Wednesday April 13, 2011 at 9:23am
Round 1 Maxxis British Sidecarcross championships
Finally the long winter period of no racing was over and the 2011 Maxxis championship started in fine style at a brand new venue, Wooley Grange, in the North East.
There had been concerns before the event that the track would not be suitable but on arrival it was obvious that the North East Motocross club had worked extremely hard in preparing a track that should produce good racing. Also the overall presentation of the track was excellent with numerous banners, flags and clear signage that were in keeping with a championship event
The first race got under way on time at 10.30 with Brown / Chamberlain taking the holeshot from Etheridge / Humphrey with Daniel & Joe Millard and Andy & Tim Breacher tucked in behind. Millard was very quickly on the back wheel of Etheridge but whilst they were fighting for second place Brown was opening up a gap over them. On the second lap Millard was past Etheridge and up to second.
As the race approached the half way point Brown had opened a significant gap over Millard who in turn had pulled away from Etheridge who was now being pushed by Breacher, Wilkinson / Parmenter and Jenkins / Girling. On the next lap it all changed at the front. Brown was preparing to overtake the France brothers who had just restarted after a spill when they crashed over a fast jump. Brown had no time to take avoiding action and hit their cart wheeling outfit sending Stuart and Josh tumbling down the track. Fortunately none of the four were badly hurt and they were all able to get going again. In the meantime both Millard and Etheridge had got past.
With three laps to go Brown passed Etheridge but there was no realistic chance that he would catch Millard by the flag.
At the flag Millard won from Brown with Etheridge third.
In the second leg Etheridge got the holeshot from Brown with Millard in third. Before the first lap was completed Millard made a mistake and crashed. By the time they got going again they were down to tenth place. Their demise promoted Oldfield / Kinge up to third place. On lap two Brown took the lead from Etheridge didn’t look back for the rest of the race. Millard was up to fourth with eight minutes to go but it took him a further two laps to get past the vastly experienced Oldfield. For the last couple of laps Oldfield had to defend against Wilkinson / Parmenter which he managed to do finishing fourth. Brown took the win from Etheridge with Millard third.
The third and final leg was a less eventful affair with Brown once again taking the holeshot with Etheridge second and Oldfield third. Millard didn’t get such a good start and was only eighth by the second bend.
After six minutes Millard was up to third whilst Oldfield was slowing with a back wheel puncture. On the next lap Millard was past Etheridge and up to second place. Just after half distance Etheridge appeared to be slowing and was being caught by Jarvis / Chamberlain. With four laps to go Jarvis was up to third. Brown took the win from Millard with Jarvis an excellent third.
Brown leads the championship by five points from Millard who is seven points ahead of third placed Etheridge.
The next round is at the Frome club’s Asham Woods circuit on the 30th May when the battle for the lead will start again.