The opening round of this years seven round championship was held at Mepal Motopark near Ely in Cambridgeshire. This was the first time sidecars have ever raced at this sandy circuit and by the end of the three races the 27 crews who entered realised what a challenging circuit it is.
In timed practice Richard Jenkins / Dan Chamberlain posted the quickest time proving that their early season racing in Holland had been a real benefit. Second fastest were Daniel and Joe Millard with defending champions, Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain, third.
The holeshot for the first race was taken by Jenkins / Chamberlain from Millard with Brown third and Stephens / Curnow fourth. After two laps Brown started to pull away from Stephens and at the front Millard started to close on Jenkins. Just before half distance Jenkins made a mistake and Millard and Brown both got past. Millard now started to pull away from Brown but with three laps to go disaster struck Millard when his engine failed. This gifted Brown the lead which he held until the flag with Jenkins finishing second and Stephens third.
Having replaced their engine the Millards were in determined mood as they came to the line for race two. They took the holeshot from Oldfield / Murch with Jenkins third and Etheridge / Humphrey fourth. With the track getting more demanding the Millards really turned the screw and pulled away lap after lap. On lap five Oldfield made a mistake and dropped to fourth place. This promoted Etheridge, who had passed Jenkins on lap 2, to second but on lap seven Jenkins got him back. On the next lap Brown got past Etheridge but at the front Millard had opened up a massive lead and looked set for his first win. With less than half a lap of the race to go the Millard’s engine stopped and they were out of the race. Jenkins took the win from Brown with Etheridge finishing third and Oldfield fourth.
When the riders came to the line for the final leg Millard was missing as there had been insufficient time to replace their engine.
Only 21 riders came to the line for this race and Jenkins shot off the line to take the holeshot from Brown, Etheridge and Stephens. Brown took his chance on the second lap and took the lead and on the following lap France / France overtook Stephens. Just after half distance France overtook Etheridge but on the following lap the roles were reversed. Brown went on to take the win from Jenkins and Etheridge.
Brown now leads the championship by three points from Jenkins with Etheridge third a further sixteen points behind.
The second round in on June 4th at Asham Woods, Leighton and will be hosted by the Frome and DMCC.