The FIM Sidecar World Championship heads back to Assen in the Netherlands for round six of the Championship. Headlining the increasingly popular event, “The Gamma Race Day”, the sidecars will battle it out again on the 4.542km fast and flowing circuit in the North of Holland.

Last time here, it was Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze who stood on the top spot of the podium, and it was the first race back for the Birchall Brothers Ben and Tom; after their crash at the Isle of Man TT races, they took second spot on the podium. The last round at the Sachsenring saw these positions reversed, with the Birchalls on top with Reeves and Cluze second. It was a great race in Sachsenring, with only 0.145 separating the Birchalls from Reeves and Cluze.

The weekend in Germany was a sombre one though. The racing was overshadowed by the tragic events in qualifying, which resulted in the loss of passenger Enrico Becker, while driver Kurt Hock was admitted to hospital with multiple injuries and in a coma.

Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze will be going to Assen with a 46 point lead in the Championship over the Birchall brothers. Reeves and Cluze have taken their Kawasaki-powered LCR Chassis outfit to four wins in the championship so far. Could this be number five? The pair had some tyre issues in Germany, but they will have it sorted for this weekend, and Reeves and Cluze love racing at this circuit.

Ben and Tom Birchall will be trying to get the top spot on the podium here. After Sachsenring driver Ben was to have another operation to the hand he damaged at the Isle of Man TT races. Although not 100 per cent fit, he has battled through the pain barrier for two great results, a second, and a win. With two weeks since the last race, brothers Ben and Tom will be fighting fit and eager to eat into the 46 point lead built up by Reeves and Cluze.


Third in the championship, Uwe Gurck and Manfred Wechselberger will want to forget all about Sachsenring. After a poor qualifying, they managed to have a good start in the race, moving up to fourth place, but they were to take a DNF when they turned their BMW-powered LCR upside down half-way through the race. They are now 26 points adrift of the second place team in the Championship, and they need to have a good result here in Assen as Jacob Rutz and Thomas Hofer are just 3 points adrift of them in fourth place. Last time here Gurck and Wechselberger had a great fourth place result, and another like it or better would be great for the team’s Championship campaign.

Rutz and Hofer fought hard in Germany for a great fourth place which took them to fourth in the Championship standings. The team will want to put their last time here in Assen out of their minds though; they had a lowly tenth place due to a rear-tyre puncture and were lucky to finish the race. A result like the one in Germany would greatly improve their chances for a top three in the Championship title race.

Only four points separate third and fifth place in the Championship. Mike Roscher and Anna Burkhard are sitting fifth in the Championship standings, having been consistently fast with their LCR chassis BMW, setting the fastest top speed on numerous occasions throughout the season. With both reliability and speed, they can hope for a good result in Assen.

Only four points separate Bennie Streuer and Geert Koerts, in sixth on the leader board, from Roscher and Burkhard. Now, Streuer and Koerts have another chance to stand on the podium in their home country; they were third here last time around, to the jubilation of the Dutch fans, who gave the team a resounding cheer all round the circuit on the slowing down lap. Streuer and Koerts have stood on the podium twice this season, and another podium finish here would move them further up the points table.


Finnish team Petri Makkula and Harri Asumaniemi have had a mixed season so far on their LCR, BMW: the jubilation of two podiums, but two DNF’s too, and one of those was here last time around. Currently sitting seventh in the Championship, the duo will be hoping to get their Championship hopes back on track with a good result here in Assen.

Eighth in the Championship is the French team of Philippe Gallerne and Julien Chesneau. Down on power all season, they have been working away steadily throughout the Championship. They are the only team to be racing an RCN chassis, as all the other teams in the top ten race the LCR.

Let us hope that the weather on Sunday will be kind to the Sidecar teams who will be battling it out over a 17-lap race.



Photos & Text Mark Walters

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