PODIUM FOR BIRCHALL RACING AT RAIN-SOAKED SACHSENRING
Ben and Tom Birchall, Mansfield’s sidecar racing brothers, raced their Mitchell’s of Mansfield sponsored LCR Suzuki through the pouring rain to earn a well-deserved podium place in Sunday’s FIM Superside World Championship race.
For the second time this season, the brothers made the long journey to the 2.281 miles circuit at Sachsenring, Germany, for round four of the World sidecar championship, which was run alongside the German MotoGP.
Friday’s practice was held in warm conditions on a patchy damp track and Ben said “We held pole for most of the time and were quickest in two of the four sectors, but we were pipped to second place in the final part of the session. We have another practice tomorrow, followed by qualifying in the afternoon.”
The qualifying session on Saturday went well for the brothers and they finished up on the front row of the grid, for a third place start, alongside the current world champions.
Commenting afterwards, Ben had this to say “Tom and I are happy with qualifying; there were some pretty close times and we were only a fraction of a second behind the leaders. Everything seems to be working well and we’re both looking forward to the race tomorrow.”
Sunday’s 20-lap race took place after the MotoGP events, in very wet conditions and Ben remarked afterwards, “Despite the soaking wet slippery track, we got a reasonable start and we remained in third place from the lights to the chequered flag. As the track surface was drying, our tyres started to burn up, so I drove a safe race in order to conserve the tyres and finish the race safely!
“Tom and I collected another 16 valuable points for the team, so we retain our fourth place in the World championship and are just seven points behind Delannoy and Cluze.”
Ben and Tom’s next challenge is on August 17 at Rijeka, Croatia, when hopefully they will gain more points and further consolidate their position in the championship!
Link to Birchall Racing website: ~http://www.birchallracing.com~
The FIM World Sidecar website: ~http://www.superside.com/index.html~
More, from a press release issued by Brand X Yamaha:
Brand X Yamaha Third in Class after Tough Endurance Race at Grattan
BELDING, Mich. Brand X Yamaha had a lot working against them last weekend at Grattan Raceway, but they rallied to finish third in Heavyweight Superbike during Saturday’s six-hour Bridgestone/WERA National Endurance Series race.
The event held more than its fair share of challenges for riders Ben Walters and Brett Champagne. During Friday’s practice, Brand X’s backup Yamaha YZF-R1 was crashed, and the crew worked overtime to put it back to rights.
Race day brought rain, but after a soggy practice session the skies cleared and by the time the green flag dropped the track was damp but drying. That made tire selection difficult, and Brand X gambled by mounting a set of slicks.
When Champagne took the start, the gamble seemed to pay off. He hung back in the opening laps, but when a dry line formed the No. 13 Yamaha R1 was one of the fastest bikes on the track. Champagne was holding down second overall and had a one-minute lead in Heavyweight Superbike when disaster struck with 30 laps complete: he crossed a damp sealer strip in a turn and high-sided.
Repairs to the R1 would have been lengthy, so the team opted to re-start the race on their backup bike, reverting to zero laps completed. Throughout the remaining time, Brand X riders set some of the fastest times in their class, moving from 29th to 16th overall and claiming third in class at the checkered flag.
Walters was under the weather all weekend, and at the last minute the team invited Shawn Conrad to substitute if Walters was unable to race. Instead, Conrad rode a stint for Champagne, who badly bruised his right hip and ribs.
“Shawn did a really good job, especially after coming in at the last minute for us,” said Walters. “Once all was said and done, we made up some time and kept up really fast lap times. It would have been a close race if everything had gone according to plan.”
“We did finish the race and still made some points,” said an optimistic Champagne. “We’ve been doing this for 15 years, but we still learn something every weekend. We’ve got a month off now, and we’ll be ready for the next round.”
More information about Brand X Yamaha can be found online at www.BrandX13.com.