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Report by Chris Helm
The fifth round of the 2008 World Sidecarcross championships was held at Bourg Bruche in the Alsace region of France. This track has never been used for a world round before but once again the French had managed to find a circuit that was very compact and with excellent viewing for the spectators. Because the track was so tight it did make overtaking difficult and riders had to be committed and forceful to overtake but the faster riders proved it was possible.
With an entry of 39 riders Saturday’s activities were back to the longer format with qualifying races and finally the last chance session against the clock.
Some of the riders had obviously forgotten the rules about these qualifying races and arrived at the parc ferme late and were nearly excluded but after a severe ticking off they were allowed in.
In the group A qualifying race Willemsen / Grutter won easily from Sergis / Stupelis with Bax / v.Deutekom third. Scott Wilkinson / Gary Burt finished in 8th place whilst Mark Kinge / Gary Kinge missed the cut.
Before the group B race even more riders were late and once again the race director had to explain the error of their ways before they were allowed in. Jan Hendrickx took the win from cousin Joris with Rozehnal 3rd. Stuart Brown / Colin Dunkley finished in 7th and Daniel & Joe Millard 10th. John Lyne / Peter Girling were last at the end of lap one but worked their way up to a qualifying place with 3 laps to go. Then with just one lap to go they tried to pass the Millards and stopped in the process leaving them to face the last chance session.
In the last chance Lyne posted the fastest time but Kinge did not manage a time at all because of ignition failure.
On Sunday morning the sun finally came out and the clouds lifted from the tops of the trees making conditions perfect for the two races.
When the riders came to the line for race one Brown was left with no option but to start from the far right of the line which would put him on the inside of the long, sweeping, turn one. As the gate dropped Brown took the lead and led all the way round the first two corners before Willemsen passed him. Once the dust had settled on the start straight it became apparent that there was one bike upside down at the end of the straight with the driver looking very groggy but upright whilst the passenger was flat on the floor. Unfortunately it was Scott Wilkinson and Gary Burt who had hit a very soft patch and flipped over. Amazingly they were in fact both OK and were able to start race two later on.
At the front of the race Willemsen was slowly pulling away from Brown who was holding off firstly Happich and then on lap two Sergis. On the third lap Sergis passed Brown leaving him to the attention of Happich. Further back the Millards started in15th but over the next few laps dropped back to 20th. Lyne started in 20th place but quickly dropped to 22nd before starting to work his way up.
For the most of the race Brown was under intense pressure from Happich but both being left handers it was easier to defend against and at the flag Stuart & Colin finished a brilliant third behind Willemsen and Sergis. Lyne worked his way up to 16th whilst the Millards rode well to get up to 18th but with four laps to go Luscher tried to barge his way past and they both tipped over. This left the Millards out of the points whilst the Swiss driver just claimed the last place.
In the second leg Happich took the holeshot from Willemsen followed by the two Hendrickxs. Just behind the leaders there was a big pile up involving nearly half the field with Sergis, Brown, Wilkinson and Lyne all in there. By turn three Willemsen was past leaving Happich in a safe second. Because they had missed the earlier pile up the Millards were up to 11th place but they soon started to drop pack as the faster riders came through. At the end of lap one Willemsen led from Happich with Sergis back in 13th just ahead of Brown & Wilkinson with Lyne back in 20th place.
By half distance Jan Hendrickx had caught and passed Happich whilst Sergis had only managed to get up to 9th. Brown was up to 12th, Wilkinson had pulled out because Gary had been hit again, Millard was down to 22nd and Lyne was dead last.
At the flag Willemsen won from Jan Hendrickx with Happich 3rd. Sergis finally worked his way up to 5th whilst Brown dropped one place on the last lap to finish 13th.
Willemsen now leads the championship from Sergis by nearly 60 points with Joris Hendrickx in 3rd place just 3 points behind the Latvian.
The next round is in Genk, Belgium on 13th July.
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