German GP Sees Sizzling Sidecar Action
The Cheshire Pairing of Craig Chaplow and series youngest passenger Dan Evanson (19) made the 1600 mile round trip to the Sachsenring for what is now considered the best attended Sidecar Race in the world. Achieving lap times some 3.5 seconds a lap faster than in 2009, the team were, needless to say, pleased with their twelfth Place in the FIM World Championship round, supporting the MotoGP series.
On the back of some radical changes to set up, the Able Systems Mini Printers (Northwich) backed team made an immediate impact, taking a 12th place in qualifying 1, from a 20 strong entry. Going 1.5 Seconds a lap quicker than their best time from 2009.
Dan Evanson (passenger): ‘ Initially the lap times felt slower than 2009, but with our new techniques in left hand corners we were able to drastically improve the times from last year. Its an amazing event to race in front of 100,000 spectators, they all seemed to love the sidecars’
Second qualifying saw another improvement in lap times, but this wasn’t enough to stop the team slipping down the grid two further places to 14th, where they were to start the GP, just one place ahead of Dutch pairing Bennie Struer (son of ex world champion Egbert!) and his passenger, Kees Endervelt.
The race one Sunday followed the MotoGP, and saw packed grandstands setting of air horns, vuvuzellas and fireworks, Craig and Dan made a good start but ended up pushed wide at the first corner. This left the team down in 17th place at the end of the first lap. Over the course of the race the team made steady progress through the field to finish a very credible 12th place, with average lap times some 6 KPH faster than the year previous. The team ran for most of the race with the battle for 9th (going eventually to fellow Brits Scott Lawrie/James Neave) until tyre fatigue took its toll, again a shortfall for teams running on tight budgets, with all three tyres having to last all weekend.
Team Sponsor, Kostas (Winsford Fish Bar) ‘I am delighted to be able to come to support the team, despite the long motorcycle ride to get here, and delighted with the results of a team who are punching well above their weight in terms of finances, Even with their sponsors they have about 20% of the budget of the top teams and i’m proud to be part of this set up.’
Special thanks to our long standing sponsors: Rock Oil, Able Systems Mini Printers (Northwich), Edge Technology Generator supplier/Installer, Winsford Fish Bar, Alan Cornes (Butchers).
Prior to the final World Championship round at Magny Cours, France, Craig and Dan’s next outing will be at Cadwell Park on the weekend of August 6-8 for the latest round of the Battle of Britain F1 Sidecar Championship.