Tuesday August 30, 2011 at 3:04pm
The fifth round of the Maxxis British sidecarcross championship was hosted by the Langrish Racing club at its Manor farm circuit. It was run in conjunction with the Ken Hall motox so there were a few foreign crews in the mix.
In timed qualification Bax / v.den Bogaart set the fastest time with Rupeiks / Stupelis two seconds behind. Highest placed Brits were the Millards in fourth.
When the gate dropped for race one Bax was left on the line along with Brown / Chamberlain and Keane / Parmenter. Hendrickx / Smeuninx got the holeshot from Rupeiks with Millard just behind. As they crossed the line for the first time Bax had carved his way to 16th place just two places behind Brown.
On the second full lap Rupeiks made his move on Hendrickx to take the lead whilst Bax was now up to 5th and closing on the young Belgian driver van Daele. After just over ten minutes Bax was past v.Daele and Millard while Brown was up to 8th.
For the remainder of the race the front five remained in the same positions. Over the last couple of laps Brown passed v.Daele and France to finish sixth.
In the second leg Hendrickx again took the holeshot from Bax and v.Daele with Brown and Millard just behind. Rupeiks was back in about tenth place. By the end of lap one Bax led from Hendrickx with Brown having passed v. Daele up to third. Rupeiks was now just behind Brown. On the next lap Rupeiks was up to third but then disaster struck when his rear wheel broke up leaving him stranded at the bottom of the circuit. This meant Millard was now behind Brown and over the next four laps he closed the gap and on lap six he was past.
Bax took the win from Hendrickx with Millard an excellent third ahead of Brown and Etheridge.
In the third and final leg Bax got the holeshot from Hendrickx with Brown in third. Just after turn one v.Daele and Rupeiks collided and both bikes tipped over. When they got going again they were both in the bottom third of the field.
After five minutes Millard passed Brown to take third whilst Rupeiks was now up to ninth. With just over five minutes of the race to go Rupeiks passed Brown to take fourth. Etheridge had started the race in sixth place but as the race progressed his engine was sounding noisier and noisier and he dropped back eventually finishing in tenth.
Bax took the win from Hendrickx with Millard third. Bax took the overall from Hendrickx with Millard third. In the championship Brown now leads Millard by ten points with Etheridge in third place. The next round is at Canada Heights on 2nd October.