Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood won Saturday's sprint race in Oschersleben. Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement finished in second place. Sam and Tom Christie secured the third spot on the podium.
The first race of the FIM/IDM Sidecar series in Oschersleben was called off as early as the second lap following a collision between the teams of Max Zimmermann/Ronja Mahl (Zimmermann Racing/ARS Yamaha) and John Holden/Ferry Segers (Barns Racing/ARS Yamaha). Both teams received medical attention, and after a little over an hour, a restart was scheduled for the full distance of twelve laps.
Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood (Kershaw Racing/LCR Yamaha) took the lead right after the start, followed by Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau (Steinhausen Racing/ARS Yamaha) as well as Ben and Tom Birchall (Wyckham Blackwell by Birchall/LCR Honda). However, the Birchall brothers put pressure on Payne, causing him to brake too late on the second lap and run off the track. Ben Birchall then moved up to third place, while Harry Payne was at least able to rejoin the race further back in the field.
But there was no getting past Stephen Kershaw in this race. Not even the strong wind, with some fierce gusts, could slow the Brit down. He won the first race in commanding fashion. “We didn’t expect things to go so well for us here in Oschersleben, since we’ve always struggled here in recent years,” Kershaw said after the award ceremony, adding, “The wind was definitely a challenge, but it was a lot of fun.” This marks the British team’s first victory of the season.
Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement (Team Ellis/Clement/LCR Yamaha) secured second place. However, they didn’t have a chance to catch up to Kershaw because there simply wasn’t enough time. “After the long break before the restart, we didn’t quite find our rhythm at first, and by the time we did, we didn’t have enough laps left to pose a threat to Kershaw,” Emmanuelle Clement said, summarizing the race. With their second-place finish, they nevertheless secured important points in the fight for the championship.
Sam and Tom Christie (Hannafin Racing/LCR Yamaha) took third place. For a long time, they were stuck behind their rivals, the Birchall brothers—Tom and Ben—and couldn’t find an opening to pass. On the penultimate lap, however, Sam Christie saw his chance: “There were sections where we were simply faster, which is why we were able to apply more and more pressure,” Sam Christie said, describing the race. He seized the right moment to pass Ben Birchall. Harry Payne also benefited from this pass; by that point, he had fought his way back up the field and, shortly afterward, passed the Birchall brothers as well. Payne and Rousseau finished the race in fourth place, while the Birchall brothers had to settle for fifth.
The action continues on Sunday afternoon with the second race at 2:05 p.m. The race will be streamed live for free at www.idm.de/live.
FIM Sidecar, Sprint Race:
- Stephen KERSHAW/Ryan CHARLWOOD (GBR)
- Todd ELLIS/Emmanuelle CLEMENT (GBR/FRA)
- Sam CHRISTIE/Tom CHRISTIE (GBR)
- Harry PAYNE/Kevin ROUSSEAU (GBR/FRA)
- Ben BIRCHALL/Tom BIRCHALL (GBR)
- Tim REEVES/Mark WILKES (GBR)
- Pekka PÄIVÄRINTA/Ilse DE HAAS (FIN/NLD)
- Ted PEUGEOT/Vincent PEUGEOT (FRA)
- Lennard GÖTTLICH/Uwe NEUBERT (GER)
- Rupert ARCHER/Adam CHRISTIE (GBR)
All other results are available here.