The second round of this year’s British F2 Sidecar Championship heads to Oulton Park on the 26th April. The opening races at Brands Hatch three weeks ago saw the usual mix of delight and disappointment. Conrad Harrison/Lee Patterson took the win in race one and with a fourth in the second race, they lead the title chase on 38 points. Conrad and Lee had their best ever championship last season finishing second ahead of Gary Bryan and Jamie Winn. No surprise then that Bryan and Winn lie second on 36 points after a 2nd and 3rd at the Kent track.
Third lies Cheshire’s very own Alan Founds and Tom Peters on 30 points. Alan and Tom were newcomers to the British last year finishing 13th but seventh and second places at Brands were a very impressive start. Don’t expect too much though, despite being local lads this is their racing debut at Oulton. Dean Lindley and Rob Bell also had a rewarding visit to Brands and with 3rd and 6th places lie fourth on 26. In fifth place are the 2012 champions Ian and Carl Bell. A race one ‘mechanical’ was followed by a comfortable win in race two and the Bells will be aiming to treble those 25 points today – after all when the Championship last visited Oulton two years ago, they scored a double victory!
Mention of previous championship races here should include the names of previous winners going back to 1992 when Craig Hallam and Mick Wynn won the championship’s first visit. In 1993 Mick Boddice won to be followed by the multi-TT winner Dave Molyneux in 1994, Pete Hill in the chair. Tom Hanks and Steve Wilson won all five races held in the years 97-99 while Gary Horspole won on three different occasions. John Holden won in 2000 and 2006, Roy Hanks in 2005 while Nick Crowe and Dan Sayle won a great race in 2007. Richard Nelson, Steve Norbury, Simon Neary and Tony Elmer all took a victory here, a veritable who’s who of sidecar racing in the last 20 years.
Last but not least, the F2 Cup is the championship within the championship for the less experienced teams. The afore-mentioned Founds and Lindley both took a class win and second place at Brands and so share the lead with 45 points apiece. Sean Reeves and Ted Hills lie third with 32 points ahead of Dave Lillie/Ben Chandler 26, Tom and Thomas Quaye on 22 with Scott Parnell/Mark Wilkes sixth on 20. So, plenty of top three-wheeled action on what many consider to be the top circuit in the country. Enjoy!
Word by John Newton FSRA Press Officer.
Images by Rt Hon John Mushet.