BROWN SUGAR
By TMX Archives on 20th May 15
Brit blasters hit the podium in Germany
The German Schopfheim Motocross Club celebrated their 50th anniversary at the weekend by hosting a round of the World Sidecarcross Championship for the first time in 20 years.
Low cloud first thing Saturday obscured the mountains before the sun came out at lunchtime. Three British crews, Stuart Brown/ Josh Chamberlain, Daniel and Joe Millard and Brett Wilkinson/ Steve Kirwin, were among the 43-strong entry which also included Tomas and Ondrej Cermak for the first time in three years.
Shortly after the start of the Group A qualifying race there was a spectacular pile-up involving Giraud, Van Daele, Rozehnal and Van Werven.
All remounted, Giraud last, but they had their work cut out.
Bax grabbed the lead from Vanluchene, Walter, Cermak and Brown and took full advantage of the clear track ahead. Wilkinson moved up to sixth, gapping the group behind.
By half-distance Brown was chasing down Vanluchene and Giraud – amazingly – was up to 11th.
Unsurprisingly, Bax took the win with Brown second. Wilkinson lost out to Giraud on the penultimate lap to finish seventh but the Frenchman finished fifth after a truly barn-storming ride during which he very definitely took no prisoners.
Group B Qualifing was somewhat less frenetic with Adriaenssen taking the lead from Hendrickx and Willemsen and, despite the puffs of smoke issuing from the Hendrickx exhaust for the final six laps, this was where they finished.
Millard moved from fifth to fourth early on and was never under threat while the ‘casualty' fromthis race, Burgler, came from last to finish 11th.
Rozehnal (machine failure) posted the fastest time in the Last Chance with Cerny and Van Werven also qualifying for the main races.
Race day was warm and sunny as an enthusiastic crowd gathered to watch the action.
They were not disappointed. Adriaenssen was the early leader but had Giraud snapping at his heels. Bax quickly ousted Hendrickx for third, then the race started to settle down. At the front it was frantic as the three leaders jostled for position.
FOR FULL REPORT & PICTURES SEE TMX NEWS, THURSDAY, MAY 21 (ISSUE 1972)
