British Championship Sidecars head to Snetterton This weekend sees the Eastern Airways British F1 Sidecar Championship make its first visit to the all-new Snetterton 300 circuit and with three races in store around the new 2.97-mile layout, some exciting race action lies ahead. The combination of reigning champions Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze is proving to be a tough act to beat and with 5 wins from the 7 races held so far this season, as well as two seconds, they’ve opened up a formidable looking 65 point lead. None of the races have been easy though and they know another tough weekend lies in store. Currently heading the chasing pack are Scott Lawrie and James Neave, the Scottish driver denied his maiden victory last time out at his home event of Knockhill, when clutch problems saw him drop from 1st to 8th in the second half of the race. However, he’s consistently been on the podium this season and will be looking for more of the same this weekend. Reeves and Cluze will also come under severe pressure this weekend from arch rivals Ben and Tom Birchall, the duo returning to the series for the first time since the opening round at Brands Hatch back in April. The Nottinghamshire siblings are currently lying second in the World Championship and will be hoping to again get the better of Reeves and Cluze this weekend. Local hopes lie with Ben Bygrave, the Norwich driver partnered by Calum Lawson, and they’ve got better and better at each round, fourth and fifth last time out clear indication of their progress. Indeed, the duo haven’t been out of the top six in the last three races and have subsequently moved up to 7th in the Championship table so they’ll be looking to challenge further this weekend and, hopefully, grab their first podium. Another crew expected to feature prominently is Barry James/Jamie Winn, the duo having won 2 races but also having posted DNFs in 4 others. Their pace is never in doubt and they’re the only people to have beaten Reeves so if they can sort out their consistency, they could again do so again this weekend. Phil Bell/Ashley Hawes, Roger Lovelock/Charlie Richardson and Roger Lovelock/Rick Lawrence have already stepped onto the podium this season so are more than capable of doing the same again whilst Ben Holland/Lee Watson and Steve Kershaw/Robin Wilson are just two more crews worth keeping an eye on. Saturday’s programme kicks off with practice at 09.00 with qualifying later in the day whilst the first 7-lap Eastern Airways F1 British Sidecar Championship race is scheduled to be race 17 on the busy programme. The action on Sunday again starts at 9.00am with morning warm-up with the two longer races, this time held over 9 laps, set to be races 9 and 19. Current Championship positions (after 3 rounds): 1st Reeves/Cluze 165pts 2nd Lawrie/Neave 100 3rd Bell/Hawes 83 4th Peach/Richardson 80 5th Lovelock/Lawrence 77 6th James/Winn 70 7th Bygrave/Lawson 60 = Holland/Watson 60 9th Birchall/Birchall 40 10th Kershaw/Wilson 37