Josef Sattler or Tim Reeves? Who will take the title? That was the question on everyone’s mind at the Sidecar Festival in Oschersleben, where the IDM Sidecar series wrapped up its season this weekend.
Sattler arrived with an 11-point lead over the British multiple world champion, who had bad luck right at the start of the event during qualifying. A blown valve crippled the Yamaha engine in the Adolf RS sidecar. The result: eighth on the grid and a lot of work in the pits.
Meanwhile, Pekka Päivärinta had secured pole position. Sattler posted the second-fastest time, and in third place was the Finn Juni Manninen, who had his father Tero on board—the 2005 World Championship runner-up.
The Finns briefly led the first race, then it was Sattler’s turn. Anyone who knows Tim Reeves knows that an eighth-place starting position isn’t going to slow him down. The Brit swept through the field like a tornado until he was in the lead. Päivärinta had already crashed out shortly after the start because he’d misjudged his tires. The rain tires were suboptimal at that point. Although he returned to the race, he had no chance of winning and steered the sidecar back to the pits early. But because it started raining again and the Hotel Curve and the chicane were already wet, the race was stopped on the sixth lap. Only half points were awarded.
Reeves triumphed in the second race as well. Behind him, however, Sattler had prevailed after a grueling battle with Päivärinta.
That settled the matter. Josef Sattler and his co-driver Luca Schmidt defended their IDM title. They finished with three more points than their bonovo action teammates Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau.
Pekka Päivärinta and Ilse de Haas finished third overall. Max Zimmermann and Ronja Mahl, in fourth place, managed to overtake Peter Kimeswenger and Ondrej Sedlacek. The Austrian-Czech pair did not compete in the final.