Reeves/Cluze, but Reeves and Cluze had the power to stay in front.  It was obvious that Reeves and Cluze were having problems.  

By the end of the race the Birchall Brothers managed to overhaul Reeves/Cluze for fifth place overall in the race, but again taking the win in the FIM Sidecar F2 World Trophy.  Second place in the F2 World Trophy went to Michael Grabmuller and Sophia Kichhofer on their “Polizeisportverein Wels Delta Racing Team” LCR, Yamaha.  They managed to get their machine running well after all the problems they had throughout qualifying and in the “Sprint Race”.  The team were really happy with the result.  Third place would go to Gunther Bachmaier and Manfred Wechselberger on their “MSV-Schwanenstadt/PSV-Wels” LCR, Suzuki.  They were also really happy with how the weekend went went for them, two times on the podium.

By the end of the race Schlosser/Hofer managed to get past Paivarinta/Kainulainen and made a break for it.  Paivarinta/Kainulainen did not have any answer to the fast charging Schlosser/Hofer, who would take the chequered flag for their second win over the weekend.  Paivarinta/Kainulainen took second place and were really happy with the result, even though it looked like they could have stood on the top spot of the podium.

Third place went to Delannoy/Rousseau who managed to get by Holden/Ramsey.  Holden/Ramsey looked like they were heading for third but got held up by some back markers, and it was during this that Delannoy/Rousseau managed to make the move on Holden/Ramsey.  Delannoy and Rousseau were so pleased with the result, but Delannoy knew the luck was in his hands.  Holden and Ramsey took fourth and despite missing out on a podium, they were still happy with the result.

Reeves and Cluze would take sixth overall in the race but fifth in the FIM Sidecar World Championship class, behind the Birchall Brothers.  Not the result they wanted after their lowly result in the “Sprint Race”. Bennie Streuer and Geert Koerts would take seventh overall, but sixth place in the FIM Sidecar World Championship class on their “Team Streuer” LCR, Suzuki.  Driver Streuer had a problem with his foot, after getting hit by a stone, he would go to get it checked, just in case there would be a broken bone in his foot. Jakob Rutz and Marcel Fries would take eighth overall, seventh in the FIM Sidecar World Championship class, on their “Sidecar-Racing-Team-Rutz” LCR, Yamaha.  The team were happy with this result

Ninth place overall would go to Mike Roscher and Anna Burkard on their “Roscher-Burkard Penz 13 Racing” LCR, BMW.  The pair were happy with this result, and hope they can do the same next weekend in Hungary. The next round of the FIM Sidecar World Championship and the FIM Sidecar F2 World Trophy will be held next weekend 25th/26th June, at the 4.740km Pannonia Ring in Hungary, where there will be two more races.







Mark Walters