Lauder team within touching distance of British title

It was like a bad day in the ‘Bake Off’ tent at Donington Park last weekend.
Kershaw and Charlwood in command at Donington (picture by Barry Clay)Kershaw and Charlwood in command at Donington (picture by Barry Clay)
Kershaw and Charlwood in command at Donington (picture by Barry Clay)

Both ends were dry but the middle was very soggy, when Storm Alex wrought havoc at round four of the Molson British F1 Sidecar series. Dry practice, wet qualifying, damp race one and then bone-dry race two was blended into a totally reshuffled programme by the cancellation of allaction on Saturday, when the rain hit.

Some creative mixing by the BSB organisers (and a good splash of sunshine) saw all classes get all their races in on Sunday.

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For Lauder-based crew Steve Kershaw/Ryan Charlwood, this was a golden chance to increase their lead in the series, as main rivals Ellis/Richardson opted to race in the big-money German Superprix event, along with several other UK teams.

The remaining crews, along with the weather, had other ideas, and the Borders star had to settle for fifth in qualifying, behind wildcard entrants Crawford/Hardie and Founds/Walmsley, on their F2 machines, and series regulars Philp/Bryant and Holland/Christie.

Tellingly, their main rivals at the meeting, Stevens/Allum and the Christie brothers, could only manage ninth and 10th respectively.

Saturday’s first race was rescheduled to Sunday morning on a cold, damp and greasy track, so survival was the number one priority.

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A clean start by everyone led a fair bit of shuffling on the first couple of , as Crawford/Hardie hit the front from Philp/Bryant and Kershaw/Charlwooddropped a place to sixth from Bell/Connell, who looked smooth and fast.

As the race wore on, the gaps grew, the circuit started to dry, and Kershaw retook the place from Bell. But, although now lapping faster, they were unable to bridge the gap to Founds/Walmsley in fourth and finished fifth .

A last-lap charge saw Philp/Bryant take the lead for all of 400m but Crawford/Hardie got the drive out of the last corner to deny them a debut victory by 1/10 th of a second.

Third was an impressive drive from Holland/Christie who have had a miserable season so far with mechanical issues.

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By Sunday afternoon, the track was warm and dry and the skies sunny and blue, so all machines reverted to dry settings for the reverse grid race two.

Starting from row three, Kershaw fired the Quattro-backed LCR machine through the traffic into second by the first corner.

He got a great drive through Hollywood corner and down Craner curves to take the leadfrom veterans Gray/Cole, who started from pole.

Lapping over a second a lap faster than the pack, Kershaw/Charlwood pulled out a sizeable gap while a 12-outfit melee tried to get

past Gray (and each other).

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By the start of lap three, the Christie brothers got to second and, on lap four, Blackstock/Rosney made third their own, just as the unfortunate Stevens/Allum retired on the start straight.

With seven-second gaps between each of them, all eyes fell on Philp/Bryant, Bell/Connell, Founds/Walmsley, Crawford/Hardie and Biggs/Schmitz knocking lumps out of each other for fourth and ending in that order, apart from Founds, whose engine gave up on the penultimate lap.

So, at the flag, Kershaw/Charlwood took their fifth win from eight starts this year, giving them a healthy 56-point lead in the championship from second-place finishers the Christies, who take over second from Ellis/Richardson, now third in the table, 61 points off the leaders.

Third in the race, Blackstock/Rosney now lie seventh but are out of contention for the title.

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With two races left (only the last race has double points) at Brands Hatch in a few days’ time, there are only three possible overall winners. But some canny riding from the Borders squad should hopefully see the area get something to cheer about.

“I’m happy with the weekend,” said Stgeve.

“We learned a lot on our wet set-up with the slippery conditions, and rode safely and consistently in the dry.

“Brands is equally bad if it’s wet, so I’m praying for dry weather but prepared for it if it’s not.”

Ryan was equally pleased, adding: “On Saturday afternoon I thought we’d never get two races in, so I’m delighted to

get the points and go home dry.”

The season finale is on October 16-18, with live coverage on Eurosport player.