The ACU British Track Racing Championships makes a triumphant return this weekend at Peterborough with a double header of action. After a year away from the calendar, the unique championship, which brings together sidecar racers from Grasstrack and Speedway, returns to the East of England Showground as part of the BMF Motorcycle Show; a chance to show the sport off to a potential crowd of over 40,000.
The racing begins on Saturday at 11:45 with the first round of the season long tournament. This will be the first time for a long time that Britain’s top sidecar crews have clashed on shale. The shale itself will cause some interest, with the circuit beginning the weekend with plenty of material on the racing surface. This should aid some of the Grasstrack outfits, who are always on the back foot against purpose-built, suspension-less speedway outfits. As the track grows slicker, look for the speedway outfits to really come into their own.
A big attraction of the meeting is sure to be current British Sidecar Speedway and Grasstrack champions Mark Cossar and Carl Blyth. Mark returns to the UK Speedway having taken on the World’s best in Australia. He managed to get on the pace with the antipodeans, scoring a huge win at the final round of the Grand Slam event. After his exploits on the shale Down Under, he surely starts favourite for defending his title. The other crews will definitely not see it that way.
At the beginning of May, a fleet of outfits raced at a speedway meeting in the Netherlands and it was Sidecar Speedway specialists Richard Moore and Rob Winspear who came out on top, scoring a welcome victory over Cossar and Blyth. Team Skeleton are one of the only ‘Speedway only’ crews amongst the field and are definitely well within the favourites.
Another crew to have had a ‘working’ holiday racing sidecars in Australia are Mick Cave/Ben Goddard. Ben has sadly decided to miss the season out after an injury sustain in an horrific crash in Australia but Mick will compete once again in the series. ‘Cavey’ caused a few upsets Down Under and surprised many with his pace and track craft. He has been racing Sidecar speedway for a long time and can never be counted out.
The last of the British drivers to have spent some winter time Down Under is Cornishman and former British Champion Matt Tyrrell. He will be joined by his regular passenger Mark Courtney. They have shown on countless occasions that they are able to beat the best on the speedway. They too mainly concentrate on the Speedway these days, although both hold a strong Grasstrack pedigree.
Talking of Grasstrack pedigree, an exciting returnee to the bars this year will be young Yorkshireman Gareth Winterburn. After a patchy 2013, Gareth returns to both Grasstrack and Speedway in a determined mood. He has already expressed his intent for glory this season by winning a recent Grasstrack held by Wainfleet. Gareth will be joined by his younger brother Billy, who has very quickly become a good young passenger.
Paul Whitelam is another name to pick out of the lineup. The former British Masters champion has always gone well on the speedway, although the big titles have, until now, eluded him. Perhaps 2014 could be a year where everything comes together for him.
British Champions seem to be in abundance for this years’ championship, and this crew have more than anyone else. Record breaking seven-time British Champions Shaun Harvey and Danny Hogg are used to turning left at the end of the straights, on board a continental style 500cc sidecar, but they have turned their attention to Sidecar Speedway for the Track Racing Championships. This won’t be the first time that this highly decorated crew have forayed into Sidecar Speedway; they raced at Peterborough on the championship’s last visit to the venue, and even chalked up a win. They will be a crew that many Grasstrack fans will watch with great interest.
As for the rest; the beauty of sidecar speedway is that any crew could ‘pop’ out of the gate and cause an upset. Joe Sturtridge/Nick Dimente, Robbie Wilson/Bradley Steer and Will Offen/Nicky Owen are primarily Grasstrack riders. But they are all capable riders, and with Wilson/Steer mounted on a former world-beating Darrin Treloar outfit, they could turn out to be a dark horse for the title.
There will be plenty of other crews who have concentrated their efforts on Sidecar Speedway and will be mounted on purpose built speedway machines. Tris Winterburn rode well to claim a terrific third place in The Netherlands recently. He will be joined by another long distance winter traveller, Daz Whetstone, who spent the winter passengering for Mark Cossar. Another to show well at the Roden circuit in The Netherlands was young crew Phillip Wynn/George Moore.
The unique aspect of the weekend is that, after the dust settles on Round 1 of the championships, the following day it all begins again. Round 2 is due to be held the very next day. This means that riders can get plenty of experience on the speedway done in just one weekend. The racing is sure to be fast and furious.
The BMF itself provides an excellent backdrop to the championship. It is an annual Bike show, providing stunt shows, auto-jumbles and plenty of other forms of entertainment. The championship is, once again, getting off with a bang.