Ben & Tom Birchall win 2nd Place at Isle of Man Southern 100 on Thursday 11th July. Photo by Peter Bull
Following their second place in the Southern 100 on Thursday the Birchall Brothers rounded off their week with a win in Germany when they stormed to victory in round four of the FIM World Sidecar Championship at Sachsenring on Sunday to move up into third place in the overall rider standings.
Riding the Manx Gas/Klaffi LCR Honda F2 outfit the Mansfield pair set pole and finished in a very close second place in the championship race at the Isle of Man Southern 100 road races. In an effort to catch the leaders they smashed the existing lap record on the final lap with a time of 2m34.77s – 98.856mph missing out on the win by a slender margin of 0.1 seconds.
As soon as the presentation ceremony was over Ben and Tom caught a flight to London City Airport where the crew were waiting for them with the transporter and F1 outfit and they drove through the night to arrive at Sachsenring in Germany by mid day on Friday to prepare for the first qualifying session at 6pm.
Ben and Tom Birchall winners round 4 of FIM World Sidecar Championhship at Sachsenring on Sunday 14th July 2013 Photo by Mark Wally Walters
The Mitchells of Mansfield supported team completed both qualifying sessions ahead of their rivals and began the 22-lap world championship race from pole position. As the lights went out they shot off to establish an unassailable lead and crossed the finish line 11.8 seconds ahead of Paivarinta/Hanni to establish yet another lap record of 1.28.3s and their third successive victory at the German circuit.
“It has been a pretty hectic week for us,” said Ben. “But it’s been worth it as we claimed the lap record in the Southern 100 and now the race win and lap record here in Germany. It was a great victory for us on one of our favourite circuits. This is the third year running we have won here and we also set a new lap record so we are really pleased. We have now won two world championship races in a row and the bike is going great. The Suzuki engine is getting better and better with each outing and is mega fast. To have any chance of clawing back the world title we have got to win every one of the remaining five races. We are here to win races and that is our aim.”
The 25 points won in Germany bring their tally to 66 and move them up into third place in the standings.
Birchall Brothers racing at World Sidecar Championship at Sachsenring. Photo by Mark Wally Walters
The next round is at Assen in Holland on August 4 when Ben and Tom will be seeking yet another race win to add to their points tally and move them closer to the championship leaders.
