Reeves battles through pain barrier for fourth at German GP

Tim Reeves battled through the pain barrier at the German GP at the weekend to finish in fourth place and maintain his lead in the 2012 Sidecar World Championship. The Kent driver suffered a nasty insect bite, which resulted in his right foot swelling considerably overnight, and was only passed fit to drive just before Sunday's race but he successfully completed the 22-lap race and with Pekka Paivarinta finishing in sixth, his lead increased from 8 points to 11.

Competing at the Sachsenring circuit, alongside the MotoGP World Championship programme, Tim and passenger Ashley Hawes qualified in fifth place but were confident of improving on that in the race. The aforementioned insect bite put paid to those hopes but, despite spending much of Sunday in the medical centre, Tim made it to the line and spent most of the race battling with Jorg Steinhausen/Gregory Cluze for third place.

There was little to choose between the two but with Tim struggling to change down the gearbox due to the extensive swelling in his foot, he ran on twice at the first corner and had to settle for fourth place. The race was won by fellow Brits Ben and Tom Birchall but Paivarinta was back in sixth and Tim now leads on 95 points to the Finn's 84. The Birchalls are up to third on 82 points with Steinhausen one point further back in fourth.
 
After another visit to the doctor upon his return to England on Monday morning, Tim then headed straight to the Isle of Man and opening practice for the Southern 100 meeting. Making his debut around the 4.25-mile Billown road circuit, Tim and passenger Dan Sayle were immediately on the pace, posting the fastest lap of the session at an impressive 94.571mph.
 
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Tim said; "It's been a hectic few days but things have been going well and although I could have done without the problems with my foot, I've managed to keep my World Championship lead and extending it was superb given the problems I was having. I couldn't walk on Sunday morning and spent most of the day in the medical centre but I had a couple of injections and was passed fit to race at 3pm. I could change up the gearbox without any problems but changing down was really difficult and although I was right with Jorg, I hit a couple of false neutrals and ran on twice."
 
"With Pekka behind me, I settled for fourth and although without the foot issue I might have been able to take third, I don't think I could have finished any higher as Ben and Tom and second placed Kurt Hock were flying. As I've said before, this year's Championship is really competitive and one race you can be sixth and the next first. There's only 14 points between the top 4 so it's going to go all the way to the last race."
 
"I then flew straight back to the UK where I had to go the doctors again on Monday as the swelling had returned so, after another injection, it was then off to the Isle of Man. I'd done a couple of laps in a car earlier in the year but that's all so to end the session quickest was a nice surprise. We did the newcomers laps and then got a few in on our own and it's been 'so far, so good'. It's a good little circuit but we've got some more practice tonight before the first race and there are some good drivers here with more experience than me so we'll just see how we get on."



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Reeves denied Southern 100 double victory

Tim Reeves was denied a dream double debut victory at the Southern 100 road races last week when he was forced to retire whilst leading the feature Championship race. With passenger Dan Sayle, Tim had already taken the opening race on Tuesday but a mysterious electrical problem on the 3rd lap in Thursday's event caused them to grind to a halt whilst leading by a healthy margin.

With perfect conditions all week around the 4.25-mile Billown course, Tim proved his aptitude and, complete with orange novice jacket, got quicker and quicker with each and every lap. After setting the fastest lap in practice, this trend continued in Tuesday's 6-lap race. Taking the lead off the line, Tim and Dan were never headed and, aided by the fastest lap of the race at an extremely impressive 97.084mph, they were able to continually edge away from the pack. At the end of the race, their lead over Ian and Carl Bell was in excess of seven seconds as Tim won his first ever race at the Southern 100 - the perfect start to the week.

Thursday saw similar weather conditions and another perfect start saw Tim and Dan lead into Ballakeighan corner. Just like Tuesday's race, they began to edge away from the field and it looked like it would follow a similar pattern as the previous race. However, with a decent lead having been opened up, their race ended when the outfit stopped suddenly on the approach to Stadium Bends and with no power from the outfit, they had to watch the rest of the race from the sidelines.

Speaking later, Tim said; "It's been a bit of a mixed week really and everything was going perfectly up until the final race! I immediately gelled with the course and felt really happy so Dan and myself were able to set some good times in practice and felt good going into the first race. It went according to plan and we led from start to finish, ending up with a healthy gap at the chequered flag. I just kept it clean and tidy and we just went quicker and quicker every lap - it was faultless."

"We again got a dream start in Thursday's race and was edging away nicely with a good gap when the bike just stopped dead on the approach to Stadium. I felt the win was ours and we've simply no idea what happened. When we stripped the engine down and plugged in the laptop, everything seemed to be working fine and the battery voltage was good so it really was one of those mysterious electrical problems. I'm gutted not to have won and completed the double but I loved the meeting and we were really well looked after so a big thanks to George Peach and his team - I'll definitely be back. A big thanks to all the team too especially Dan, Nicky Crowe, Dave Hudspeth Carpets, the Haiths and H&S Contractors. We couldn't get the Championship this year but we'll be back in 2013 to give it another go."



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Victor Cox up to third in Championship


It was something of a mixed weekend for ILR Kawasaki at the latest round of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship at Brands Hatch.
Victor Cox's fifth place finish was another excellent result but the Trowbridge star was frustrated during the race by a lack of front grip which hampered his push for yet another podium.

Qualifying had again gone well. With the team working hard Cox was again one of the pace setters and he finished the first session in fifth place, just 0.72s off the fastest time and fastest through the Sector One speed trap. His team-mate Ash Beech had also rode well to finish the session an excellent 12th.

And Victor was on it again in the second session. Quickest through the second course sector, he finished the session in second place to again qualify on the front row of the grid. Beech meanwhile had slipped to 20th overall but still well placed on Row 5 of the grid.

Expectations were understandably high for the race and they were soon justified as Cox flashed across the start/finish line at the end of the opening lap of the race in the lead and he still led as the riders completed their second circuit. Beech meanwhile was down in 21st and in the middle of a typically congested midfield pack of riders all separated by fractions of a second.  On the third lap, Adam Jenkinson took the lead but Cox was still battling hard in second.
However on the next lap Cox was starting to struggle with grip and had slipped to fourth behind Jenkinson, Jason O'Halloran and Keith Farmer with Steve Brogan almost a further second in arrears. Beech was still battling away in 19th place just over a second off the final points position. By the sixth lap Cox was circulating in a safe fourth from Howie Mainwaring but on the next lap Brogan crashed out which in turn introduced the safety car to proceedings. Ash unfortunately had retired at this point of the race with an over-heating engine.

The safety car went in on the eleventh lap leaving just four laps of the race to run and despite his front end grip problems, Cox was determined to bring the bike home for a solid points score. He soon slipped to fifth behind Howie Mainwaring and was now coming under serious pressure from PJ Jacobsen. But riding calmly and measurably for the remainder of the race, Victor managed to keep the American at bay to score 11 hard earned points which deservedly moves him into third place in the championship.

Victor Cox: 'I was a bit gutted with the result to be honest as I felt we could have had a good race. I just kept losing the front so easily but I was determined to finish and reward all our hard work by putting some more points on the board. To be third in the championship is very pleasing.'

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Farquhar retains Cock o' the North title


Ryan Farquhar's race-winning spree continued at the weekend when the KMR Kawasaki rider retained his Cock o' the North title at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough. With perfect conditions around the seaside venue, Ryan was again in fine form and ended the weekend with five more race wins under his belt whilst team-mate Jamie Hamilton was again amongst the top four.
Saturday's racing started with a 600cc heat, which Ryan won by almost ten seconds from Ivan Lintin and that was followed by the opening leg of the Superbikes. It was fellow Northern Irishman Michael Pearson who grabbed the holeshot and although his lead was never more than a second, Ryan simply couldn't find a way through. The gap was constantly coming down but it ended in a rare defeat around the woodland venue for Ryan as he crossed the line 0.256s behind Pearson, the fastest lap of the race his only consolation. Hamilton took a good fourth and the duo then took another 1-2 for the team in the Supertwins, Ryan coming out on top on this occasion by a comfortable 6.5s, also claiming a new lap record at 78.262mph.

With glorious conditions again greeting the riders on Sunday, Ryan opened his account for the day with a good victory in the second leg of the Superbikes, his winning margin over Dean Harrison 5.8s, but Hamilton suffered a spill when he highsided out of the race. Ryan then completed his hat-trick with a 3 second victory over Pearson in the first Supersport 600cc race although, after a number of delays to the race schedule, he opted out of the second leg held later in the afternoon. His next outing was the second leg of the Supertwins which he won from Daniel Frear but Hamilton was again out of luck retiring when the bike started to jump out of gear. Ryan's weekend ended on the best possible note though when he overhauled Pearson and Harrison to take the 10-lap feature Cock o' the North race, to add his name to the Trophy for the third successive year.

Speakin later, a delighted Ryan said; "All in all, it's been a good weekend and it was a good opportunity for me to get some work in on the Superbike and try to get it dialled in a bit more. It's such a sensitive bike that a small change can make a huge difference so I spent most of Saturday making constant changes and I've got a bike that now feels like my bike. I definitely made some good progress and got more and more feel as the weekend wore on with the lap times subsequently coming down. The laptop crashed on me on Sunday so I couldn't make as many changes as I would have liked but it's not far away now so we'll keep working on it at Armoy and get it as close to perfect as possible."

"There were a few red flags over the two days so it led to a hectic schedule and that's why I opted out of the second Supersport race as otherwise I'd have had four races on the trot. I wanted to save myself for the big bike race and it paid off. I outbraked myself at Mere on the first lap but just bided my time before making a move on both Dean and Michael. Jamie was going well again and was inside the Supertwins lap record too whilst what I learnt with the Superbike we could transfer to his Superstock machine and he was immediately happier with it. He had a bit of bad luck on Sunday with a highside, a bike that jumped out of gear and another one that had brake fade so didn't get the results he'd hoped for but, overall, he was happy. It's been a good weekend for KMR Kawasaki and we'll look for more of the same when we come back here in September for the Gold Cup. Sadly, the meeting ended on a sad note with the loss of a rider in the final race of the day so from everyone connected with the team, we'd like to pass on our thoughts and sympathy to all his friends and family."



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Up and down weekend for Reeves and Hawes

Schleiz, Germany was the latest stop for Tim Reeves and Ashley Hawes in their quest to win the 2012 World Sidecar Championship and it proved to be an up and down weekend for the duo with victory in Saturday's race offset by a collision and DNF in Sunday's second encounter.
 
After qualifying in fifth place, well within touch of pole position men Ben and Tom Birchall, two close races were again expected with less than a second separating the top six but rainfall before the first race added a new dimension to proceedings. However, it mattered little to Tim and Ashley and with a super start and first corner, they grabbed the lead of the 11-lap race, something they wouldn't relinquish. Reading his pit board, Tim was able to control the gap to second placed Jorg Steinhausen/Gregory Cluze and any time the German-French pairing closed up, he was able to pull away almost immediately eventually taking the chequered flag 1.6s clear for his third win of the season.

The victory increased his lead in the Championship to 19 points but that was wiped out as soon as Sunday's 22-lap race got underway. Tim and Ashley made another great start and with some bumping and barging at the first corner, they opted for the outside line to stay out of trouble - or so they thought. Further back in the pack, Josef Moser/Dan Evanson had left their braking a little too late and, after hitting the back of the Birchalls, they hit Tim side on and punted him out of the race. Ashley was knocked clean out of the outfit, luckily escaping with bumps and bruises whilst the LCR also emerged relatively unscathed.

However, with Pekka Paivarinta/Adolf Hanni winning the race, they've now joined Tim on 120 points at the top of the Championship table and with the Birchalls and Steinhausen equal in third on 114 points, just six points split the leading four crews with just three races to go.

Speaking later, Tim said: "The weekend was really good - and then it was really bad! Moser must have been doing 20-30mph more than what I was doing and he practically came out of nowhere. I got a great start but couldn't find any room so went for the outside line and it was working until, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him come flying up the inside. He went straight into the side of Ash and we were out straightaway so it was very, very disappointing especially with Pekka going on to win. It's made the Championship very tight!"

"Prior to that, everything had gone perfect. Fifth in qualifying was spot-on and I didn't want to keep throwing tyres on so was more than happy with our pace. I got a great start in the first race and just went up the inside of everyone at the first corner! Steiny wasn't too far behind but I was able to control the race from the front and just kept my eye on my pit board. It enabled us to extend our lead further but that, of course, has now disappeared. It would have been nice to have still had a good cushion going into the last two rounds but, on the plus side, the bike's flying and I'm really happy with how I'm driving so I'm confident of some more wins."

"It's a case of winner takes all now and whoever can win races and be the most consistent will win the World Championship. We're heading to Assen now for the Gamma Race Day meeting where we'll get some decent testing done and then head to Oschersleben all raring to go. The team did a great job again this weekend so big thanks to everyone involved especially Ash, the Haith family, H&S Contractors and everyone at Dave Hudspeth Carpets."



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