Eastern Airways British F1 Sidecar Championship Latest News

The 2012 Eastern Airways British F1 Sidecar Championship descended upon the Thruxton circuit in Hampshire at the weekend and with fine weather for both races, the competitors served up a tremendous treat. The ultra-fast, bumpy circuit saw close racing throughout the field with the action into the final chicane often seeing the outfits three abreast as they fought for supremacy but it was Roger Lovelock/Rick Lawrence who came out on top with a convincing double victory.

Lovelock/Lawrence took pole position in extremely wet conditions on Saturday, just 0.026s clear of Ben Holland/Lee Watson and it was this pairing that set the pace in the early stages of the opening 10-lap race, Scott Lawrie/James Neave slotting in behind them in third as the sun burst through the clouds. Craig Chaplow/Jason Crowe were pulled off the grid though with collapsed steering whilst a coming together at the chicane at the end of the first lap saw Mark Edwards/Lee Barrett come off worst with a damaged wheel arch.

As the race settled down, it became a superb three-wheel battle for the lead between Lovelock, Holland and Lawrie with the trio coming up Woodham Hill into the final chicane three abreast on more than one occasion. All three took their turn at the front as the race looked like it would go down to the wire but just as Lawrie began to edge away on lap 6 his race was over with a broken gear linkage leaving Lovelock and Holland to fight it out. Meanwhile, there was another equally close three-way dice behind with Johan Reuterholt/Aki Aalto, Barry James/Calum Lawson and Edwards, complete with flapping fairing, all fighting it out for what was now the final podium place.

John Holden/Andy Winkle suffered their second blown engine of the weekend whilst Andy Peach/Charlie Richardson were also out with a broken gearbox but in the battle for the lead Lovelock reclaimed the lead on lap 7 and was able to ease away from Holland in the final stages to take his second win of the season by 2.4s. The amazing Reuterholt, a paraplegic since 1994, looked like he'd got third place sewn up but lost out in a last-lap sort out at the chicane and instead it was local driver Edwards who took a brilliant debut British Championship podium. James squeezed through for fourth with Reuterholt slipping back to fifth whilst Stephen Kershaw/Robin Wilson took sixth. John Clarke/Stuart Graham, Gary Horspole/Rob Briggs, Greg Lambert/Shelley Smithies and Ian Drowne/Ken Edwards completed the top ten.

Sunday's longer 14-lap race followed a similar pattern but Edwards was out of luck almost immediately, retiring from third place at the end of the first lap. Kershaw was also forced out early on having lost passenger Wilson whilst a similar fate befell Irishman Kyle Young, Stephen Mullen falling out at the chicane. Lovelock had no such worries though and although he came under pressure early on from Lawrie he was able to see off the challenge and pull away in the second half of the race to complete a superb double victory.

Lawrie slipped back into the clutches of Reuterholt and Holland and eventually fell behind them and it was Holland who grabbed his second successive runner's up spot on the podium after another great battle with Reuterholt. The Swedish driver had to settle for third, his first British Championship podium, with the slowing Lawrie in fourth. James/Lawson had a lonely drive into fifth as did Clarke/Graham in sixth but the battle for seventh went all the way to the flag and it was Ben Bygrave/Paul Knapton who prevailed to give the Buildbase BMW its first finish of the season. Peach/Richardson were less than a second behind with Horspole/Briggs and Lambert/Smithies hot on their tails.

Lovelock now heads the Championship table with 86 points followed by Holland on 50 and James on 46. The series now has a break before resuming at Snetterton, Norfolk on May 25-27.

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Phil Wain: Freelance PR