Todd Ellis and Emanuelle Clement won the sprint race in the second round of the FIM Sidecar World Championship in Spa, Belgium. The defending champions won a lively race ahead of brothers Ben and Tom Birchall and eight-time world champion Tim Reeves and his passenger Mark Wilkes.
Who can stop the Birchall brothers? That was the question before the sidecar race, for which Ellis/Clement had secured pole position in qualifying. The Birchalls – with the only Honda engine at the start – had won everything there was to win at the season opener at the Sachsenring. But today at Spa, they found their conquerors in the British-French duo, with the battle for victory only finally decided in the last of seven laps. Until then, there were several changes of lead between the frontrunners. Birchall/Birchall had just overtaken Ellis/Clement when the order was reversed again. It was so exciting that Ellis' mother enthusiastically wrote in the live chat during the race: "Well done, Todd and Manu." The gap at the finish line was only 0.189 seconds!
The battle for third place was a heated contest between Sam Christie/Tom Christie, Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes, and Stephen Kershaw/Ryan Charlwood. This showed that sidecar racing is a contact sport. Reeves and Kershaw fought fairing to fairing for third place, with Kershaw taking advantage of any gaps that opened up. Reeves drew on all his experience and drove at full throttle to take third place on the podium.
From the German perspective, things could hardly have gone better for Josef Sattler/Luca Schmidt on their first appearance at Spa. Finishing eighth in the race, they came in ahead of their closest rivals Ted Peugeot and Vincent Peugeot, and also ahead of Bennie Streuer/Kevin Kölsch in the internal team duel. Sattler started from ninth place after a mixed qualifying session. "We had a few problems with the fuel foam at first," said the Bavarian, "after two or three laps, the engine was misfiring and the fuel was too lean. But we've got that under control now."
The main race will take place tomorrow, Saturday, at 10:30 a.m. and can be followed via livestream at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSQyH3ESLH4.
Sprint race results:
1. Todd Ellis (GBR)/ Emanuelle Clement (FRA)
2. Ben Birchall (GBR) / Tom Birchall (GBR)
3. Tim Reeves (GBR)/ Mark Wilkes (GBR)
4. Sam Christie (GBR)/ Tom Christie (GBR)
5. Stephen Kershaw (GBR)/ Ryan Charlwood (GBR)
6. Pekka Päivärinta (FIN)/ Ilse de Haas (NLD)
7. Harrison Payne (GBR)/Kevin Rousseau (FRA)
8. Josef Sattler (DEU)/Luca Schmidt (DEU)
9. Ted Peugeot (FRA)/Vincent Peugeot (FRA)
10. Bennie Streuer (NLD)/Kevin Kölsch (DEU)
World Championship Sidecar: Ellis/Clement launch counterattack as defending champions
Todd Ellis and Emanuelle Clement won the sprint race at the second round of the FIM Sidecar World Championship in Spa, Belgium. The defending champions won a lively race ahead of brothers Ben and Tom Birchall and eight-time world champion Tim Reeves and his co-rider Mark Wilkes.
Who can stop the Birchall brothers? That was the question before the sidecar race, for which Ellis/Clement had secured pole position in qualifying. The Birchalls – with the only Honda engine on the grid – had won everything there was to win at the season opener at the Sachsenring. But in Spa today, they found their conqueror in the British-French duo, with the battle for victory only finally decided in the last of seven laps. Until then, there were several changes in the lead between the front runners. Birchall/Birchall had just passed Ellis/Clement when the order was reversed again. It was so exciting that Ellis' mother wrote enthusiastically in the live chat during the race: "Well done, Todd and Manu." The gap when they crossed the finish line was only 0.189 seconds!
The battle for third place was a heated one between Sam Christie/Tom Christie, Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes, and Stephen Kershaw/Ryan Charlwood. Here it became apparent that sidecar racing is a contact sport. Reeves and Kershaw fought fairing to fairing for third place, and Kershaw in turn took advantage of gaps that opened up. Reeves played out all his experience here and rode full speed to third place on the podium.
From the German perspective, things could hardly have gone better for Josef Sattler/Luca Schmidt on their first appearance at Spa. They finished eighth in the race ahead of their immediate rivals Ted Peugeot and Vincent Peugeot and also ahead of Bennie Streuer/Kevin Kölsch in the team-internal duel. Sattler started from ninth place after a mixed qualifying session. "At first we had a few problems with the tank foam," explains the Bavarian, "after two or three laps the engine misfired and the fuel was too lean. But we've got that under control now."
The main race takes place tomorrow, Saturday, at 10:30 a.m. and can be followed via livestream at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSQyH3ESLH4.
Sprint race results:
1. Todd Ellis (GBR)/ Emanuelle Clement (FRA).
2. Ben Birchall (GBR) / Tom Birchall (GBR)
3. Tim Reeves (GBR) / Mark Wilkes (GBR)
4. Sam Christie (GBR)/ Tom Christie (GBR)
5. Stephen Kershaw (GBR) / Ryan Charlwood (GBR)
6. Pekka Päivärinta (FIN)/ Ilse de Haas (NLD)
7. Harrison Payne (GBR)/Kevin Rousseau (FRA)
8. Josef Sattler (DEU)/Luca Schmidt (DEU)
9. Ted Peugeot (FRA)/Vincent Peugeot (FRA)
10. Bennie Streuer (NLD)/Kevin Kölsch (DEU)