Sidecar: Harry Payne Fulfills Victory Prediction

Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau won the sprint race on Saturday in Assen. Schlosser/Schmidt finished in second place.

The sprint race of the FIM Sidecar World Championship concluded this Saturday with a British-French winning team. After Harry Payne (Steinhausen Racing / ARS Yamaha) had already hinted beforehand that he might be heading home with a victory this weekend, he made his prediction a reality at the very first opportunity. The Brit started the race from third on the grid and set a strong pace right from the start, allowing him to pass the pole-sitter in the first sector. “Once in the lead, we kept pushing to build a cushion,” Kevin Rousseau described the early stages of the race. The plan worked for a while, but things got tricky again for Harry Payne toward the end of the race. “I had trouble keeping up the pace toward the end and could feel Schlosser right on my tail. We were lucky that we were faster than our pursuers in the final sector, which saved us,” Payne said in the parc fermé, where he and Rousseau were seen celebrating the victory wearing pink wigs.

Markus Schlosser (Team Schlosser/LCR Yamaha) confirmed what Harry Payne had described after the race. “We had a great start and good speed. But in the final sector, he kept pulling a few meters ahead of me, so we just couldn’t get past him,” said Schlosser. Together with co-driver Luca Schmidt, he finished in second place.

Just a week ago, Tom Christie (Hannafin/LCR Yamaha) celebrated his 27th birthday in style in England. A week later, he and his older brother and fellow rider Sam Christie celebrated another podium finish with a third-place result. Starting from third on the grid, they managed to defend their position and leave their pursuers Bennie Streuer/Kevin Kölsch (Team Streuer/ARS Yamaha) behind in fourth place.

Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes (Carl Cox Motorsport/ARS Yamaha) finished fifth. A poor start immediately dropped them a few places back, meaning that while Reeves slowly but surely lost touch with the leading group, he was at least able to hold off Pekka Päivärinta/Adam Christie (Hänni Racing/ARS Yamaha) and Todd Ellis/Emmanuelle Clement (Team Ellis/Clement Racing/LCR Yamaha).

Lukas Wyssen and Ema Salmon (Team Gustoil Sidecar Racing/LCR Yamaha) finished eighth and were lucky to even be able to compete in the sprint race. This followed a collision with Lennard Göttlich and Lucas Krieg (Bonovo Action Junior-Team ADAC Sachsen e.V./ARS Yamaha) during the second qualifying session at noon, in which both passengers were injured and both sidecars were damaged. While Wyssen was able to repair his machine in time for the start and passenger Ema Salmon’s foot injury was not serious, the weekend ended for Göttlich before it had even really begun. Her lap ended in the tire barrier, causing the frame of her sidecar to crack, so the team withdrew from the races early.

Patrick Werkstetter and Valentin Pirat (Team Bonovo Action/Sattler Motorsport/ARS Yamaha) could only watch the race from the pit lane. A clutch failure forced them to return to the pits as early as the formation lap. Despite the help of many people, they were unable to fix the problem in time for the start.

The brothers Sam and Jack Laidlow (Team Laidlow/LCR Yamaha) also had a lucky escape. On the final lap, a riding error caused their sidecar to skid, roll over, and come to rest upside down on the track. The vehicle caught fire, but the track marshals quickly extinguished it. Neither rider sustained serious injuries.

In the IDM Sidecar Championship, Lukas Wyssen and Ema Salmon won the race ahead of Paul Leglise and Marjorie Cescutti (521 Competition/LCR Yamaha) and the father-son team of Ted and Vincent Peugeot (Seventy Four Racing Team/LCR Yamaha).

The action continues with the Sidecar World Championship and the IDM Sidecar class on Sunday at 3:40 p.m. You can watch the action live and for free from home via the livestream at www.idm.de/live.

Results of the FIM Sidecar World Championship, Sprint Race