​Lauder sidecar pair up to fourth on leaderboard after claiming second podium place of season in Belgium

The Borderers were among 19 teams taking part in round two of the championship.

Posting the fourth-fastest time in qualifying last Friday gave them a row-two start later that same day right behind series leaders Ben and Tom Birchall, with reigning champions Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement in pole position, but the Scots ended up having to make do with fifth place.

Anglo-French pairing Ellis/Clement won by a length from Nottinghamshire’s Birchalls, with Kent’s Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes third and East Yorkshire’s Sam and Tom Christie fourth.

Disappointed with their fifth-place finish, the Kershaw camp changed their set-up for Saturday’s 11-lap gold race to find the extra speed they’d lacked the night before.

Ellis/Clement and the Birchalls got away clean off the line, with Kershaw/Charlwood leading the chasing pack.

By lap eight, the Lauder crew had edged up to second place and they even took the lead briefly after overtaking Ellis on the penultimate lap, only for the Birchalls to take advantage of their double slipstream to pass both of them.

Ellis got back in front going into the final lap, but with only half a lap left, the Birchalls retook the lead and defended it all the way to the line for their third win of the season, with Kershaw/Charlwood hanging on to take the final podium place just in front of the Christies.

Kershaw was delighted to pick up his second podium place of the new season, following on from a second-place finish at the Sachsenring circuit near Leipzig in Germany in May’s round one.

“What a race,” said the 35-year-old. “I’m so happy for the team to get a podium after a frustrating race on Friday.

“We made a lot of changes and we’ve gone almost a second and a half a lap faster and we’re right in the mix for wins now.

“All the fans here must have enjoyed that because I certainly did.”

Charlwood added: “This place is just sensational. It’s so fast and everybody was racing close and clean.”

Kershaw/Charlwood move up a place to fourth with 47 points, only two points off third-placed Manx-French pair Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau but a long way behind runaway leaders the Birchalls on 95 and Ellis/Clement on 74.

They’ll be hoping to cut that gap on the top two this coming weekend, however, as the Most circuit in the Czech Republic hosts round three of the championship.