Markus Schlosser and Luca Schmidt secure their next World Championship victory in the second race in Assen. Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau treated spectators to an impressive comeback.
In the sprint race the day before, Markus Schlosser/Luca Schmidt (Team Schlosser/LCR Yamaha) lost their lead to Harry Payne/Kevin Rousseau (Steinhausen Racing/ARS Yamaha) right after the start, but in today's main race, they didn't let their lead slip away so quickly. On the contrary: the Swiss rider got off to a good start and didn't leave Payne any room to overtake. Schlosser put his foot down and did everything he could to pull away from Payne and the rest of the field as quickly as possible and build up a comfortable lead. This plan worked out thanks to a riding error by Harry Payne, which threw the Brit back to fourth place on the first lap. "It was a perfect start and an optimal opening phase for us today," said Markus Schlosser with satisfaction afterwards. By the fifth lap, his lead had already grown to over 3.5 seconds.
But Harry Payne was far from giving up and staged an exemplary comeback. First, he regained second place by overtaking Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes (Carl Cox Motorsport/ARS Yamaha) at breakneck speed and then immediately leaving Bennie Streuer/Kevin Kölsch behind him. Then he launched his attack and steadily closed the gap on Schlosser. By the penultimate lap, he had fought his way back to within striking distance of Schlosser. "It was brutally hard to close that gap again," Payne said later about his comeback. Now he just had to find a way to get past Schlosser. But the veteran knew how to take up space on the track and defended his lead tooth and nail. In the end, a tiny 0.095 seconds decided Schlosser's victory and Payne's second place. "The track is so fast that tire management was hardly possible here. We had absolutely nothing left on the tires at the end," said Harry Payne at the podium ceremony. Despite narrowly missing out on victory, they were satisfied with the points they earned in the fight for the world championship title.
Bennie Streuer and Kevin Kölsch (Team Streuer/ARS Yamaha) can celebrate Kölsch's birthday today, as he turns 27 on Monday. After a difficult last year, in which they had to accept many failures, they finally stood on the podium again today and secured third place.
The Christie brothers, Sam and Tom (Hannafin/LCR Yamaha), finished fourth. Behind them were Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement (Team Ellis/Clement Racing/LCR Yamaha), who fought hard to fend off attacks from Pekka Päivärinta and Adam Christie (Hänni Racing/ARS Yamaha).
Seventh place went to Frenchmen Ted and Vincent Peugeot (Seventy Four Racing Team/LCR Yamaha), who also won the IDM classification and further extended their lead in the German championship standings. Second place went to Rupert Archer/Thomas Hofer (Hannafin/LCR Yamaha), followed by Paul Leglise/Marjorie Cescutti (521 Competition/LCR Yamaha).
Patrick Werkstetter (Team Bonovo Action/Sattler Motorsport/ARS Yamaha) once again failed to see the checkered flag today. After a minor collision, the sidecar's fairing came loose, prompting race officials to display the "fried egg" flag. Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes also ended their race in lap nine due to technical problems. Lukay Wyssen and Ema Salmon (Team Gustoil Sidecar Racing/LCR Yamaha) retired after an accident in the second lap.
Results FIM Sidecar World Championship, Race 2
- SCHLOSSER / SCHMIDT (SUI/GER)
- PAYNE / ROUSSEAU (GBR/FRA)
- STREUER / KÖLSCH (NLD/DEU)
- CHRISTIE / CHRISTIE (GBR/GBR)
- ELLIS / CLÉMENT (GBR/FRA)
- PÄIVÄRINTA / CHRISTIE (FIN/GBR)
- PEUGEOT / PEUGEOT (FRA/FRA)
- ARCHER/HOFER (GBR/CHE)
- LEGLISE / CESCUTTI (FRA/FRA)
- BIGGS / SEGERS (GBR/NLD)