MK Racing,. Knockhill

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Written by MKRacing
Pics By Wendy Sheppard, Click Click Photography.

Round 5 of the Hyundai Heavy Industries British F1 Sidecar Championship in association with the Molson Group was held on the 3-5th July at the Scottish circuit of Knockhill. The previous round had seen the team finish with mixed results, a broken chain had ended race one early for them but a race long battle in race two gave them an 11th place finish. This left them sitting in 15th place in the championship
Knockhill was a new circuit to the team, Ben had done a handful of laps previously so would be able to give Mart a few pointers but with only a 20min free practice session they would have to learn the circuit quickly to stand a good chance of a decent result in qualifying.

Qualifying was held in warm sunny conditions late on Friday afternoon and after completing 16 laps in the 20min session, Mart and Ben ended the session in 15th place. Back in the paddock it was apparent the bike had developed a fuel leak from a crack in the tank and the team set about trying to fix the problem. A few parts were borrowed from another team and it seemed as though a solution had been found.



The paddock woke up on Saturday morning to torrential rain and the news that the weather had damaged the track at turn one and things would be on hold until repairs could be made. The sidecars were given an 8 minute warm up session and the race put back to late on in the day. After the track had been repaired and the fog had now lifted Mart and Ben headed out for the warm up but it became clear that the outfit was suffering from fuel starvation and that the work around the team had done on Friday night wasn’t working. The team managed to find someone to weld the original tank and get it all put back together in time for the race.

The weather had brightened up for race one on Saturday afternoon by the time the sidecars made their way to the grid. Determined to put in a good performance and work their way up the grid, Mart and Ben made a decent start and after swapping places a couple of times in the early laps with the team of Nicol/Pryde made a break and set about chasing down the teams in front. By 2/3rds race distance they had closed in on Sloane/Sloane and were looking to make a move but every lap they would lose out on the run up to the hairpin and then up the hill only to close the gap again through the twisty section of the circuit. This continued for the rest of the race but Mart and Ben just couldn’t find a way past and in the end had to settle for 11th position as they crossed the finish line.



Race two on Sunday was held in dry but overcast conditions during the middle of the day. Mart and Ben made a better start this time and retained their 11th position in the opening laps but as the race went on they were passed by a number of teams as they struggled with speed up the hill against some of the more powerful machines. They were able to stay in touch through the twisty section again and were part of a 4 bike battle for most of the race. Mart and Ben faded a bit towards the end as they seemed to be struggling for rear end grip and as they entered turn 3 on the last lap lost the back end and went across the grass, unfortunately Ben came out the back of the outfit as they headed back towards the track and that would be the end of their race. Ben was fine and ran back to the bike but the rules didn’t allow them to continue. The rear tyre was punctured when they returned to the pits so looked like a likely cause for them struggling towards the end of the race. A huge disappointment to not finish the race as they looked like finishing in 14th place and scoring more points.



Overall it was a good 1st visit to the circuit, leaving the team in 16th position in the championship and with plenty of positives to take away from the weekend, The Team would like the thank their sponsors Custom Reworx ltd, Chequered Flag, Attleborough, Keith Whiting Race Developments, Click Click Photography and our latest sponsor Brian’s Property Maintenance (BPM) for their continued support and help






The next round of the Hyundai Heavy Industries in association with the Molson Group British F1 Sidecar Championship takes place in less than two weeks’ time on the 17*19th July at Brands Hatch GP in Kent. This round is being run as part of the World Sidecar Championship so there will be an international flavour to the grid.

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