Report by Chris Helm
Round 5 of the Ian Durston Plant Services British Sidecarcross Championship was hosted by YDP racing at their Winterpick Farm track in Sussex yesterday and what an excellent day it was.

Overall winners on the day were Stuart Brown / Colin Dunkley with 3 wins but they certainly didn’t have things all their own way. Runners-up were John Lyne / Pete Girling with Mark & Gary Kinge taking third.

The first race was led into turn 1 by Wilkinson / Burt from Brown with Lyne just inside him. Within half a lap Brown was in the lead from Wilkinson with Lyne in 3rd just ahead of Breacher / Hillyard. Making a welcome return to sidecar racing was Colin Philpott passengered by Stuart Dance who somehow managed to get a front row start and was in the top ten after two laps. By half distance the front three were pulling away from the rest of the pack which was still lead by Breacher with Millard now starting to close him down. By lap 8 Philpott had worked his way up to 6th and was now challenging Millard and Breacher but later in the lap Philpott stalled the machine and dropped to 13th place. This now elevated Kinge to 6th place and he was soon on the tail of Millard who was now having problems with a puncture in the sidecar tyre. Two laps from the end Kinge was able to pass Millard. Brown took the win from Wilkinson with Lyne taking third place.

Race two was led by Lyne / Girling from Kinge, Brown and Topp / Geraghty. On lap two Brown made a mistake and Topp was past but on lap three Brown was back up to third. At the front Lyne was just managing to hold off Kinge whilst just a few dozen yards behind Brown was being hounded by Topp, Philpott and Keane / Heighes. This soon became a four way tussle for the lead with Lyne still leading. By half distance Brown was up to 2nd place leaving Kinge a rather lonely 3rd ahead of the battle for fourth which now involved Topp, Keane, Wilkinson and Millard. Philpott had dropped out by this stage suffering from a heavy cold. By lap six Brown was in front with Lyne now being pushed by Kinge for second place. With two laps to go Wilkinson finally got past Millard to take 5th. Brown went on to win from Lyne and Kinge with Keane having his best ride of the year coming home in fourth.

The final race of the day saw Millard take the holeshot from Wilkinson, Topp and Breacher with Brown back in 6th place. Millard held the lead for the first three laps but was under intense pressure from Wilkinson who eventually past the brothers coming out of the trees. Brown was now up to third just ahead of Topp and Breacher. Wilkinson’s lead was short lived as on lap five the mousse in his rear tyre broke up and he was forced to come into the pits to change the wheel. This left Millard leading the race again just ahead of Brown with Topp now third. With the crowd going wild Millard held the lead for the next three laps when Brown squeezed past. Three laps from the end Lyne got past Topp who was now suffering from a rear wheel puncture and finally dropped right back to 14th. Brown took the flag from Millard with Lyne third and Kinge fourth.

Brown now leads the championship by 48 points from Wilkinson with Kinge a further 35 points behind in third. The next round is at the Sidcup club’s Canada Heights track in two weeks time.

Podium, L - R Pete Girling, John Lyne, Gary  Kinge, Mark Kinge, Stuart Brown, Colin Dunkley & Emma, promotions girl for  the series sponsor who presented the trophies.