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Back to March 2012 Motorsports News Archive
| 28-03-2012 at 08:00: Australian Sidecar Championship’s Opening Round | |
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The meeting also included the Trans Tasman Sidecar Challenge, the Australian Formula 2 Sidecar Cup and a number of support events for Classic, Post Classic and Forgotten Era sidecars.
With 21 Formula 1 Sidecars entered, numbers were down from last year, partly due to the Victorian Championships on the same weekend as well as the retirement of the current and the former Australian champions.
With a lot of unpredictable weather in Sydney in the weeks leading up to the meeting, most were surprised at the wonderful weather that Sydney turned on for the locals and visitors alike. Teams entered form almost all states as well as six sidecar teams from New Zealand.
First practice session of the weekend was Friday and saw the team of multiple Australian Champions, Shane Soutar and Jeff Rowe quickest.
The track layout was altered slightly at turn six and seven, but the event was not on the new longer track as it was not finished on time. The new corner took some time to get used to, especially for local teams who had done many laps with the old turn six.
Second practice had Soutar/Rowe quickest again, with multiple New Zealand champions Andy Scrivener/ Steve Bryan next, doing an impressive 1:44.9 on only their second lap of the circuit before running off in turn two with brake trouble. Next quickest was former speedway star Chris Pym with Matty Johnston on their beautifully engineered machine.
Qualifying was split unbeknownst to most teams with Q1 being for the Trans Tasman Challenge and Q2 for the Australian Championship, many believing they would be merged times.
The first race was the Trans Tasman Sidecar Challenge and Thompson/ Fleming were out before the start when they discovered a cracked rear upright, Mick Alton/ Mark Patterson were also out with engine trouble. Soutar/ Rowe took the lead on the first lap from Scrivener/ Bryan and pulled a sizeable gap and ended up taking the win, with Pym/ Johnston tucked in behind but never quite succeeding in making a move.
The next F1 sidecar race was the Australian Sidecar Championship race one, and with points to be made many had fitted their new tyres after making do with old ones in the non-points race.
The race got under way, but soon was red flagged due to oil on the track at turn two on the first lap The race was restarted and Soutar got away again, but behind was a race long dice between Scrivener and Pym, with Brown/ Bonney right behind, but not able to make a move on the other two. After the race all the sidecars were measured with three excluded for being under height, one allegedly 25mm under the limit.
Race three was leg two of the Trans Tasman Challenge, and Soutar and Rowe went out to an early lead, only to come to a halt with a blown engine between turn seven and eight.
Scrivener took the lead from Pym, despite much pressure took the win, Brown made a bad start, but came in third despite narrowly missing a spinning Chris Lawrence/ Jay Dibben in turn two.
Scrivener shot to the lead from Pym, with Soutar caught behind in seventh after a bad start, but made a determined run through towards the front. In turn eight, Brown and Pym had a coming together, with Pym nearly sampling the new bitumen run off, but saving it and only losing two places.
Brown catching Scrivener, then had Soutar pass on the straight, but made the most of the slipstream to get up to Scrivener. Soutar soon took the lead and Pym closed on the back of Brown. In the next lap with Brown and Pym were right on the tail of Scrivener when Scrivy’s rear tyre blew off the rim sending him right into their path.
In what was a great piece of riding, he managed to ride off the track and park without collecting any of the following sidecars. Pym then made a move on Brown on the straight, but knowing Brown was quicker in turn one and likely to retake the position, he held it in fifth gear instead of sixth, and passed at the last part of the straight.
The finishing order was Soutar/ Rowe, Pym/ Johnston, Brown/ Bonney with Jason James/ Brett James coming through to finish fourth from the rear of the grid after their height penalty.
Points for the Australian Sidecar Championship S. Soutar/ J. Rowe________LCR Suzuki 1000__________ 50C. Pym/ M. Johnston_______JBR Suzuki 1000_________44J. Brown/ S. Bonney_______Kellett/Yamaha 1000_______40H. Ford/ T. Milanovic_______JBR Suzuki 1000_________32A. Vrdoljak/J. Vrdoljak______PC Suzuki 1000__________29M. Brown/ J. Harris_________Rumble Suzuki 1000______25
Points for the Trans Tasman Sidecar Challenge A. Scrivener/ S. Bryan__________Porteous Suzuki 1300______47C. Pym/M. Johnston____________JBR Suzuki 1000_________42J. Brown/ S. Bonney___________Kellett/Yamaha 1000_______38D. Harvey/ G. Cushnahan_______Watbak 1000_____________31J. James/ B. James______________JBR Suzuki 1000_________31 |
The first round of the Australian Sidecar Championship was held as part of the Barry Sheene Festival of Speed over the weekend of the 23 – 25 March at Eastern Creek Raceway.
Soutar / Rowe took the pole in Q1 with Western Australians, Warren Thompson/ Peter Fleming taking second and Jeff Brown/ Steve Bonney third. Soutar/ Rowe also took pole in Q2 from Scrivener/ Bryan and Thompson/ Fleming.
Race four was the second heat of the Australian Championship and was more action packed than the others put together. After a delay on the grid when a number of riders went to the wrong grid positions and had to be moved, other rider’s engines and clutches were overheating and riders were frustrated.^ Back to top ^
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