A Positive End To The Season For CTR Racing

After the final British Sidecar Championship round of the season, CTR Racing slid across the finishing line in an admirable 11th place. Despite some technical difficulties at Silverstone and Mondello Park, the team still finished with good results.

At Silverstone, the team’s new engine lasted for just five laps before causing problems in the first race. However, following some fast engineering expertise the sidecar was back on the grid for race two. Team owner and rider Craig Chaplow, and passenger Patrick Farrance, battled the red and blue outfit to a strong 10th place finish.

“We were pleased that the second race at Silverstone went well despite the issues,” said Craig. “It’s just so frustrating when there are problems with the outfit which hold us back.”

There were electrical problems at Mondello Park too, which led to CTR retiring from the first race.
Regardless of this, the weekend got better and better, as the team went from 19th on the grid to finish with a fantastic 10th place in the second race.

However, the third race of the weekend really was the highlight as Craig and Patrick hammered the sidecar into a stunning 8th place finish – just 200ths of a second off 7th place.

This left CTR in 11th place in the British Championship overall. “We’ve had a tough season,” said Craig. “There were a lot mechanical difficulties at the start of the year and they’ve cropped up again in the last few rounds.

“There have been times this season when we feel that we have shown our true potential though and we’ve certainly learnt a lot. I’ve really enjoyed riding with Patrick and we’re all looking forward to working with him again in 2012.”

CTR Racing’s success would have been impossible without the great support offered by their sponsors and Craig and the team would like to thank Able Systems, PEME, P&R Labpak, Pole Position Travel, Nortek, Biker FM, Rock Oil, Breitenbach Rennsport, Pagid RS, Hed Camz, The Boot and Shoe, Winsford Fish and Chips and everyone else who has given their time and money to the team throughout the year.

Videos of all the rounds from the British Sidecar Championship this year can be found on 2wheelstv.com.

Best Results Of The Season So Far For CTR Racing

The CTR team at Donington Park was feeling upbeat this weekend after driver, and team owner, Craig Chaplow and passenger Patrick Farrance achieved a phenomenal set of results in the Formula 1 British Sidecar Championship.

After a rain interrupted practice, CTR qualified in 10th place, despite not having raced at Donington for eighteen months.

The first race was fast and competitive, with CTR holding 6th place throughout the majority of the time on track. As the battle was drawing to a close, a spectacular move by Craig and Patrick had them past Ben Bygrave and Callum Lawson's LCR Suzuki to finish with a brilliant 5th place.

Craig said, “I had a really good time on the track. I was absolutely in the zone and it was very pleasing to see that all the team's hard work paid off. It was certainly an exciting race to be in!”

In the second race, four sidecars battled through the last final corner wheel to wheel and Craig threaded the CTR outfit round the outside, avoiding a catastrophe and still taking a superb 6th place. This gave the team an overall result of 4th for the Donington Park weekend.

Patrick Farrance was delighted. He said, “4th place overall is a superb result. We’ve worked hard for this and I’m so glad that everything has finally come together.

"We did really well at Cadwell Park last month, and we’ve done even better this weekend. This round has been fantastic.”

Off the track, spirits were high, as sponsors PEME watched their team battle for leaderboard positions.

“I think everyone enjoyed the whole weekend,” said Craig.

“The racing was really satisfying, and for our supporters and sponsors it was a great couple of races to watch. We certainly entertained the crowd!”

For the first time, all of the rounds from this season are available to watch for free on the internet. Watch the race and special features with Craig and Patrick on 2wheelstv.com.

CTR Build on Cadwell Success at Donnington Park BSB

After the steps forward take at Cadwell Park last outing CTR went to Donnington Park with high hopes of more success.

Despite a disappointing qualifying session Craig and Patrick managed to pick up a 5th and a 6th in races which left them fourth overall for the meeting.

Patrick "This weekend has been another positive step forward for the team, while we a still struggling a little for straight line speed the handling of the bike is allowing craig to really drive the bike well though the tighter sections allowing us to make up time on those around us."

CTR we once again proud to welcome a group from joint title sponsors ABLE Systems and PEME to the action at Donnington Park as well as visits from good friends and family during the weekend.

A full press release will follow shortly with a complete round up of the weekends action.

CTR Enjoy An Outstanding Weekend At Cadwell Park

The CTR Racing team performed outstandingly well at the Formula 1 Sidecar Championship at Cadwell Park.

After a run of bad luck this year, the team’s talent shone through as they enjoyed their most successful weekend of the season. CTR technicians had worked long hours to ensure that there would be no mechanical problems so that team owner, and driver, Craig Chaplow, and passenger Patrick Farrance, could showcase their riding skills.

After qualifying in a hard won 9th position, Craig and Patrick battled through to a well-deserved pair of 7th places - plus an outstanding 10th: overall, a phenomenal result.

“We’re improving all the time,” said Patrick. “Craig’s driving was brilliant this weekend and as a team our lap times are over a second and a half faster than they were last year at Cadwell.”

Craig Chaplow felt similarly positive after such a successful round. He said: “I’d really like to thank everyone for all their hard work. Chris Jobbins, Simon Thorley and Sam Lightfoot were outstanding and they have worked tirelessly all weekend. Their efforts have paid off and it has been a fantastic event.”

And the success continued off the track with CTR’s sponsor Konstantinos Galanis, owner of the renowned Winsford Fish and Chip Restaurant, providing a fabulous goat steak barbecue – a world first for paddock hospitality.

“It really was a fabulous weekend all round,” said Craig. “We’re so pleased that we’re finally getting the results we deserve – and now we’re getting the food we deserve too.

“Bring on the next round – and the smoked goat!”

CTR Compete at World Championship Level

CTR Racing spent an inspiring few days in Sachsenring on the Moto GP circuit last weekend. The prestigious round is one of the biggest on the calendar, attracting over 250,000 spectators.

But riding in front of such a huge crowd wasn’t the only thrill for CTR last weekend, as they joined the World Championship circus – for one weekend only.

For CTR passenger, and former World Championship winner, Patrick Farrance it was a great experience to be back in the GP paddock. Patrick said: “I have lots of fond memories of my World Championship days. It was really good to be back in the same paddock last weekend and I enjoyed racing against the top teams - just like I used to.”

Despite a somewhat frustrating weekend, caused by unforeseeable mechanical issues, team owner Craig Chaplow and Patrick Farrance gave a formidable performance. Challenging hard for tenth place against the best sidecar teams in the world, the CTR team showed impressive pace until the mechanical gremlins struck.

Off the track, CTR hosted a drinks reception for Pole Position Travel on Saturday evening. A great time was had by Pole Position clients, many of whom were new to sidecar racing - but who soon became keen fans of three wheelers.

Also supporting the team at Sachsenring was joint title sponsor Able Systems. The world leading printer manufacturer sent directors Derek Way and Richard Chaplow, along with guests Ian McAllister and Jonathon Odonde, to experience the thrill of World Championship racing.

Craig was pleased to welcome the team sponsors to the event. He said: “This was a good weekend for us. Although there were difficulties with the sidecar, we performed well when we were on the track, and it was morale boosting to see that we could compete successfully at World Championship level.

“It meant a lot to us to have our sponsors Pole Position Travel and Able Systems supporting us and we hope they enjoyed the weekend as much as we did.”

CTR Racing Announce Sponsorship deal with PEME as they leave for Knockhill

On the eve of the Scottish Round of the Eastern Airways British F1 Championship at Knockhill this weekend, CTR Racing have agreed on a major sponsorship deal for the remainder of the season.

Despite the current economic situation, CTR F1 sidecar racing team are delighted to announce a new strategic partnership with PEME, Following an experimental corporate day at Brands Hatch BSB, the Peterborough based company have decided to come on board to work with CTR F1 sidecars as joint title sponsors for the remainder of 2011.

Craig - ‘After an initial plea on the internet for a team to work with at Brands BSB, both PEME and us were astounded to hear that CTR were the only F1 team interested in working with PEME. Fortunately we were able to put on a good day for their guests, and the rest (as they say) is history. While we have are always looking out for new partnerships and developments to help us to archive our goals the backing of PEME is a big positive step forward for us as a team.'

PEME Join Northwich Mini Printer Manufacturers’ ABLE SYSTEMS Ltd as equal title sponsors for the remainder of the 2011 season.

We look forward to working closely with the staff at PEME at a number of events though the rest of the season and beyond to make this a beneficial partnership for all concerned.

CTR Sidecar Racing are pleased to Announce UK F1 Sidecar Pagid Break Pad Dealership

Having decided to use the superior Pagid F1 sidecar pads from the middle of the 2010 season, Team Principle, Craig Chaplow has agreed to be UK Stockist for Pagid Sidecar Pads, Supplier, Michael Breitenbach, from their base in Germany, said: ‘we are delighted to have a UK distributor for our F1 sidecar Pads, the UK Sidecar racing scene is a major market for us and it’s great to have a presence. We look forward to being able to supply technical support to the British riders through team CTR.’

Crew Chief Chris Jobbins said ‘The Pagid Pads are fast becoming a ‘must have’ to be competitive in F1 sidecar racing, with the vast majority of the world championship competitors running with these pads, we are delighted to endorse them, together with other users in the UK, including Tim Reeves, Barry James, Scott Lawrie, Simon Gilbert, and of course ourselves.’

More information on products and support availble though Breitenbach Rennsport take a trip to their website here.

More Success for CTR Racing

New passenger Patrick Farrance’s first race with the CTR team, in the second round of the British Championship, got the pairing off to a great start.

Brands Hatch was the scene of another successful weekend for the team - and the happy reintroduction of Patrick into the world of sidecar racing. He certainly proved his World Championship winning knowledge, spending all Friday testing the outfit and adjusting to riding with Craig.

Qualifying proved difficult for the pairing during the first session they got to grips with the full GP circuit for the first time in two years and were feeling confident going in to the second session when the red flags were brought out due to oil on the track. when the session was restarted dispute the best efforts of the marshalling team the best line was too slippy for really pushing to move up the pack. Saturday’s racing was cut short due to an unfortunate pile up on the start line, as the back row took avoiding action around the pole sitter Tim Reeves, which resulted in the race being red flagged.

But all three races on Sunday ended positively and the team finished with two 10th places and an 8th, retaining their 10th place in the Championship.

The team were pleased with the weekend’s successes. For team owner Craig Chaplow, it was particularly satisfying to achieve such positive results in the first ride with his new passenger. “Patrick brought a wealth of experience to the team, having ridden both F1 and F2 sidecars at the highest level. I have certainly learnt a lot at our first meeting together."

With a month’s break until the next Championship round, the team has plenty of time to fine tune the outfit and to continue testing.
Patrick was pleased with how well the weekend had gone, saying, “We achieved three solid results. It was a thoroughly confidence inspiring start.”

CTR Racing's next outing will be at Knockhill, Scotland with British Superbikes 18th and 19th June. Don't forget to seek out the TV special from Brands GP on Eurosports or Two Wheels Tv over the next couple of days.

Weekend of Development at Brands Hatch

CTR Racing spent a solid weekend at Brands Hatch for the second round of the Eastern Airways British Sidecar Championship. The opportunity of good track time at the Friday test day gave Craig and new passenger Patrick Farrance a chance to adjust to riding together.

"Patrick has brought a wealth of experience to the team, having ridden both F1 and F2 sidecars at the highest level. I for one have certainly learnt allot at this first meeting together" - Craig

The learning process continued throughout the weekend, while the results of two tenth places and an eighth place in the races is on paper a little disappointing. The team managed to go over a second faster than their last visit to the Brands Hatch GP circuit when they were able to run fully tuned engines, approximately equating to a two second a lap improvement.

"Three solid results here as got the new team to a confidence inspiring start there is still plenty of progress to be made in this competitive field. However I can see where the improvements can come from, it is just a case of putting it into practice." - Patrick

The race results gave the team an overall placing of tenth, a position that they now hold outright in the championship.

A full press release will be published shortly with some more details of the weekend, also don't forget to catch the one hour TV coverage of the meeting on Eurosport, exact schedule is not out yet but we will try to let you know as soon as we do.

CTR Racing Sign Patrick Farrance As Passenger

CTR Racing is delighted to announce that Patrick Farrance will be the team’s new passenger for the rest of the season.

Patrick has a number of prestigious successes including winning the 2007 World Championship as a sidecar passenger.
After a three year break, Patrick is eager to rejoin the sidecar World Championship, and with the enthusiastic support of his wife Kate, a skilled mechanic in her own right, and their baby Josh, it looks like it’s going to be a good year ahead.

Patrick said “I can’t wait to be back in action with such a great team. It will be like coming home when I get in the chair again.”

Team owner Craig Chaplow is delighted with the new partnership. “Patrick’s a fabulous passenger and it will be a pleasure to work with him. But more than that, he’s just a genuinely warm person who will be an asset to the CTR family. I’m really looking forward to racing with him.”

CTR Racing join Pole Position Travel at Northwich Thudersprint

CTR Racing spent last Sunday (8th May) with sponsors Pole Position Travel at the Northwich Thundersprint taking part in both the parade of the town and featuring the bike on their trade stand with Craig on hand all day to answear question relating to the bike and sign a few autographs, while promoting some of Pole Position Travels upcoming events including their exclusive trip to the Sachsenring German MotoGP which includes a visit to CTR in the paddock.

CTR agree partnership with HEDcamz.com

CTR will be carrying an onboard camera supplied by HEDcamz.com for the remainder of the season with the footage being available after each event both here and on the HEDcamz.com website.

Thanks to Carl for his decision to support us in this way and we look forward to working with his team in depth over the coming year.

CTR begin hunt for new passenger

After nearly five years of racing together, the CTR team are saying farewell to passenger Dan Evanson.

Having achieved much success racing with Craig and the team, both parties have decided to pursue their racing activities independently.

CTR offer Dan their best wishes for his future and hope that he will continue to achieve and fulfil his racing aspirations.
More news about CTR’s plans for 2011 will be announced soon.

Top Ten Championship Finish For CTR Racing

CTR Racing came home with a superb top ten finish in the first race of the Eastern Airways British Formula 1 Sidecar Championship which was held at a sun soaked Brands Hatch Circuit last weekend. Free practice set the tone for the day, with CTR’s outfit registering a fantastic sixth fastest – a sign of the success to come later in the day.

After such a good start in free practice, qualifying was a disappointment for the team. Whilst challenging for pole, a shade too much commitment led to an unfortunate crash causing minor damage to the bodywork and the passenger too!

Despite starting the first race in 17th place, after the setback in qualifying, Craig and Danny battled through to a strong 14th place.

In the second race, following some fine tuning with the tyres, the CTR sidecar shot through the field to settle in ninth place – a promising result for the rest of the Championship. After the first round, the crew are already in a top 10 position - and are hungry for more.
Team owner Craig Chaplow said: “Of course we are all really pleased with such a high ranking so early in the Championship. We achieved a strong showing despite the issues in qualifying and I am confident that we’re bound to get even better results as the season progresses.”

The full hour programme of the first round of the Eastern Airways British F1 Championship at Brands Hatch is now available to watch online at http://www.2wheelstv.com/

CTR Racing Welcome PEME and Guests to Brands Hatch

During a weekend of mixed fortunes and emotional highs and lows CTR Racing welcomed PEME and their guests to Round 1 one of the Eastern Airways British Sidecar Championship and British Super Bikes Round 1.

Despite setbacks and challenges during the weekend CTR Racing currently hold 10th position in the championship after battling though to points positions in both races. Check back soon for a full round up of the weekends action and don't forget to catch the full TV roundup on British Eurosport and MotorsTV from this coming weekend.

CTR Confirm Partnership with Pole Position Travel

Team CTR and Pole Position Travel have teamed up to provide a unique experience to 4 VIP customers traveling to the Sachsenring MOTOGP round this year

The lucky four will receive the following package:

Guest of team with access to paddock, pits, and pit lane pre- and post-race
Weekend sidecar AND Moto2/125 GP paddock access
Hospitality (drinks, food) at our one of our partner team's hospitality
Private guided tour of paddock and a GP pit

For more details please check on the Pole Position Travel Website.

CTR Racing Dominate At Oulton Park Opener

CTR Racing got the 2011 season off to a blistering start at a sun soaked Oulton Park - totally dominating a quality sidecar entry and winning every race by spectacular margins. CTR’s driver, and team owner, Craig Chaplow said: “It’s a great way to start the season.

The outfit went really well and all our hard work in France has already paid dividends. We had a perfect day.”
Passenger Dan Evo was equally upbeat. “Everything was good. Craig was super smooth and everything was working really well for me. I can’t wait for the first British Championship round.”
Because Oulton Park is local to CTR’s base in Nantwich, many of the team’s sponsors were there to lend support. Probably the happiest man of the day was CTR’s longest serving sponsor Konstantinos Galanis who is famous for taking fish and chips to the level of gourmet dining at his Winsford Fish and Chips business.
Konstantinos said: “I am passionate about everything I do - from producing the best fish and chips in the area to supporting CTR as they aim for the very top. They are fantastic bunch of boys and it’s a great pleasure to able to help them.”
Craig, Dan - and of course Konstantinos - are now looking forward to Brands Hatch round of the British Sidecar Championship which will take place over the Easter weekend of April 23rd to 25th.

For more information contact Elizabeth Melling at lizm@thundersprint.com or 01928 740 498.
Editors' note: Attached images are free of charge to use in association with this press release but remain the copyright of CTR Racing and/or copyright holders.
Images by Glynne Lewis
If you do not wish to receive any more information please e-mail us at lizm@thundersprint.com and we will remove you from our mailing list immediately.

CTR Racing Looks Forward to Best Ever Season in 2011

The 2010 season was one which showed the CTR team being capable of running with the best sidecars in the world - but being kept off podiums by a string of bad luck.
Team owner, and driver, Craig Chaplow said: “2010 was incredibly frustrating for many reasons but we’ve come out of it stronger, more experienced and ready to compete at the highest level.
“Over the winter, many of our plans took shape with the intention of eradicating the 2010 gremlins. For 2011, we’re better prepared than ever, with key personnel in place, and a carefully structured pre-season test schedule. For sure, we will be pushing hard for a top 5 championship finish this year.
“We have a fantastic group of sponsors for 2011. Leading them is Able Systems Ltd and we are very grateful for the support of Rock Oil, PEME , P&R Labpak and Pole Position Travel.”

This week the team has been gearing up for the new season, testing at the Val de Vienne circuit - in a far from sunny France!

Craig Chaplow said: “It’s been a very successful week. Despite the first few days being monsoon wet, we’ve had a great final day’s testing and the lap times have been really pleasing.

“We can’t wait for Oulton Park next Saturday because no matter how much testing you do, there’s no substitute for actual racing.

We’ve done all the preparations and now it’s time for the action!”

Team CTR's First Competitive event of the year will be this Saturday (9th April) at Oulton Park, hope to see you all there.

Additionally you can't make it to Oulton Park all is not lost as you can hear Craig interviewed on cheshireFM this Saturday between 2.30pm and 3pm previewing the coming season, Craig will also be featuring on Biker FM on Friday 15th April between 8pm and 10pm. Links to both stations can be found on our links pages.

CTR F1 sidecar team set sail for 2011…

The Team are off this week to France for the pre season sidecar testing session @ Val du Vienne, in south west France. With plenty of things to try out, not least some new construction Avon Tyres, and the new ‘Jed’ Fairing. Whilst the technical team at Maxton suspension will be operating remotely to help with the continued developments with suspension.

Craig said: ‘ we have spent the last few weeks putting the finishing touches to the bike for 2011, as usual at this time of year its always hectic trying to place those last few bits, but they bike is together, we went for a shakedown afternoon at Darley Moor two weeks ago to iron out any niggles before we go to France and are now raring to go.

More news from the team at the end of the test and preceding the first competitive meeting of 2011 @ Oulton Park on Saturday 9th April.

Pre-season preparations begin in earnest at Team CTR

With the first round of the Earstern Airways British F1 Championship fast approaching the team have stepped up to top gear with the pre-season preparations. After a first shake down test of the rebuilt bike Darley Moor last weekend the team are now ensuring everything is ready for more in depth testing in France at the end of the month.

We have taken delivery of the newly sprayed fairing which this season will sport the striking colors of our main sponsor Able Systems Ltd. Thanks need to also be passed to JEBs Performance Engineering and Matxon Suspension for their continued high quality craftsmanship and service. Additional thanks to Kostas Fish and Chips, Windsford and the Boot and Shoe, Nantwich for sponsoring the new race suits for this year and the team at GTS for making them up to their usual high standards.

Finally if any of you are intending to come visit us at the first round of the year at Brands Hatch with the MCE British Super Bike Championship you can find the full program of sessions for the weekend by following this link.

2011 Racing Dates

We know have a firm diary of events for the comming season, although some may yet change and we are still looking at a couple of extra events thoughout the year,

April 9th - - Oulton Park Wirral 100 - - Club Race
Apr 24th/25th - - Brands Hatch (Indy) - - BSB
May 21st/22nd - - Brands Hatch (GP) - - BMCRC
Jun 18th/19th - - Knockhill - - BSB
Jul 9th/10th - - Snetterton - - BMCRC
Jul 15th/17th - - Sachsenring, Germany - - FIM World Championship
Aug 13th/14th - - Cadwell Park - - BMCRC
Aug 19th/21st - - Donnington Park - - FIM World Chapionship
Sep 10th/11th - - Donington Park - - BSB
Sep 24th/25th - - Silverstone - - BSB
Oct 1st/2nd - - Mondello Park, Ireland - - British Sidecar Championship

Mean while developments are gathering pace with in the team for the season ahead, hopefully we will have a full press release for you soon.

End of Season Role of Honor!

As the team wind down into winter development Craig and Dan would like to take the opportunity to say a few thank-you's from the current season.

Firstly to the Crew. Chris and Simon (and Tracy and Connor!) who have attended every round this season, and do ALL the back room stuff, I simply couldn't do it without you both (anyone who’s seen me go near a spanner will agree). Also to my Dad, Richard Chaplow, who works tirelessly behind the scenes helping with all the stuff no one sees like sponsorship etc, Finally the extended families, and Friends of Dan and I, who’s support at race meetings we really appreciate even if we’re sometimes short tempered on the day (!)

Sponsors, without which, our lives would be much more difficult:

Able Ltd – Derek and the Team from Able manufacture some amazing mini printers, if you are into your engineering you really should take a look at their website to see what they do! http://www.able-systems.com/

Edge Technology – To John and Susan, all the best and enjoy your well deserved retirement!!

Winsford Fish and Chips (Wood ford lane), Kostas does the best fish and chips in the area, go and see him in Winsford when your going to Oulton Park – tell him I sent you and I'm sure you’ll get a discount!

Nortek Electronic Circuits – Sorry to Gareth for the traveling you had to do this year to do taxi rides – we got there in the end!! www.nortek.co.uk

Jobbins Racing, Chris and Kevin – thanks for the support! (including organizing the ride out to the German MotoGP superside round!)

Rock Oil – Thanks for all your enduring support Russell and team, our longest serving sponsors! Visit - www.rockoil.com

Frank Thomas Group – Helmets and Gloves www.frank-thomas.co.uk

Alan Cornes Butchers in Crewe

Doug and the Team at Cheshire Batteries

Grange Boarding Kennels, Audlem

Nigel and Jan at The Boot and Shoe Pub, Nantwich – the best pub in Nantwich by far!!

Ben and the team at Earle St Motorcycles (Crewe)

New Guys – P&R Labpack – thanks for your interest and support and looking forward to working with you next year
……and Gordon at Motorsport Travel

Our Suppliers: JEBS engineering, Jason Millar Composites, OTC Dyno centre to name but a few

Rock on 2011, see you all there!

Craig

Season Wraps up with busy fortnight

CTR Sidecars finished the season with their final two meetings the last two weekends of October 2010, with inconsistency still blighting of the season. DNF’s at Donington, followed by tyre issues at Mallory.

Donington Park saw the team make the switch to Maxton Shock absorbers, With immediate differences apparent. Qualifying a season best of 6th saw Dan and Craig set for the best opportunity of 2010, alas it wasn’t to be, from a superb 3rd place at mid race distance Craig and Dan spun out at the infamous Craner Curves on a very wet track in the first race. Race two saw more mechanical issues with a fuel pump breakdown, issues still overhanging from Anglesey. Another excellent start in the final race of the weekend saw the duo spin off in the first corner, despite digging the outfit out of the gravel, the team could only get back up the order as far as 20th by the end of the 10 laps.

A mid week dash to try out the superb new Dyno facility at JEB’s engineering, saw the team preparing their new engine for the final round of the year, another K6 Suzuki engine, thanks go to Jon @ JEB’s and Richard @ Maxton for their support at the back end of the season.

And then to the final round of the Eastern Airways sidecar ‘Battle of Britain’ Hosted at the re-launched Festival of Sidecars, again the weekend started well, with an 8th place in qualification, but a bad tyre choice, and budgets meaning new rubber couldn’t be purchased, the team found themselves floundering again, with 10th place in both races on the Saturday and the first ‘Dave Roberts Memorial race’ on the Sunday. Borrowing a used rear tyre of Brian Peddar for the final race of the weekend, the team finally found the form that they were looking for, with a tremendous scrap with Peddar/Steadman until the race was red flagged (stopped) due to rain at 2/3 race distance, leaving the Cheshire pair in 5th place.

Craig ‘Its been an incredibly frustrating season, for many reasons. Over the winter we have many plans taking shape to eradicate some of our gremlins from 2010. The team will be back stronger and better prepared in 2011, with key personnel in place, and a strong pre-season test schedule, we will be pushing hard for a top 5 championship finish next year. Thanks to all our sponsors for their loyalty in what has been a difficult year’

Please keep an eye on the website over the winter for updates on the teams plans for 2011.

FIM begin to set out 2011 World Championship Details.

A recent brief to all the teams who have been apart of this years World Sidecar Championship set out the preferred format for the 2011 season. After the success of this years series the FIM are looking to expand the series to 7 or 8 rounds, including events at Magny Cours, Le Mans, Schleiz, Sachenring, Hungaroring, Rijeka, Albercete and at least one other round in either Germany, Holland or Britain.

In what seems to be a growing movement to increase the profile of sidecar racing on both a national and international stage the announcement was welcomed by the teams, with standalone, World Endurance Series, and MotoGP events included in the program.

Craig - "While it is good to see the World Championship expanding and heading back towards its rightful place alongside other premier motorcycle events the team needs to stay focused on the remainder of this year. While we have been buoyed by our progress at the world events, we have visited this year we are still not in a position to commit to a full season at the world championship. As much as I feel we would progress, learn and enjoy the experience we also need to look at the finances for the coming year before making a decision."

CTR Sidecar’s Craig Chaplow and Dan Evanson made two trips down south in three weekends, firstly for a frustrating weekend at Brands Hatch, where engine and electrical problems blighted the team all weekend. With only one 10th place Battle of Britain finish from the three races, the team left feeling very frustrated. 9 days later the team were off again, with the bike immaculately prepared, for the trip to Magny Cours (France) for the final world championship round, here the hard work from the team were rewarded with a 16th Place in qualifying, and picking up the last points available with a 15th place in the race to cap off the European season.

Bank Holiday weekend shaped up well for the team, with free practice seeing the pairing get below 50 seconds for the first time ever at the Kent circuit. After running in a new engine, which developed an oil leak, Chris Jobbins and Si Thorley orchestrated a super-swift engine change, which saw the Cheshire pair back on the track 40 minutes later setting their new personal best time, the day was rounded off with the taxi ride session, giving members for the public the chance to passenger a 170+BHP engine F1 sidecar outfit, for a donation to ‘Help for Hero’s’, CTR, with the rest of the F1 sidecar teams managing to raise more than £4000 for the charity.
Sunday’s qualifying and race saw delight turn to dismay, after an improved qualifying session with the team in 11th on the grid, 3 laps into the race the wiring loom on the bike caught fire, leaving Craig and Dan out of the race.
Bank Holiday Monday only faired a little better; with a last lap battle for 9th in the first race curtailed a lap short by a melting plug cap, leaving the team to limp over the line in 10th place, further indication that the electrical problems weren’t solved. The final race of the day saw a fantastic start for the team up to 6th initially, but on only the first lap, the exhaust pipe broke, leaving Craig and Dan unable to complete the race, and capping off a frustrating weekend for the whole CTR team.

Craig: ‘Brands was yet another difficult weekend for us, we seem to have had no luck at all in this years domestic series, since the day we were told we would have to run less powerful engines than comparably experienced competitors, things have conspired against us to make this a very difficult year, hopefully going to one of our favorite tracks (Anglesey, 17-19th Sept) for the next round of the Battle of Britain can see a change in our luck – it has to change at some point!

Despite many external factors threatening to stop the team making the journey to France (not least the problematic Sidecar and some demanding work constraints for Craig and Dan) All of the team finally managed to get to the circuit by Friday morning, unfortunately meaning that the CTR bike was unable to make the first free practice session on the Thursday morning, further reiterating to the team the gap not just on the track, but the funding and sponsorship gap the team have to bridge to compete on a world level.

Most of the Friday qualifying sessions were spent trying to learn another new track to the team, but towards the end of the session Craig and Dan managed to pull themselves through the order to a respectable 16th on the grid of 26, with 1’53 second lap, putting them around 4.5 seconds down on the top team.

Saturday’s race was a difficult affair, with no less than two restarts due to major accidents. When the team made their final start for the 5 lap dash, a reasonable start saw them lying just outside the top 15, and despite the much reduced race difference, Dan and Craig were able to finish the race in a credible 15th place.

The team are next in action this weekend in the Anglesey round of the Battle of Britain sidecar championship, at Trac Mon, near Rosieniger.

Thanks must go to sponsors Able Systems Ltd, Rock Oil, Nortek Electronic circuits, Cheshire Batteries, Al Cornes, Kostas

Special thanks must also go to Pete Alton, from OTC Racing Dyno Centre, for his extreme help sorting out our electrical problems

Events Conspire against CTR at Cadwell Park.

During a weekend of mixed conditions CTR overcame set backs to pick up a few more championship points.

A positive free practice day saw the team finally iron out some of the setup and mechanical niggles that have been hampering the team during the season to date. After the final friday session Craig and Dan had managed to post times approaching those set during their last visit to Cadwell Park two years ago when they were running heavily tuned engines.

Craig - "To be able to lap close to the times we produced on our last visit is encouraging as while we are down this year on overall power due to the rule changes it proves that we are constantly improving our all round ability.

However mixed conditions led to gambles on tyres for Qualifying, while the team seemed to get decision right, both of the bike's runs were hampered by traffic on the circuit.

Dan - "Its a big disappointment to be only 17th on the grid after our progress yesterday. We have looked at the data and our very last lap would have pushed us up the order, but we found traffic in the woodlands section of the track where it is very hard to pass and we gave away at least a second to the field.

Sundays feature races dawned bright with the outfit posting lap times that were improving over the race distance till electrical problems left the bike stricken at the side of the track.

Craig - "Its cruel luck we were going well and making ground on the battle for 8th to 14th when the bike began to cut out unpredictably.

Race two the crew got off to a flying start making 5 place on the opening lap and posting lap times that would see them overhaul about 6 bike during the course of the race when at the end of lap 2 the red flag was shown after an incident involving another bike. As only two laps had been completed the grid was reset for a shortened rerun and the team were unable to reproduce the same start. Dogged progress saw Craig and Dan battle up to 12th position when the flag fell.

Chief Mechanic Chris - "The team is disappointed with the results this weekend, yet again we struggled with the qualifying format and left ourselves allot of work to do, technical issues and bad luck then made the fight back nigh on impossible."

CTR will next be action at Brands Hatch on the August Bank holiday weekend, which will also see the team taking part in the annual charity 'taxi' rides, where you can have a try at the art of the passenger in aid of "Help for Hero's".

CTR help local business P&R Labpak Ltd with corporate day out.

During the Oulton Park round of the British Championship, CTR were very pleased to help make a group's corporate day at the races extra special by inviting the ladies and gents down to have a look around the bike and try it for size.

Hope you all enjoyed your day out, we were happy to make you welcome and here are a few pictures from your visit.

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.

Hectic 3 weeks for CTR leaves a bitter taste of what could have been....

After a 5 week layoff, the CTR sidecar team of Craig Chaplow and Dan Evanson had 3 meetings in the last 3 weeks

Sat 12th June saw the Cheshire pair at a shakedown meeting at the Aintree circuit in Liverpool, designed to iron out any potential problems before the busy season, an unfortunate first corner incident on the first lap of the first race saw the boys qualify last on the grid, Dan, who was punted off the sidecar in the incident escaped with only bruised pride. From the back of the grid Craig and Dan went on to win both the points and the Trophy finals, ahead of the 20 strong field, in the process getting to within half a second of the circuit sidecar lap record.

Three days later and the boys were heading over on a mammoth 1500 mile journey to the Croatian Sidecar GP in Rijeka.

Minor technical issues during free practice left the pair on the back foot going into qualifying leaving them plenty of work to do during the races but with the issues sorted both were confident of a good run. The first 'sprint' race of the weekend saw the pairing take a fine 9th place, their second best result in a world championship race meeting. A Sunday dawned with torrential rain showers on the circuit making tyre choice critical, Craig found a choice that seemed to suit the conditions well during the morning warm up and the team went with a radical choice compared with the competition. However disappointment lay ahead as when the sidecar went out was on the grid formation lap the engine started smoking and the team were forced to sit out the weekends gold race, with the long journey back gave the team plenty of thinking time.

And finally, last weekend saw the team competing in the new, reinvigorated Eastern Airways F1 Sidecar 'Battle of Britian', which returned to our home track of Oulton Park after a two year absence. The largest grid ever of 30 F1 sidecars ran two races, with the Nantwich pairing achieving a 10th place overall at the meeting. Tv coverage of this event will be shown on Monday 5th July at 3pm on British Eurosport – so keep an eye out for the green #73. Thanks to sponsors Able Systems of Northwich and Edge Technology Ltd.

Photo courtesy of Mark 'Wally' Walters

CTR @ Northwich’s ‘Grand Prix’ in a Car park

This Sunday (9th May) Sees the CTR team in attendance at the Northwich Thundersprint. Title sponsors ‘Able Systems – Mini Printers’ are based in Northwich, and as a Cheshire based company and team we are delighted to be able to support one of the biggest ‘Free entry’ Motorsport events in the UK.

Friends and interested people are invited to visit the team in the ‘Parade Paddock’ situated near the back of Northwich town centre. The Bike will be part of the Cavalcade that rides around Northwich town centre at approx 11.30am, then will be on display to the general public for the rest of the day.

Driver, Craig said: “We are delighted to be entertaining Able Systems and their guests, our team believe passionately that motorsport sponsorship is a two way thing, and to be able to give something back to our sponsors at a large event like this is very important to us. Frank Melling and the Thundersprint organization have been very helpful in allowing us to attend this prestigious event, we hope we can offer the spectators something completely different to look at, and bring some more attention to the F1 sidecar class.”

MAY HAILS SOGGY SNETTERTON SIDECARS...

British F1 sidecar team CTR found the May-Day weather at Snetterton matched the mood, as a series of technical gremlins hampered the team’s progress. A Qualifying improvement of 11th (From 17th at Pembrey’s season opener) saw a DNF in race 1, 10th in a two-part Race 2 and a disappointing 19th in race 3.

The weekend started brightly enough for the CTR pair, with Craig and Dan snatching an improved 11th on the grid in qualifying one, still not as high as the teams had hoped, but better than the previous round. The second session was wet and no times improved, leaving the team in 11th for the Sunday 14 lap ‘Super pole’ Race.

Chris Jobbins (Technical Crew Chief) “We always new Snetterton would be difficult, its one of the fastest circuits on the calendar, with two massive, long straights. This years rule about previous world championship runners not being allowed to run fully tuned engines meant we would be around 15-20 BHP down on some of the front runners, it seems a shame to be penalized for wanting to better ourselves and be part of the GP program last year. But we did know the rules when we entered the championship, and at least this round is out of the way now.”

The track dried up for Sunday’s only race, where the first 8 grid slots where up for grabs as part of the super pole procedure. Chaplow/Evanson got the Able Systems Mini Printers/LCR Suzuki of the line in fine style, and in 3 laps had made a clear run to 8th place in the pack, putting an immediate 3 second gap into the pursuing pack and gaining on the group in front. Then disaster struck, as the bike gear shift snapped! The team limped the outfit back into the paddock musing what could have been their first top 5 result of the year.

Race 2 Monday saw the repaired machine starting from 12th on the grid due to the super pole rule. Again the team made initial good progress up to 10th , when the heavens opened at lap 5, bringing the race to a premature halt. The second part was run just after the lunch break, with the CTR outfit holding position on the track and also on corrected times.

The final race of the weekend initially saw the team make a good start, and again whilst running in a top 10 position the machine the repaired gear shift mechanism failed again. This meant Chaplow/Evanson could do no better than trail around the circuit in 4th gear, leaving them a lowly 19th place at the end of the 12 lap race.

The team wish to thank their sponsors Able Systems Mini-Printers LTD, Rock Oil and Kostas, Frank Thomas Group and Nortek Electronic circuits Ltd.

Highlights of the weekends races at Snetterton , will be covered SUNDAY May 9th, 21:00 on Eurosport 2.

Further footage will be on Eurosport, Eurosport 2 and Motors TV, schedules can be found at www.ctr-racing.co.uk

Pictures credited to Mark ‘Wally’ Walters

CTR Press Release – British Championship Round One, Pembrey, South Wales

Able Systems Ltd of Northwich backed CTR-F1 sidecar racing started their 2010 Eurosport ‘Battle of Britain’ campaign with a hard fought series of races at Pembrey, near Swansea in South Wales. The team qualified less than 2 seconds off pole but down in 17th Place on the grid, meaning a mammoth task in the ultra-competitive meeting, results of 18th, 15th and 13th were described as ‘Mediocre’ by team principle, Craig Chaplow.

After a winter of preparations the season began in earnest at Pembrey Circuit, South Wales with an oversubscribed grid of 30 outfits CTR started the weekend confident of picking up the first points of the season. A new weekend format of qualifying, and three points scoring races presenting plenty of opportunity to set our mark in a competitive field. Unfortunately gear selection problems during qualifying hampered Craig and Dan’s ability to really push during the session however they were happy with a personal best lap time. Later when the final qualifying results were released this was only good enough for 17th on the grid despite being 1.7 seconds off the pole position time.

Craig (Driver) – “We expected the pace to be quick and were happy with a personal best but the quality of the competition in this year’s championship meant our time while only 1.7sec off pole put us back in 17”

Saturdays ‘Superpole’ race over 18 laps proved a stern test of all the teams’ skill and fitness. A conservative start saw CTR boxed in on the inside of turn one which left them involved in a six way fight for 10th to 16th position. With Craig and Dan finishing a creditable 15th position picking up their first championship point.”

Dan (Passenger) – “The racing was exceptionally close, closer than I have been involved in for a long time; on a circuit with few passing places progress though the field was difficult but our experience of long races from last year’s world championship helped us to remain competitive throughout.”

The South Wales Sunshine beamed down on Sundays televised feature races. Race one again saw CTR pinned down at the first corner and after a race long struggle to pass slower bikes in front saw them finish in 18th
Dan – “Its disappointing to have finished so far down the field but while we were able to lap faster than many of the bikes in front of us there just wasn’t the space to overtake.”

Race two finally saw CTR able to show there true pace with a positive start seeing them clear of the slower mid field after the first couple of laps. With some of there best lap times of the weekend Craig and Dan managed to bridge the gap to the group in front but again a lack of overtaking opportunities saw their further progress up the field hampered , however positive riding and perseverance saw them finish 13th claiming more valuable championship points.

Craig – “We were caught napping during the qualifying session leaving us a lot of work to do during the races on a track where overtaking opportunities are limited. However our pace in the last race in clean air was encouraging with another personal best lap time CTR were consistently lapping quicker than several outfits in front of us and with a few more laps a top ten finish was defiantly on the card but it was not to be.”

CTR now take a break until round two at Snetterton on the first weekend in May but buoyed with the excellent pace in race three are confident of moving up the order.

Chris (Chief Mechanic) – “This weekend has shown the importance of qualifying well in such a talented field however we have a few ideas to improve the time a Snetterton.”

Thanks need to go to the new organizers of the British F1 Championship for what is already shaping up to be an excellent years racing for CTR. Don’t just believe us for tune into British Eurosport 2 Sunday 18th April 18:00 or British Eurosport 1 Tuesday 20th April 23:30 for coverage of all of Sundays action. As always thank-you to our sponsors for their loyalty and continued support into the new season and a special mention to Craig at Bodycraft of Wrenbury for the paintwork on the bike and Jonny Walker for the sponsor art work on bike and van.

Hope to see you all at an event over the coming year, but don’t forget to check back for updates on the season and other appearances.

Eastern Airways UK F1 Sidecar Championship revs up for Rounds 1 & 2

Pembrey in South Wales is the venue for the opening rounds of this, the biggest and best, F1 sidecar championship since the late 1980’s. An absolute top quality field of F1 sidecars, the like of which hasn’t been seen since the 1986 Silverstone Grand Prix, will be heading down to the former Spitfire base to set their mark on the opening stages of the Battle of Britain.

The current World Champions, Ben & Tom Birchall and former triple World Champions Tim & Tristan Reeves would be favourites to clean up under normal circumstances, but some interesting rule changes mean that the odds may be about to be turned on their heads. The World Championship teams now have to use standard engines as opposed to the highly tuned motors they have been able to run previously and Tim Reeves reckons that change costs up to one second per lap. Coincidentally, one second per lap was about the advantage they had over the best of the National teams in previous seasons, so a seven or eight outfit scrap at the head of the field now looks to be on the cards.

With the field so closely matched you’ll be lucky to find a bookmaker in the country willing to give you decent odds on the outcome, so be there to see it for yourself. The action gets underway on Saturday 10th April and culminates with the Eurosport televised races on Sunday 11th April. Pembrey is located just off the A484 near Llanellli in South Wales, within easy reach of the M4 motorway.

Cheshire Based CTR Sidecar racing will, of course be running in the event and hoping to be pushing for a podium result. Strong pre season testing at Mallory park and Anglesey have left the team ready to make their mark on the map for the opening round.

Craig Chaplow (Driver) said: “Pembrey is a special place for Dan and I, as we made our European debut there two years ago, but the thought of 30 F1 sidecars heading into a tight 180 degree hairpin gets the blood flowing, and we will have to ride hard to make our mark.’’

You can follow the antics of the team this year on both their website www.ctr-racing.co.uk and on Eurosport, who have come in as official TV partner to the series. Again the team wish to thank Able Systems, Nortek, Winsford Fish and Chips and Rock oil for their continued support.

Thundersport GB British F1 Sidecar Championship Website goes live.

The official site of the Eastern Airways British F1 Sidecar Championship is now live. Though out the season you will be able to check event dates, results, championship standings and the Eurosport coverage dates and times.

Aside from checking up on you favorite team here at CTR-Racing.co.uk you can stop by at http://www.britishf1sidecar.com/ for the series overview.

Positive Weekend at Anglesey

CTR Racing attended their first event of the year at the North Wales, Anglesey Circuit. Mixed weather saw the team unable to experiment as fully as hoped during this shake down and test event however ideas were tried with interesting results during the dry sessions on Saturday.

Craig - "While we have not been able to test as many areas of bike setup as we hoped but we have gained valuable knowledge for the forth coming season and some indispensable wet weather track time."

Sundays racing as part of the Nantwich& District season saw wild and wet weather with challenging conditions changing from damp to torrential rain in each session. The wet race conditions favored a strong Formula 2 entry but Craig and Dan managed a creditable Pole Position in Qualifying and followed this up with a 3rd and 2nd place in the two races and overall fastest lap in each race.

Dan - "The extra power of the F1 bike over the F2 was causing us a few grip issues in the wet however the close pack racing was ideal practice for me and Craig ahead of what will be a closely fought season."

Attention now turns to the British Championship starting the weekend of the 9th-11th April at Pembry, South Wales. Final changes and preparations are going on as I type.

Come and see us open our 2010 campaign in what is shaping up to be the most interesting British Championship in recent years. Alternatively catch all the action on British Eurosport during the following week.

Thundersport GB Announce 2010 title sponsor

Eastern Airways has teamed up with the organizers of the UK Formula 1 Sidecar Championship to support the 2010 series.

The UK regional airline will be the title sponsor for all eight rounds of the 2010 UK championship organized by Thundersport GB.

With over 800 flights operating each week, Eastern Airways provides essential transport links from 14 UK airports connecting the length and breadth of Britain and mainland Europe.

Darren Roberts, Eastern Airways’ communications manager, said: “We’ve worked closely with sidecar racing for many years as there is a lot of talent out there and a real passion from those involved. We very much focus our performance against the clock for on-time flight departures, which mirrors the aims of competitors wanting to be the best in this fiercely competitive sport.”

CTR Gearing up for 2010

With only a matter of weeks left until the first full event of the 2010 season all the team has stepped up a gear to finish the preparations.

Engines have been refreshed, repaired and tested after the rigors of the season just gone, once again thanks to John @ JEB's Engineering for the quick turn around time and friendly service. In what turned into the busiest none racing weekend known to the team the fairing also made the long trip up to Jason Miller's workshop for some patching of old battle scars and some subtle modifications, thanks to Jason for some excellent workmanship.

With all the parts converging back at base its time for a final build up and fitting. This does however leave the biggest question of the year,

"What colour shall we paint it this time??"

(Before anyone asks the spray shop can't colour match to tarmac.)

Well with that its back to the garage, you will all just have to wait and see what we come up with..

British F1 Championship secures Eurosport coverage though Thundersport GB

The "Battle of Britain" F1 Sidecar Championship will have its own 'stand alone' 1 hour programme on Eurosport for all 8 rounds in 2010, which should confirm its place as the #1 Sidecar Championship in the World. Both Sunday races (Monday in the case of Bank Holidays) will be shown in full and podiums, grid shots, dancing girls and brolly dollies will also be included.

Each programme will also feature a 'close up' on one team and a 5 minute 'tech talk' feature. This is because we are trying to promote public understanding of sidecars and also to give exposure to all the support services that make the business of racing a sidecar possible. These features will require a bit of co-operation from teams after the Saturday Superpole races to enable us to fit it within our Thundersport TV budgets.

Programmes are scheduled to be broadcast within 8 days of the actual event to keep things as current as possible.

Superside season review and off season update.

Happy New Year to all our visitors.

Screening dates have been released for the Superside season review show to be shown next week on Motors TV. While we have not seen the show yet, both CTR and teammates Redline Superbikes featured regularly in the Superside online TV coverage so don't forget to look out for us during the two hour show due to be broadcast four times next week.

31st Jan 09:15 - 11:55

2nd Feb 15:30 - 18:00

3rd Feb 04:15 - 06:30 & 12:00 - 14:30

5th Feb 02:25 - 5:30

On Sky 413 & Virgin 545

Pre-season preparations are currently gathering momentum, with fairing's being prepped for spraying, routine and annual repairs to the bike being undertaken ready for the 2010 season. Craig, Dan and Chris took time out from the garage work to attend a suspension open day and returned with a few new ideas to try this coming year. CTR are also intending to attend a seminar day based on the AIM computer system built into the bike to ensure we are maximizing it use.

Don't forget to check back to www.ctr-racing.co.uk soon for forth coming announcements on where to see CTR in action during the 2010 season and a full round up of all our new and returning sponsors.

End of season thanks from CTR Racing

CTR Sidecars would like to thank the following (in no particular order) for their help, support and guidance in 2009, it certainly was a baptism of fire at world level, and we enjoyed (nearly) every moment of it:

Russell and everyone at Rock Oil, you’ve backed us from the start and loyalty like that is outstanding and really well appreciated (Can I say that since we started with Rock we have never ever had one single problem with any of their products, their engine oils in particular have been superb – THANKYOU)

Derek and all the staff at Able Systems LTD, who have title sponsored us in 2009 and agreed to support us again in 2010
(Able Systems are manufacturers and suppliers of mini printers, please feel free to visit their web site if you are someone who’s business uses this type of application www.able-systems.com)

Kostas (Winsford’s best and tastiest chip fryer!)

John and Susan at Edge Technology – anyone needing generator deals MUST speak to these guys! (www.edgetechnology.co.uk)

Gareth and his family at Nortek circuits (www.nortek.co.uk) these are suppliers of products to the CCTV industry

The girls at Frank Thomas group (you know who you are) motorcycle clothing and accessories (www.frank-thomas.co.uk)

Gary and Dan at Redline Superbikes team 37 – our guardian angels and the best team to share an awning with in Superside – ‘we won’t be needing that’

Superside for allowing us to be part of the fun, especially Bernd for his guidance, and Mika for his encouragement
Steve @ stevenglish.com - for being there with the best website in the world, it gets me and many others through the dark winter nights

John at JEB’s for some super reliable, well priced, quick engines

The FSRA I think, in the main ?

Rob (Mechanics), Jobbins (team management), Si (IT support) – without you guys I would have had to mechanic the bike, and if that had happened we probably would have failed at that first test at Elvington 2009 and never got going again.

Ben @ Earle St Motorcycles Crewe (01270) 250 274 for his continued support and ability to find anything you might need

The Chaplow and Evanson families who continue to be patient and understanding whilst we throw every hour and £ towards into the Black hole that is world championship sidecar racing.

All our friends within and around the sport, you should be called family.

We have probably forgotten someone, so sorry but thanks anyway

‘Till 2010, stay in touch with our going’s on www.ctr-racing.co.uk

Craig and Dan

2009 draws to a close for CTR so here is the final event report...

….So that’s it – two weeks into the closed season and the CTR Crew are already hard at it planning and plotting for next year, Craig and Dan are hard at it, trying to win over some new sponsors (see the Frank Thomas article below) arrange all of those things that need sorting away from the ‘’glamour’’ side of the sports, things like team-wear, sorting awnings, cleaning and storage for the winter, and our usual nemesis job – getting the race fairing in shape for 2010!

Over in Ireland things didn’t really go to plan, trying to learn the circuit the bike was really near going over on spilt oil from another machine – We thought those bad old days from sidecar racing were over but it seems not – this was the 3rd engine this particular bike had ‘used’ in two meetings that we were aware of.

Race day dawned overcast, shortly followed by a day of drizzle, favoring the F2 bikes, especially to us who were still not really sure which way the circuit went! We were spun out in the first raced and came a rather dismal 9th in the second race, meaning £30 in prize money! Hmmmmm.

So, we decided not to finish the season on a low note and enter the last club meeting of the year at Oulton Park the weekend after. Home as we like to call it!

Qualifying again in the wet saw Craig and Dan running an unusually low 6th on the grid of 20+ outfits, still trying to dial out some minor brake problems. Race one started with a big pile of rear wheel spin and not moving forward very fast at all! When the bike did eventually grip they were away, and spent the race finding some confidence in the bike again, they came in 4th behind World championship regulars Alan Schofield and Ken Knapton, and Club champion Craig Hauxwell on his F2.

Race two saw Chaplow/Evanson make up for the dire start in race 1, from the 3rd row of the grid they slotted into second place by the first corner and were never challenged again. The race was run on a seriously drying track, and with all 4 of the front runners on wet tyres it became a race of attrition, with Knapton pulling out at 2/3 distance with ruined tyres, Chaplow and Schofield eventually pulled 15 seconds on Brian Peddar. So there it was, 1 lap to go, last race of the season and Chaplow/Evanson are within a second of Schofield. They closed going into Shell Oils hairpin, and again going into the lodge complex, using every ounce of slip streaming going onto the start finish straight the outfits went over the line together, and a tense 10 mins was had waiting for the timekeepers verdict – it was eventually handed to Schofield by 0.08 seconds. The closest finish the CTR team has ever had

Craig says he’ll be keeping the website updated every couple of weeks over the winter….. till then!

Looking back on the end of the season.

….So that’s it – two weeks into the closed season and the CTR Crew are already hard at it planning and plotting for next year, Craig and Dan are hard at it, trying to win over some new sponsors (see the Frank Thomas article below) arrange all of those things that need sorting away from the "glamour" side of the sport, things like team-wear, sorting awnings, cleaning and storage for the winter, and our usual nemesis job – getting the race fairing in shape for 2010!

It all started with our trip over the water to Northern Ireland to the Sunflower race meeting, now the Irish are a hospitable lot and offered to help us with our trip over there – which was good of them. We also found a nice route over the water with the Birkenhead –Belfast night boat! The CTR Boys re-financed the bar both ways!
Over in Ireland things didn’t really go to plan, trying to learn the circuit the bike was really near to going over on spilt oil from another machine – We thought those bad old days from sidecar racing were over but it seems not – this was the 3rd engine this particular bike had ‘used’ in two meetings that we were aware of.

So, we decided not to finish the season on a low note and enter the last club meeting of the year at Oulton Park the weekend after. Home as we like to call it!

Race two saw Chaplow/Evanson make up for the dire start in race 1, from the 3rd row of the grid they slotted into second place by the first corner and were never challenged again. The race was run on a seriously drying track, and with all 4 of the front runners on wet tyres it became a race of attrition, with Knapton pulling out at 2/3 distance with ruined tyres, Chaplow and Schofield eventually pulled 15 seconds on Brian Peddar. So there it was, 1 lap to go, last race of the season and Chaplow/Evanson are within a second of Schofield. They closed going into Shell Oils hairpin, and again going into the Lodge complex, using every ounce of slip streaming going onto the start finish straight the outfits went over the line together, and a tense 10 min's was had waiting for the timekeepers verdict – it was eventually handed to Schofield by 0.08 seconds. The closest finish the CTR team has ever had

Craig says he’ll be keeping the website updated every couple of weeks over the winter….. till then!

End of Season for CTR Racing

After a trouble free run at the Sunflower and Wirral 100 MCR events recently Team CTR have finally drawn a close on their 2009 season. Full report from the last events coming soon.

CTR Racing are currently setting their plans into motion for the 2010 season, and are to continue their successful partnership with Gary and Dan Knight of Redline Superbikes.

With the new season on the horizon CTR and Redline Superbikes are pleased to announce the support of Frank Thomas in the supply of race wear for next season.

For the full range of Frank Thomas products follow the following link.

CTR CONFIRM ADDTIONAL EVENT

After the high drama of Anglesey, time out was taken to asses the damage and repairs required. After two weeks of hard work CTR Racing are pleased to announce that they will be entering the 'Sunflower' Event at Bishops Court, Northern Ireland this weekend (17-18th October). Craig and Dan are hoping to finish the season on a high note against stiff competition.

Seasons Finale up’s and down’s

CTR’s season finale took place at the end of September at the Anglesey Circuit, which was hosting both the European Sidecar champion penultimate round and the Cheshire Club’s Kelvin Beckett Memorial races, Craig and Dan’s weekend saw them improve their best lap times on the international circuit improve by 4 seconds from their last visit to the Welsh track, a 5th and 4th Place in the European races, 2 second places and a DNF in the Kelvin Beckett Races, leaving them yet again frustrated at not being able to clinch this impressive trophy.

The weekend started well with qualifying seeing them 2nd for the trophy races, behind fellow world championship competitors Brian Peddar and Rod Steadman (Q42 racing) and 5th on the grid for the European championship races.

Saturday’s euro ‘sprint’ race was run over 5 laps of the international circuit and saw the team maintain their grid position throughout the race, the race was not without incident as the Able Systems backed machine developed clutch problems throughout the race and the stricken machine only just made it to the line running very low on oil. Redline Superbikes team mates Gary and Dan Knight managed an emphatic win in the race to take the overall circuit lap record, CTR team’s congratulations go to them.

An overnight engine change to sort the clutch problem meant that the team were able to make the start of the first trophy race on the Sunday, after briefly leading the pack on the first lap, Craig and Dan were only able to follow Staffordshire’s Peddar/Steadman home ahead of the 18 strong field.

In the weekends feature European ‘Gold’ race (over 18 laps) Craig and Dan made a strong start running 3rd on the first lap, after a difficult start Macclesfield team mates Knight/Knight were the only people to challenge Chaplow/Evanson throughout the race, Leaving the CTR duo to take 4th place from new European champions Mark Edwards/Jamie Winn.

The second trophy race of the day saw the Chaplow/Evanson complete a lights to flag in second place, finishing 6 seconds down on Peddar/Steadman. And the final race of the weekend saw Chaplow and Evanson tangle with the Q42 machine on the second lap leaving them out for the rest of the race.

Presently that leaves the team unsure as to whether they will be racing again this season, with all the world and European rounds now finished there is a chance of appearing at the final domestic round of the season on Saturday 17th October at the spectacular Thruxton circuit. To compete at this meeting leaves the Cheshire pair seeking sponsorship after a very expensive season.

Thanks, as always this season must go to the team, including S Thorley, R Deavall, C Jobbins and R Chaplow, together with Sponsors Able Systems, Rock Oil, Nortek Electronic Circuits, and Winsford Fish and Chips. Without all of you this seasons racing would not have been possible.

Curtain falls on eventful World Season for CTR Racing

The final round of this year’s Superside championship saw ‘Able System Mini Printers’ backed CTR F1 sidecar racing making one final trip across the channel, where solid progress throughout the weekend saw the team consolidate there performances this year, qualifying 15th, followed by a respectable 13th place finish out of 23 teams. Leaving them 12th in the World, and 4th place in the ‘Teams’ championship.

A Damp first free practice gave Craig and Dan an ideal chance to learn yet another new circuit, and in the second, dry, free practice, it allowed set up of the machine. At the end of the first day head mechanic, Rob Deavall said:
“Each round this year has been at new circuits to the whole team, this has meant that not only have Craig and Dan had to learn the tracks but we have had to get a gearing and suspension set up decided, and quickly!” he went on to say “Our thanks must go to Gary and Dan Knight who helped us with set up advice all season and allowed us to use their superb race awning!”

Saturday qualifying saw the team qualify a solid 15th place, with team mates Gary and Dan Knight (Rock Oil/Redline Superbikes) in a fine 5th place. Craig and Dan broke into the 1’39’s in the second and final qualification although improving in time this was to no avail as it didn’t move the Cheshire duo any further up the grid.

Nerves seemed to be running high for the final race of the season on the Sunday, fortunately the day dawned dry and bright. After a reasonable start the team soon found themselves involved in some first corner antics, with Dutch crew Bennie Streur and Kees Endeveld (Bennie Struer Racing) swapping Paintwork with the Able-Systems Machine.

Later Craig said:

“The first corner incident is not unexpected – the championship is that close this year that 26 sidecars all trying to get onto the same piece of tarmac at the same time never was going to work!” the added “ For Dan, Simon, Rob and I this year has been a baptism of fire, over the weekend 3 times world champion Tim Reeves (Eastern Airways Racing) said to me that he thought we’d really done ourselves proud, having thrown ourselves in at the deep end racing at this level with such limited experience between us”

The Team have now got a round of European competition at one of their favorite circuits on Anglesey on the weekend of 19th and 20th September, before the season ends. Again all concerned would like to thank Rock Oil, Northwich’s Able Systems Mini Printers, Nortek electronic circuits and Kostas @ Winsford F&C.

Check out the sample video coverage via our VIDEOS page.

MIXED FORTUNES IN CROATIA FOR TEAM CTR

Able-Systems (mini printers) backed CTR Sidecar racing have consolidated their position in the sidecar world championship with a season best result in race one, and a gutsy ride in the second ‘gold’ race in the Croatian sidecar GP.

After a spectacular 1000 miles across Europe to Rijeka, Croatia the team arrived in good order and with high hopes for the penultimate rounds of the Superside world championships.

Free practice saw problems with the LCR-Suzuki, when the bike developed a serious misfire, somewhat hampering the progress of set up and learning yet another circuit. After overnight repairs Craig and Dan managed to qualify a respectable 12th on the grid.

Craig said ‘We were very happy with our qualifying performance, especially having had to deal with the electrical problems on the bike Friday evening. We managed to qualify 2 seconds a lap faster than we managed in free practice, which is much needed proof that we are finally learning the circuit.’

Race one (sprint race) saw near-perfect conditions, again allowing the team to improve their lap times by a further two seconds a lap, and after a particularly spirited early charge the team managed to settle in to a secure 9th place, and with an unexpected retirement of the team in front finally finished a career best 8th place in a Grand Prix.

Dan said ‘The Circuit is very physical but we have coped and learned the circuit very quickly, we both really like the track.’

Unfortunately disaster struck in Morning warm up, when attempting to pass another bike the CTR machine strayed on to the bumpy part of the circuit, spun and eventually flipped, leaving Craig (driver) trapped in the sidecar and seeing Dan (passenger) thrown 15m up the track. Both were lucky to escape with only mild bruising, and after a thorough inspection, the bike was declared fit to be raced.

Forming on the Grid for the 20 lap ‘Gold Race’ on the Sunday, the team noticed that the NEW rear tyre seemed to be going flat on the sidecar outfit, later found to be due to a tyre fitting mistake.

Opting to make the start the team pitted at the end of lap one and lost two laps fitting a new rear tyre. After a consistent ride, and a couple of other teams suffering technical problems the team managed to finish in 13th place and pick up 3 valuable points in the championship.

Speaking after the race, event crew chief Simon Thorley said ‘Its a real shame after yesterdays successes, but we are happy to have collected some points against the odds – Its kept the team equal 10th in the world championships, with one round to go.’

The team now have little over a week to prepare for the Le Mans (France) season Finale 4-6th September; progress can be followed at www.superside.com

Finally, and most importantly we wish to thank our sponsors and supporters including Able Systems Mini Printers, Winsford Fish and Chips, Nortek, EDGE Technology, The Grange Boarding Kennels, Cheshire Batteries, The Boot and Shoe (Nantwich) and Rock Oil.

For the Video highlights of both the Sprint and Gold Races check out the Videos page.

Barmy July for CTR Racing

Three race weekends and a charity day greeted the ‘Able Systems’ backed CTR team as July approached, and most of Europe needed trampling over in the intrepid team truck.

Early July saw the hottest conditions that the team have ever raced in at Albercete in Spain, with Air temp towards 40 degrees and the tarmac touching 60+ degrees. This meant keeping an eye on tyre wear, together with engine and brake temperatures. Free practice and qualifying saw the team put together their best ever performance in a world championship event and qualify 11th, with things looking hopeful for the team’s first top ten finish in a World Championship round.

Crew Chief, Chris Jobbins said ‘The Bike set up is near perfect, and we have found some novel approaches to dealing with the temperatures of both the bike and the riders’ also adding ‘working here with the world motorcycle endurance championship has also given us some ideas for coping in the heat.

The race day dawned, unsurprisingly bright and sunny, and with a successful morning warm up, race day went without a hitch, the team started from 11th and made a successful race without incident ending in a solid 9th place, and therefore achieving the pre season goal of a top 10 finish in the world championships. Team mates Gary and Dan Knight (Rock Oil/Redline superbikes LCR) continued their storming year with another 4th place, leaving them 5th at this point in the championship.

Two weeks later saw Craig and Dan racing in front of the biggest crowd they have ever had watch them race, 250,000 fans turned up over the race weekend to watch MotoGP/Superside at the Sachsenring circuit in Germany. Limited track time and knowledge saw the team disappointed in qualifying 23rd on the Grid, but with a slightly improved set up for race day they were able to transfer that to a solid 19th place finish. After the race Craig said ‘19th after the 10th in Spain was quite disappointing but we have learnt certain areas of weakness through this weekend, at this level you can not afford for this to happen and we will be working hard to put this right for later in the season.’

A 24 Hour dash back to the UK and an engine change next saw the team out in action at Donnington Park, at the annual ‘Day of Champions’ Here members of the public, together with sponsors and friends pay for ‘Taxi rides’ on the back of the sidecar outfit. Between the teams over £1000 was raised in a few hours to support riders for health, and African health charity. One participant got off the sidecar (slowly) declaring to the organisers that it was the best £20 he had spent in his life!

The final leg of the July racing program was a rare chance for the team to race on the Brands Hatch GP circuit as the 5th round of the FSRA National F1 sidecar championships. Slightly on a back foot having missed the Friday test session the team had to get up to speed quickly to learn the track, with most of the opposition having raced this circuit configuration before it was imperative to learn the circuit, and fast! Unfortunately technical gremlins got in the way of a hectic qualifying session and this saw Craig and Dan having to start 13th out of the grid of 25, having only completed 8 laps of the circuit ever.

Over the course of the three races the lap times and speeds generally improved as the circuit knowledge got better, with Sunday’s two races resulting in two 3rd Places in the F1 cup as a result of an 8th and 7th in the main championship races.

Craig and Dan would like to thank Able Systems Mini Printers, Rock Oil, Nigel and Jan at the Boot and Shoe public House in Nantwich, Nortek Electronic design, Kostas the Greek at Windsford Fish and Chips and Edge Technology

Until next time (Croatia August 21-23rd)

Over and out,

Craig Chaplow
CTR Sidecar Racing.

CTR Racing would also like to take this chance to pass on their congratulations and best wishes to 'Crew Chief' Chris Jobbins and his good lady Tracy McVeigh on the birth of their first child, Connor.

CTR Racing at Superside Albacete

Last weekend saw Craig and Daniel in action at round two of the "Superside" World Sidecar Championships at Albacete, Spain. The weekend saw perfect weather throughout although the high temperatures were causing both riders and bikes some issues, but after their recent run of bad luck CTR pulled an excellent weekend out of the bag.

Qualifying saw Craig and Dan in 11th on the grid, Craig "we are really happy with the grid position, while it would be nice to be nearer the front we have made good progress against our peers from Schliez." CTR have indeed made progress out qualifying Knapton/Belsey and Percy/Swift who regularly place in front of them in the British Championship.

Drama proceeded the race with some unclear instructions from the organizers seeing four teams including CTR stuck in pit lane, fortunately all were able to take up their rightful grid positions during the warm-up lap. A strong performance from the bike during the race saw Craig and Daniel move up the order to finnish 9th. A career best result in some difficult conditions, Daniel "I can honestly say that today has been the most I have enjoyed racing this year."

Team CTR is currently on tour with Craig and Mechanic Robert Deavall taking the next two weeks to cross Europe to Sachsenring, Germany for round 3 which is to be held 17th - 19th July with MotoGP.

A full press release will be available soon with photos from the event, in the mean time check out the videos page of the television coverage from the superside media team and keep an eye on Eurosport UK/Motors TV as the full coverage of round 1 is soon to be aired.

CTR Live Interview on Radio Warrington.

Craig and Dan have been invited for a live interview on Radio Warrington this Wednesday evening. The interview will be going out during the 'Biker Rock Show with Tony W' between 8 and 10 pm. Radio Warrington can only be found online, listening options can be found at http://www.radiowarrington.co.uk/home or via our links page

CTR have mixed results at Round 4 of the British Championship at Snetterton

With a recently completed rebuild CTR aimed to fully test the bike and record some solid results towards the championship.

The meeting was a tale of two halves, Saturday saw the bike performance improve steadily during the morning sessions as it bedded back in after the rebuild. Holding 5th at one point during Qualifying but finally being edged out to 9th on the grid. Race 1 saw Chaplow/Evanson climb steadily up the pack with ever improving lap times to finish a respectable 5th place.

Sunday dawned to torrential rain and drama after Saturdays success. During warm -up a chain failure saw CTR stopped mid track, closer inspection after the session found that the chain had damaged the rear suspension, after frantic lunchtime work CTR made the first race of the day faced with difficult conditions the team settled for a solid 9th place overall, Craig - "after seeing several teams slide off the track we were mindful of the upcoming event in Spain so we rode a sensible race."

With a drying track hopes were better for race 2, but disaster struck during the warm up lap, Chaplow/Evanson were forced to leave the grid before the start, Daniel - "some of the other riders told us on the grid that there was something amiss with the rear wheel and after the mornings problems we thought it prudent to not start the race which was disappointing. Later inspection revealed that the rim was buckled, although partly replaced after the Germany accident more work is obviously required.

So having experienced a mixed week the team were buoyed by the success and relived that the weekend had resulted in no major faults with the bike enabling preparations for Round 2 of Superside in Albecete, Spain to really get started.

Everyone at CTR Racing would also like to congratulate 'Passenger Dan' for finally reaching the grown up world, by winding up his 18th birthday celebrations at Snetterton.

Thanks to Maxine Flatman for supplying the photos from the event.

CTR Prepare for round 4 of the British Championship at Snetterton

After the up and downs of Schliez and missing Cadwell Park, CTR Racing are nearly ready to hit the track again this weekend at Snetterton.

Four hectic weeks of work are coming together with the final rebuild of the bike after the repairs to the chassis damage sustained in Germany, many thanks to Mick Webster for his quick turn around, JEB's Performance Engineering for the engine work and Chris Jobbins and friends for the fairing work.

CTR have high hopes for a good finnish at Snetterton after the recent disappointments,

Craig "We know Snetterton very well and have always enjoyed good results there, the circuit seems to suit our riding style and it will be interesting to see how the increased performance of this years bike translates on the track."

The team hope to be ready to take part in Fridays test day as a shake down, while the action starts in ernest on Saturday with the first qualifying session. Many thanks to all our sponsors this year including Able Systems Ltd and especially the Boot and Shoe Public House, Nantwich for their sponsorship the teams helmets this year.

More Pictures from Superside Round One.

Many thanks to our team mates, Gary and Dan Knight from Redline Superbikes, for passing some images from Schliez on and well done on your excellent results.

For the full set please visit the photo gallery and don't forget to check out the video coverage.

CTR Racing Land on the world stage, in more ways than one...

Craig Chaplow and Dan Evanson’s arrival on the world stage arrived with a bang, or two actually! With crashes in both free practice and Saturday’s sprint race.

Against all odds the the Able Systems backed outfit was re-assembled overnight allowing the team to make their debut World F1 Sidecar GP start on the Sunday, culminating in a respectable 11th place finish in the 22 lap gold race.

Friday morning’s excitements at being in their 1st World Champ round saw the team delighted at running 9th in free practice after seven laps. The “Able-System” backed sidecar outfit was running perfectly.

Unfortunately, on the 9th lap of the session, the 17 year old passenger, Dan Evanson, (youngest passenger in the series), lost his handhold through the chicane.

This resulted in the outfit running off the road at the next corner, across the track and into the Armco. Having missed qualification one, the team worked the whole night to replace broken parts, to be ready for Q2.

German T.V. were interested in the youngest team in the series and many fans came to wish good luck for the rest of the weekend. Craig said,

‘It has been a baptism of fire, but we were trying our best to get up to speed within the 30 minute session. My missed gear caused Dan to miss his hand hold, and it all started to go wrong from there.’

Having missed the first timed qualifying session whilst repairing the bike, all eyes were on the Weather as Saturday Morning dawned. Team manager, Chris Jobbins commented,

‘Saturday’s weather needed to be dry to allow the team a chance of qualify. Fortunately the weather gods were smiling on us and the lads managed to qualify well within the 115% of pole to start from 17th on the grid of 20.’

However, luck was about to run out for Craig and Dan in Saturday afternoon’s sprint race, having made a great start from 17th to progress up to 14th in two laps, disaster struck...!

When finishing the second lap the bike flipped coming out of the last corner onto the start finish straight, with Dan thrown 40 yards up the road leaving the team out of the race. After another late night working on the bike, Craig and Dan finally made their World GP Debut on Sunday afternoon.

Needing a confidence boosting finish they rode a sensible race, finishing 11th and leaving them 12th in the world championship standing after the first two races.

Team CTR would like to thank all the paddock and visitors for their support during the weekend and are already preparing the bike for it's next event at Snetterton (6/7th June).

For full reports from Round 1 of Superside visit www.superside.com.

Also check out the preview of the TV coverage of Superside Schliez on our videos page.

Of course don't forget to check back to www.ctr-racing.co.uk for the latest updates from CTR Racing Team.

CTR MAKE A CLEAN SWEEP AT OULTON PARK

'The team spent the Friday test at Oulton park in the sunshine, developing their new hydraulic clutch, and although the test session was quite broken up, they still achieved a 1'47.6, taking over 3 seconds a lap off the fastest they have ever gone round this track. It was also positive to see 11 outfits testing on a Friday at Oulton Park.

Saturday dawned again a beautiful day, perfect for the 45 sponsors and guests that we were expecting. A total grid of 25 sidecars went down to the holding area for timed qualifying, With the CTR team eventually taking pole by 2 seconds, from Alan Schofield (SRT Motorcycles), With Blackburn's Dave Holden making up the top 3 a couple of seconds further back. With the race starting after lunch this proved an ideal chance for our guests from Able Systems, Winsford Fish and Chips, Nortek and Edge Technology to enjoy a lunch buffet, with a chance then for the kids (mainly little, but some big!) to have photos in the outfit.

The first race saw initial drama as Alan Schofield didn't make the start with gearbox problems. Craig and Dan came into the first corner behind Dave Holden, and after making their move coming out of Cascades, they were never challenged again, building up an 8 second lead after the first two laps, and maintaining that gap until the finish.

Race 2 saw the team request a start from the back of the grid, allowing for some further testing of the new clutch assembly, after some audacious moves, including going three abreast into Shell Oils hairpin, they found themselves in 2nd place going onto lap two. Then ensued a 4 lap battle royal with Dave Holden/Rob Coward, with the CTR Duo making a move coming out of Dear Leap onto the start/finish straight on the last lap. After an exceptionally quick last lap, CTR's Craig and Dan took the chequered flag by just over a second.

Craig and Dan would like to thank the ever present team of Simon, Rob, Les, Chris J, Richard and Gibb for their tireless work, some of whom were up until 2am Friday morning preparing the bike, and not forgetting Christian for the catering.

2009 F1 Sidecar season starts with a new sponsor and bang.

Team CTR would like to welcome aboard Able Systems Ltd, Team CTR's main sponsor for 2009.

After two rounds of the new season Crewe and Nantwich based CTR Sidecar team of Craig Chaplow and Daniel Evanson have already experienced the highs and lows of racing.

After announcing their entry to the 2009 FIM 'Superside&', F1 World Championship, expectations were high going into the first round of the British F1 Championship at Brands Hatch.

A coming together at the end of the last practice session on Friday resulted in Dan having to spend the night in Maidstone hospital. After just making it back in time to be declared fit to ride for qualifying, the team held second position on the grid for over half over the qualifying period, however with teams going out for one last attempt

team CTR ended up 5th on the grid, just under a second from the pole sitter. The rest of the weekend ran smoothly for team CTR with a 4th, 5th and 6th overall and 3 wins in the F1 Cup. Craig - “Moral is running very high within the team, as we have begun to exploit the improvements made over the winter and I feel we can go on to perform even better as the year progresses”. These results left them 5th in the overall British F1 championship and having a 15 point lead in the British F1 Cup.

After all the highs of Brands Hatch the team arrived at Croft after a month off, after going out in qualifying we came back in to find the engine smoking badly, the team pulled together well to change to the spare engine before the first race began, but it went from bad to worse as when they came in during the race they found a small crack in the engine which ruled them out of the rest of the weekends racing, Dan - “it is very disheartening after the highs of Brands, but these things happen in racing”

The team is next in action at Oulton Park on the 18th April 2009, so please come along and support us at our home venue.

PRE-SEASON TESTING

CTR Racing have attended two testing sessions with the new bike as shake down for the new season at Elvington and Mallory Park. both sessions were used to shake down the equipment for this year and give Craig and Dan the opportunity to hone their skills on the new bike.

Craig - "We are very happy with the new purchase and expect to be running near the front of grid in the British Championship this year."

Illustrating the point CTR managed to post a new unofficial F1 Sidecar lap record at Elvington and knocked about a second off their personal best time at Mallory.

PRE SEASON PRESS RELEASE

CTR Sidecar’s Danny Evanson and Craig Chaplow have released plans for this years British and WORLD F1 Sidecar Championships, together with a number of new strategic partnerships for the 2009 season

With a new LCR chassis and Suzuki engines the team will be begin testing in late February, with their British Championship campaign beginning 7/8th March at Brands Hatch in Kent.

Passenger, Dan said ‘We have decided to take the bold step of moving into the World Championships in 2009, in a bid to learn the circuits properly for the 2010 campaign, the series takes us to high caliber race meetings worldwide, including Croatia, and the MotoGP events in Holland and Germany.’

We are pleased to announce commercial partnerships in 2009 with Able Systems (Mini Printers Specialists), in Northwich, Nortek Electronics, and continuing with existing deals with Winsford Fast food and Rock Oil.

Craig - "with new sponsor arrangements, funding is in place for 75% of the season. However costs rise significantly with overseas traveling and anyone wishing to discuss what motorsport sponsorship, from £100 upwards can do for you, please contact me on 07974 924488"