Author: Tim Langham

Provisional 2024 F.S.R.A. / 1st Call Refrigeration Pre-Injection Sidecar Championship Calendar

FSRA

From Dave Tibbles

Test Day – 22nd March (Friday) – Darley Moor – British Historic Racing

Round1 – April 6th & 7th – Croft – N.E.M.C.R.C.

Round 2 – April 20th & 21st – East Fortune Sidecars Event

Round 3 – May 11th & 12th – Cadwell Park – British Historic Racing

Round 4 – June 22nd & 23rd – Anglesey – Wirral 100

Round 5 – July 13th (Saturday) – Aintree – A.M.C.R.C.

Round 6 – August 3rd & 4th – Cadwell Park Sidecar Revival – B.M.C.R.C.

Round 7 – August 24th & 25th – Croft Battle of Britain – D.D.M.C.

Round 8 – September 21st & 22nd – Knockhill

FSRA 2024 Annual General Meeting and Awards Evening November 23rd

Interested: – Contact Dave Tibbles 07740098550 dave.tibs@btopenworld.com

Chris Andrews

It is with much sadness to report that former sidecar driver Chris Andrews succumbed to a short illness on Sunday 15th October, peacefully with his family at his bedside. Chris had dealt with his deteriorating condition with dignity and bravery in equal measure since diagnosis in Summer 2022.

Chris and his brother Mal competed for almost twenty five years, starting in 1970 on a Triumph outfit, before upgrading to an immaculate Honda CB750 machine four years later, on which they were East Yorkshire Centre Airfield Sidecar Champions. In 1976, they – along with others – experienced a setback after making serious investment in the new 750 Konig engines, with numerous mechanical issues.

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F.S.R.A. / 1st Call Refrigeration Pre-Injection Sidecar Championship – Round 8 Anglesey – Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th September – Preview

FSRA

Words – Dave Tibbles / Photographs – Haydn Wyatt

This year’s eighth and final round of the 2023 F.S.R.A. / 1st Call Pre-Injection Sidecar Championship will be at this coming weekend’s Wirral 100 club’s Anglesey Grand meeting on the 23rd and 24th of September. There are still top championship placings to be decided in both F1 and F2 classes. The only unchallengeable team is this year’s F1 class winners who were crowned at Cadwell Park three weeks ago: congratulations to Gary Fairhurst and Billy Williams on their Windle ZZR9R. This year they have finished all twenty-five races with twenty-three wins. Battling for the remaining top three championship places in the F1 class will be: Mark Burns / Steven Winfrow (1000 LCR Yamaha) and the big 1100cc Suzukis of John Stevenson / Amanda Mason and George McMahon / Mick Ranson.

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The 2023 A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British F2 Sidecar Championship – Round 7 – Knockhill – Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd September

FSRA

Supported by :- A.V. Craine & Sons; Hegarty Plant Ltd.; Pagid Racing;

Whitby Cottages; Rowtec Engineering Maintenance & Tingle Windows

Words – Tim Langham (F.S.R.A. Press Officer) / Photographs – Simon Heath

The season finale at Knockhill, dubbed as a “Scottish Sidecar Festival” saw a huge turnout of over sixty sidecar outfits across several classes, which included the British F1 Sidecars and Scottish Championship Sidecars, along with the British F2 teams. The meeting was planned to include a race for the prestigious “Jock Taylor Trophy”, with the fastest teams from each category invited to take part – but unfortunately due to significant time constraints due to red flags on Sunday, this race was unable to be run as a stand-alone event, and this trophy was awarded to the winner of Sunday’s “Rowe British F1 Sidecar Championship” race.

While the Super F2 Championship winners Pete Founds / Jevan Walmsley (LCR Honda), and runners-up Steve & Matty Ramsden (LCR Honda); and also the F2 Cup Champions Brian Ilaria / Arlo Brown (DDM Suzuki) had all secured enough points a fortnight beforehand at Cadwell Park, all eyes were on who would land the remaining top three places in both classes.

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The 2023 A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British F2 Sidecar Championship – Round 6 – Cadwell Park Battle Of Britain – Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th August

FSRA

Supported by :- A.V. Craine & Sons; Hegarty Plant Ltd.; Pagid Racing;

Whitby Cottages; Rowtec Engineering Maintenance & Tingle Windows

Words – Tim Langham (F.S.R.A. Press Officer) / Photographs – Simon Heath

Only a fortnight after a rain-soaked Cadwell Park Sidecar Revival, the A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British F2 Sidecar Championship made a return visit to the popular Lincolnshire circuit for the penultimate round of the 2023 season in contrasting weather conditions which made for some fast and furious racing throughout the field!

Congratulations go to Pete Founds / Jevan Walmsley (LCR Honda), taking an unprecedented sixth British F2 Sidecar Championship, and to Brian Ilaria / Arlo Brown (DDM Suzuki) who needed a single point to land the F2 Cup title – they achieved this in style with a victory in class in Saturday’s opening race.

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The 2023 A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British F2 Sidecar Championship – Round 5 – Cadwell Park Sidecar Revival – Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th August

FSRA

Supported by :- A.V. Craine & Sons; Hegarty Plant Ltd.; Pagid Racing;

Whitby Cottages; Rowtec Engineering Maintenance & Tingle Windows

Words – Tim Langham (F.S.R.A. Press Officer) / Photographs – Simon Heath

Changeable weather conditions did not deter Pete Founds / Jevan Walmsley (LCR Honda) or Brian Ilaria / Arlo Brown (DDM Suzuki) – both of whom took an immaculate hat-trick of wins in the Super F2 and F2 Cup respectively to extend their championship leads at the fifth International Sidecar Revival at Cadwell Park. With only 100 points remaining, Founds / Walmsley hold a commanding 56 point advantage over Steve & Matty Ramsden (LCR Honda), while Ilaria / Brown need just a single point to clinch the title, regardless of other results.

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F.S.R.A. / 1st Call Refrigeration Pre-Injection Sidecar Championship – Round 6 Cadwell Park Sidecar Revival – Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th August

FSRA

Words – Marianne Walford

It is always a highlight of the season to be part of the Sidecar Revival meeting, where we get to see both the British Championship and the F.S.R.A. F2 championship as well as the Bemsee club sidecars and classics in the Camathias Cup. In the programme we had our own race, but due to low numbers in the BEARS class, they were added to our races on a split-start grid.

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F.S.R.A. / 1st Call Refrigeration Pre-Injection Sidecar Championship – Round 5 – Anglesey

FSRA

Words – Marriane Walford

Saturday was bright with a strong wind. The Pre-Injection series provided a good entry of twelve outfits who joined the six Wirral 100 Open Sidecars. The practice session included the A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British F2 championship riders and a total of 35 outfits recorded times, which was intimidating for the crews with novice drivers and passengers.

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A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British F2 Sidecar Championship – Round 4 – Anglesey – Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th July

FSRA

Supported by :- A.V. Craine & Sons; Hegarty Plant Ltd.; Pagid Racing;

Whitby Cottages; Rowtec Engineering Maintenance & Tingle Windows

Words – Tim Langham (F.S.R.A. Press Officer) / Photographs – Simon Heath

As the championship gathers momentum following two fairly quiet months to accommodate the T.T., Southern 100 and Oliver’s Mount Road Races, there now follows a hectic five week period with three events remaining to determine the series victors, which culminates at Knockhill on the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd September. With the series passing the half distance point following the event at Anglesey, both the Super and Cup leaders further consolodated their positions at the head of the standings with double wins for Pete Founds / Jevan Walmsley (LCR Honda) and Brian Ilaria / Arlo Brown (DDM Suzuki), both being rarely troubled in any of the sessions as they dominated at the picturesque coastal circuit.

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Team A.R.C. Withdraw From Oliver’s Mount Barry Sheene Classic Races

Photograph – Joy Richings

Unfortunately, Team A.R.C. – Lee Crawford and Scott Hardie – have had to take a last minute decision to withdraw their entry from this weekend’s Barry Sheene Classic F2 Sidecar Races at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough (22nd & 23rd July).

Sadly, Lee has an infection in his knee, and is being treated as an in-patient at Durham Hospital to counter this short-term medical issue. It is anticipated he will be discharged later this weekend, and the team are hopeful of being on the grid at the Cadwell Park Sidecar Revival in a fortnight.

Team A.R.C. wish to apologise to their sponsors and supporters for their non-appearance this weekend, and assure them that every effort was made during the week to try to get a faster resolve to the issue – but unfortunately health matters are not so easily rectified as a mechanical problem!

We wish all those competing at Oliver’s Mount a safe, successful and enjoyable weekend – hopefully the threatened rain will not be too persistent.

A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British F2 Sidecar Championship – Round 3 – Oulton Park – Saturday 24th June

FSRA

Supported by :- A.V. Craine & Sons; Hegarty Plant Ltd.; Pagid Racing;

Whitby Cottages; Rowtec Engineering Maintenance & Tingle Windows

Words – Tim Langham (F.S.R.A. Press Officer) / Photographs – Bryan Gough & Simon Heath

Following a break of six weeks in order to accommodate the Isle of Man T.T. Races, the championship resumed at Oulton Park on Saturday 24th June. Due to a lack of available dates, coupled with the Covid pandemic, it had been almost four years since the series had last visited the immensely popular Cheshire venue. Unfortunately, due to limited Sunday hire availability and the expense and logistics of offering a Friday Test Day, the event was condensed into a one day meeting – which was certainly one filled with drama and unpredictability.

Daryl Gibson / Rhys Gibbons (CES Suzuki) had their best results to date, taking the win in race one, while they were runners-up to championship leaders Pete Founds / Jevan Walmsley (LCR Honda) in the second outing, who had bounced back from a non-finish in the earlier race. Meanwhile, Brian Ilaria / Arlo Brown (DDM Suzuki) extended their enviable lead in the F2 Cup to 55 points taking both wins from Charlie Morphet / William Reilly (LCR Honda) who moved back to second in class following a torrid meeting last time out at Donington Park.

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A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British F2 Sidecar Championship – Round 3 Preview – Oulton Park – Saturday 24th June

FSRA

Supported by :- A.V. Craine & Sons; Hegarty Plant Ltd.; Pagid Racing;

Whitby Cottages; Rowtec Engineering Maintenance & Tingle Windows

Words – Tim Langham (F.S.R.A. Press Officer) / Photographs – Bryan Gough

Round three of the A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British F2 Sidecar Championship sees the teams make a return to the immensely popular Oulton Park in rural Cheshire. It will be the first visit since a very wet season closing event in September 2019, and with similar conditions in 2018, it would be unsurprsing to see a third Super F2 lap record in 2023 broken in as many meetings if early season precedence is anything to go by.

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F.S.R.A. / 1st Call Refrigeration Pre-Injection Sidecar Championship – Aintree – Saturday 10th June

FSRA

Words – Raitch Greenwood / Photographs – Haydn Wyatt

Saturday 10th June saw round four of the F.S.R.A. Pre-Injection Sidecar Championship, supported by 1st Call Refrigeration heading to Merseyside, for their first visit in several seasons to Aintree – in scorching weather conditions. Uncertainties for those who had not raced at Aintree before were soon forgotten as what turned out to be a fantastic meeting got underway with three sidecar races. Alas, entries were a little down compared with other meetings, some due to technical issues and some due to clashing with the TT, but for those that attended this was a very rewarding experience.

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