Birchall Brothers take pole position
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Birchall Brothers take pole position
[Image: birchallsatassen.jpg]

FIM Sidecar World Championship
Assen, Gamma Racing Day, Netherlands


With clear blue skies and rising temperatures, the FIM Sidecar World Championship teams took to the 4.550 Assen circuit for two qualifying sessions. With only a short time between sessions it was a busy time for the teams. Free practice first thing in the morning was a challenge for the teams as the track had very little grip, due to sand on the track. As the session came to an end things were getting a lot better though.

The first qualifying session got under way, and it was Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze on their “The Relocator” LCR, Kawasaki who set the pace with a time of 1:42.361. Both Tim and Gregory found that the track had improved in grip since free practice; both hoped that by the second qualifying session it would be even better so they could set a time that would give them pole position for the race. Only .395 down on Reeves and Cluze was Ben and Tom Birchall on their “Mitchells of Mansfield” LCR, Suzuki. Driver, Ben had surgery to his right hand just before this meeting and is felling a great improvement in the movement with his fingers; he and Brother Tom had a trouble free session and were ready to fight for a fast time for pole position. Local team Bennie Streuer and Geert Koerts were putting their track knowledge to good use, they too had a trouble free qualifying on their “Team Streuer” LCR, Suzuki to set a time of 1:44.673.

“Team Streuer” are having a busy weekend, on Thursday night the team, along with Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze showed off their machines, and did some demonstration laps in the centre of the local town of Assen, to a massive crowed of 20000 spectators, the spectators were entertained to high speed slides, and spins within the towns streets.

A welcome return to the world sidecar class for this meeting is Sebastien Delannoy and Kevin Rousseau on their “Team Sand Seb 72” LCR, Suzuki, they were really pleased how things went for them in qualifying one, and they set a time of 1:45.014, with the team hoping to improve greatly in qualifying two. Uwe Gurck and Manfred Wechselberger set a time of 1:47.090 on their “Polizei Sport Verein Wels” LCR, BMW, things were not good for driver Uwe, he has a stomach bug and he was vomiting during qualifying, he hopes he will shake it off before Q2.

With the sun beaming down, the second qualifying session got under way. As the sidecar teams took to the track it was Ben and Tom Birchall who set the pace, they set a time of 1:42.120 for their pole position, again they had a trouble free session, and look forward to the race. Close on their heels though is Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze who set a time of 1:42.886 for their second place on the front row of the grid, they had a problem in this session though. The team took to the track for a second time in the session to try and get a pole time when their machine started to cough and splutter, on returning to pit lane, the machine stopped. The team found that they had a fuel leak. Reeves and Cluze are still happy with the time they posted despite this setback, and look forward to tomorrow’s race.

Delannoy and Rousseau will finalise the front row of the grid, the very happy team set a time of 1:44.306 for this position. Delannoy and Rousseau are really pleased with how their machine performed and did not have any problems; they too are looking forward to the race.

Heading the second row is Bennie Streuer and Geert Koerts, they are happy with this time of 1:45.526 and hope they can entertain the large spectator audience to what they hope will be another podium place in the race, “It is great to see the spectators cheering for us round the circuit” said Streuer and Koerts. Next to them will be Gurck and Wechselberger, driver Gurck was felling a lot better than he did in the morning qualifying session, they had no problems with their machine and set a time of 1:46.250.

Heading the third row is Dutch team Kees Kentrop and Jeffrey Verhagen on their “Connect Roke Team” LCR, Yamaha; they set a time of 1:47.083, and are happy with the way things are going for them, and looking forward to the race. Next to them and seventh spot on the grid is Petri Makkula and Harri Asumaniemi on their “Team Makkula” LCR, BMW, they set a time of 1:48.070. They however are having a nightmare of a weekend so far. In qualifying one, they had electrical problems; they sorted that only to have fuel problems in qualifying two. The team hope they can get all these problems solved before the race tomorrow. Finalising the third row is Jacob Rutz and Thomas Hofer with a time of 1:48.456 on their “Sidecar Racing Team Rutz” LCR, Yamaha, they hope they can have a good race and get some good points for the championship.

All teams are hoping that the weather stays good for the 17 lap race, which will start at 11.30 am local time.


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03-08-2014, 12:19 PM
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