Reeves and Hawes Victorious in Wet

What a difference two hours can make, dry track for qualifying two, then the rain came. A rain drenched track greeted 19 teams for 11 laps on the 3.805 km, in the first race in Schleiz (Germany), in the FIM Sidecar World Championship. The teams all came to the grid after their sighting lap, due to the conditions all teams were given two warm up laps. As the lights went out, it was Tim Reeves and Ashley Hawes who got a great start on their "The Relocator" LCR Suzuki, with Jorg Steinhausen and Gregory Cluze, Steinhausen Racing, LCR, BMW, right in the wheel spray from Reeves, Pekka Paivarinta and Adolf Hanni, Team Suzuki Finland, LCR Suzuki, were right with Steinhausen too. Just behind them were Ben and Tom Birchall, Mitchells of Mansfield, LCR Yamaha, running side by side with Josef Moser and Daniel Evenson, Team Tirol, LCR Suzuki, with Markus Schlosser and Thomas Hofer, Team Schlosser, LCR Suzuki, nipping inside Kurt Hock and Enrico Becker, Hock Racing, LCR Suzuki. As the first lap finished it looked if it was going to be a bit of a procession to the chequered flag as all the front teams seemed to be well spaced out and not making any headway to the team in front. By lap six though there was an incident on turn three with Stefan Kiser and Manuel Hirschi, Sidecar Racing Team Kiser, LCR Suzuki, which brought the yellow flags out, they were to rejoin the race and finish, but two laps down. Steinhausen and Cluze started to catch Reeves and Hawes and were making good lap times even in the wet. Michael Grabmuller and Manfred Wechselberger, Delta Racing, LCR Kawasaki, were making good ground on Schlosser and Hofer and were to get the better of them and cross the line in seventh place with Schlosser eighth. Ninth and tenth places were taken by two Dutch teams, ninth was Kees Kentrop and Gerard Daalkuizen, Cennect Roke Sidecar Racing, LCR Yamaha, and tenth by Bennie Streuer and Kees Endeveld, Streuer Racing, LCR Suzuki. On lap eight Paivarinta and Hanni were to run off the track going into the first corner, this lost them time and let the Birchall Brothers Ben and Tom through to third place and Hock and Becker were to follow, Paivarinta and Hanni rejoined the race just in front of Moser and Evenson who were to cross the line in sixth place. Paivarinta and Hanni finished in fifth place with Hock and Becker in fourth. Ben and Tom Birchall took third spot on the podium with Steinhausen and Cluze second, Reeves and Hawes led the race from start to finish and will do their Championship lead no harm at all with this win. Tomorrow will be a 22 lap race and all teams will be hoping for dry conditions. Text and pictures Mark Walters

Source: http://www.fim-live.com/en/media/news/news-detail/article/1342884416-reeves-and-hawes-victorious-in-wet/

George Holland Yves Demaria Steven Frossard Tyla Rattray