Sidecar: Schlosser Defends World Championship Lead with Victory

Just in time for the main race of the FIM/IDM Sidecar Championship, the sun came out on Sunday afternoon in Oschersleben, providing clear visibility. The upcoming 21 laps would determine whether Markus Schlosser and Luca Schmidt (Team Schlosser/LCR Yamaha) would extend their lead in the World Championship or whether Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau (Steinhausen Racing / ARS Yamaha) would reclaim the overall lead following their victory the previous day.

Schlosser started from pole position and initially defended his lead with ease, followed by Payne/Rousseau, Bennie Streuer/Kevin Kölsch (Team Streuer/ARS Yamaha), and Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes (Carl Cox Motorsport/ARS Yamaha). While Schlosser led the field, on the second lap after the start-finish straight, brothers Sam and Tom Christie (Hannafin/LCR Yamaha) attempted to pass Pekka Päivärinta/Adam Christie (Hänni Racing/ARS Yamaha) in the battle for fifth place. But the attempt didn’t go as planned: After a slight contact with the rear of Päivärinta’s bike, the Christies’ sidecar spun out, causing passenger Tom Christie to be thrown from the sidecar and the British duo to land in the gravel trap. He was not injured in the incident.

Meanwhile, Payne continued to put pressure on Schlosser, at times trailing him by as little as 0.152 seconds in the following laps. Schlosser and Schmidt led the field for eight laps until Payne and Rousseau passed them on the inside in the final turn before the start-finish straight—the same spot as the previous day. Until the final lap, the Swiss rider wisely stayed behind the Briton in the battle for the world championship title. “I knew I could pass Harry again. But I wanted to see where his weaknesses were and conserve my equipment. Because tire management is crucial here in Oschersleben,” the Swiss rider explained his tactical approach. On the final lap, however, Payne made a minor driving error coming out of the corner after the start-finish straight, which Schlosser immediately exploited from his slipstream to strike back. “Markus was extremely strong on the brakes and closed every gap. I didn’t have a chance to get past him anymore,” Harry Payne conceded in the parc fermé. Schlosser and Schmidt won the race and have regained the lead in the overall standings with a seven-point advantage.

The battle for third place heated up between Streuer/Kölsch and Reeves/Wilkes. In the first three laps, Streuer managed to keep the British duo behind him. But Reeves found an opening to pass, though not without making contact. Shortly afterward, Reeves was forced to retire from the race due to brake problems. Streuer also failed to finish: The contact with Reeves had caused the fairing on his sidecar to come loose, causing him to end up in the gravel trap later on.

Pekka Päivärinta and Adam Christie benefited from the outcome of the battle, having previously successfully fended off attacks from Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clément (Team Ellis/Clement Racing/LCR Yamaha). Although the Finn was pleased with his podium finish, he hinted that he was unsure how much longer he would continue his career.

With their fifth-place finish, Lukas Wyssen and Ema Salmon (Team Gustoil Sidecar Racing/LCR Yamaha) not only achieved their best result of the season but also, just like the day before, secured victory in the IDM Sidecar class ahead of Sam and Jack Laidlow (Team Laidlow/LCR Yamaha) and Ted and Vincent Peugeot (Seventy Four Racing Team/LCR Yamaha).

The German junior teams also managed to earn valuable World Championship points. Patrick Werkstetter and Valentin Pirat (Team Bonovo Action/Sattler Motorsport/ARS Yamaha) managed to pull ahead of Lennard Göttlich and Lukas Krieg (Bonovo Action Junior-Team ADAC Sachsen e.V./ARS Yamaha) in the final quarter of the race and secured their second-best result of the season with a ninth-place finish. Göttlich and Krieg rounded out the top 10.

In the battle for the world championship title between Schlosser and Payne, everything remains up in the air even after this weekend in Oschersleben. Now there are four long weeks until the grand finale on November 9 and 10 in Estoril, where everything will be decided.

Results of the FIM Sidecar World Championship, Race 2