The Mitchells of Mansfield supported riders dominated the two qualifying sessions setting a fastest time of 1m 33.918s in the first session to take pole position for the short, 10 lap Sprint race on Saturday.

As the lights went out to start the race Paivarinta and Kainulainen got the hole shot and led the field around the first series of corners but the Birchall Brothers were hot on their heels on the LCR Yamaha R6 with Streuer/Rousseau plus Holden/Wilks in close formation a few yards behind.

By the end of lap one Ben and Tom had the lead and began to steadily pull away from the pack to cross the finish line 10.375s ahead of Holden/Wilks who had got past Paivarinta/Kainulainen to take second place.

This win put the title out of reach of their rivals resulting in the Birchall Brothers being crowned 2017 World Champions leaving them free to enjoy their second race on Sunday as champions elect with no pressure.

But there was a dramatic change of events prior to the start of the 18 lap Gold race on Sunday when spots of rain began to fall leaving the sidecar crews with the dilemma of tyre choice.

As the teams set off on the warm up lap Ben and Tom slid out of control on the exit to the first corner which threw Tom off the machine which turned on its side as it slid down the track. The reason for this was a rear tyre puncture and although the two brothers were unhurt the fairing was damaged and they were forced to sit out the race.

Having won every race until then the crash denied them the full house of wins in the world championship which was disappointing. The Birchall brothers have had a good season with a clean sweep at the Isle of Man TT races and the win in every round of the British 600 Cup they have contested and now the jewel in the crown with the World championship title means they have plenty to celebrate.

Ben said: “Tom and I are elated to be crowned world champions; we have had a fantastic season in the World Series this year and can’t thank everyone involved enough. Without our sponsors, friends and family we would have been unable to achieve this.

“The decision to go to the 600cc class early has certainly paid off for us and it’s proved the 600cc engine is the perfect choice. The decision by the FIM to make the championship 600cc was correct and the best way forward for our sport.

“We now look forward to returning home and bringing another world championship back to Mansfield.”

Ben and Tom are hoping to contest the final two rounds of the British 600cc Cup at Assen and Brands Hatch plus make their usual appearance at Darley Moor for the Stars at Darley meeting in October.

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The event will take place on the 4.168km circuit of Grobnik in Croatia, just south of Rijeka and although there are two races, the Mitchells of Mansfield supported brothers only have to complete the first race ahead of their nearest rivals, Paivarinta and Kainulainen to be crowned world champions.

Ben and Tom have spent the last couple of weeks preparing the LCR Yamaha R6 outfit for their final campaign and are confident it is in perfect condition and ready for the challenge.

Ben and Tom in Croatia last year

Ben said: “we are excited to be challenging for the world championship this weekend, the outfit is fully prepared and in perfect condition so it is just down to us two to make sure we maintain our winning streak and bring the world title back to Mansfield.”

The timetable is as below but remember that Croatia is one hour ahead of the UK.

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The Mitchells of Mansfield supported riders dominated free practice and qualifying to claim pole position at the Cathedral of Speed on Saturday to start Sunday’s 17 lap Gold race from the head of the grid.

The brothers went on to take a lights to flag victory on their LCR/Yamaha. However they didn’t have it all their own way as they were chased from the off by Paivarinta and Kainulainen and the two outfits were in close formation for the first seven of 17 laps.

But Ben decided it was time to pull the plug and shake off the attention of the Finnish pair and began to steadily pull clear. By lap 10 they were into the backmarkers and remained in control of the race to cross the finish line some seven seconds ahead of their rivals with fellow British pair of John Holden and Mark Wilks bringing their LCR/Kawasaki home in third place.

Ben said: “we had a fantastic result at Assen in the world championship in front of a massive 90,000 strong crowd and take one step closer to the world title. Thanks to our sponsors for their continued support and also to the organisers for such a great event.”

The final round of the series is at the Grobnik Automotodrom in Croatia over the weekend of September 8/9 when the Birchall brothers will contest a Sprint race on Saturday and then the Gold race on Sunday. With an advantage of 30 points over Paivarinta and 50 championship points up for grabs in Croatia Ben and Tom need to just finish the first race ahead of their nearest rivals to claim their third world title and their second in the 600cc class.

Prior to that Ben and Tom will be at Cadwell Park on August 20 to take part in the British championship sidecar races which run as a support to the British Superbike championship.

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Following on from their double win at the Isle of Man TT races last week where they set a new lap record of 117. 119mph the Mitchells of Mansfield supported brothers headed straight to Hungary for a round of the World championship where they were to contest two races in the current World championship campaign.

The Mansfield pair secured pole position during qualifying with a lap of 1m 58.679s which is a faster time than the fastest lap time from last year during the race with the larger 1000cc engine. 

Ben said: “The bike is perfect, we will see how the race goes, it has been a good weekend so far.”

As the lights went out for the start of the sprint race it was Paivarinta and Kainulainen who got the hole shot into the first corner but they ran wide allowing the Birchall brothers to get ahead. But a fellow competitor suffered a crash further downfield and the red flag brought proceedings to a halt. At the restart it was Paivarinta once again to get away in the lead but by the end of lap one Birchall had taken the lead and continued to forge ahead extending their lead to take the chequered flag a full nine seconds ahead of their rivals with Holden/Wilkes finishing in third place.

Ben and Tom were over the moon with their win plus the added bonus of setting a new lap record of 1m 59.532s.

After spending the evening preparing the LCR Honda for the Gold race on Sunday the teams took their gird positions for the start of the 15 lap affair. This time The Birchall brothers scorched away to complete the 15 laps for another win over 18 seconds ahead of Paivarinta with Holden once again taking third place.

Ben said:

“we are delighted to have taken the double win here this weekend. It’s been a long month with us having two world championship rounds with the two TT races sandwiched in between so we were thrilled to have come out on top after such a tiring month. It’s good that the rest of the competitors are now getting to grips with their 600cc outfits and the racing is a lot closer.

“We have to thank our team for their sterling work again this weekend plus our loyal sponsors for their continued support. With over a month before the next World championship race we have time to contest a round of the British championship and are looking forward to Snetterton at the end of the month.”

The Birchall brothers remain unbeaten in the world championship this year and are settled at the head of the rider standings on 125 points with the next round at Assen on August 6.

Meanwhile Ben and Tom will take in a round of the British 600cc sidecar championship at Snetterton over the weekend of June 30/July 2.

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The new rules for the world championship meant that all Sidecar teams had to change from 1000cc to 600cc engines.

Having switched to the smaller engine last year Ben and Tom Birchall secured the FIM F2 World Sidecar title, securing pole positions and lap records on their way to the title.

The Mitchell’s of Mansfield supported riders have made the change to Yamaha this season and have taken part in some intensive pre-race testing in France prior to the race at Le Mans.

The brothers dominated practice and qualifying and began the 18 lap race from pole position. But they didn’t get the hole shot as John Holden was the first to reach the chicane but Ben and Tom were hot on their heels and took the lead on the exit to the chicane to accelerate away extending their lead with every lap.

The race came to an early end when another competitor crashed heavily with three laps to go and a result was declared at 15 laps distance with Ben and Tom recording the win well ahead of Paivarinta/Kainulainer (2nd) and Streuer/Raisseau (3rd). The Mansfield pair also set a new lap record with a 1m 44.685s lap – 143.9kmph set on lap nine.

Ben said:

“That was a perfect start to our championship; it couldn’t have gone any better for us. All the hard work and preparation we put in over the closed season is paying off nicely.”

“Le Mans is a fantastic venue and it was great for us to take pole position, the win and the lap record. We now look forward to getting our British Championship campaign underway at Oulton Park on May 1.”

The next round is at Oschersleben in Germany over the weekend of May 20/21. Prior to that the Birchall brothers will contest the second round of the British Sidecar Championship at Oulton park on Monday May 1st

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The Mitchells of Mansfield supported brothers had a perfect run setting a time of 1m 33.769s during qualifying to secure a third row start in the mixed grid of riders for the start of the 12 lap Sprint race. Ben said: “It has all gone perfectly for us today and once again we are the top F2 Trophy team on the grid.”

In blazing hot sunshine Ben and Tom set off in the Sprint race and soon overtook F1 team Dechamp/Peugeot but as they closed down on Gray/Christie the red flag brought the race to a halt. At the restart, now run over nine laps, Ben and Tom got a fantastic start and were soon locked in a fierce, race long battle with the two F1 outfits of Streuer/Daalguison and Holden Wilkes with the Mansfield pair eventually bringing the LCR Honda 600 home in seventh place overall but a decisive victory in the F2 class.

Another good start in the 20 lap Gold race saw Ben and Tom fight their way through to sixth place overall and to finally cross the finish line in fifth at the end of the 20 lap affair to claim another maximum points result in the F2 class. Having won all the races to date and with 200 points now on the board no one can catch them and they were pronounced champions.

Ben said:

“It has been a fantastic weekend for us and we are really pleased with the way it’s gone.

The team has worked hard throughout the weekend and we have made more progress with the bike. We are all thrilled to bits to have won both races and sealed the world championship.

We are both looking forward to our home round at Donington Park when we are to be presented with the world championship trophy, what a nice way to end our world championship season.”

The final round is at Donington Park with the British Superbike championship on September 17 and the Mansfield pair will celebrate their world title on home Tarmac.

pic credit Wally Walters

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The F2 World Trophy race is run within the gird of the F1 World championship and after taking pole in their class the Mitchells of Mansfield supported brothers began their campaign from the third row in sixth position overall.

As the lights went out at the start of the 17 lap affair Ben and Tom settled into seventh place behind Holden/Ramsey. When John Holden was forced out after a spin on lap 10 the Mansfield pair were elevated to sixth overall and first in class by a large margin.

Ben and Tom maintained their sixth position and crossed the finish line to take their sixth win in the F2 World Trophy class well ahead of their nearest rivals Guignard/Poux who completed the race in 19th place overall.

Ben commented:

We had another great weekend here at Assen. The event was really well organised and there was a huge crowd to watch the sidecar race.

The bike ran well and we were really happy with its performance; we now look forward to Oschersleben and to hopefully continue our winning ways.

Ben and Tom Birchall have extended their series lead in the F2 World Trophy and having won all six races to date look almost certain to take the World Trophy at the end of the season.

The next round is at Oschersleben in Germany on August 27/28 where the team will have two races to contest. The final round of the championship that will decide the title is on home tarmac at Donington Park when Ben and Tom will be riding in front of their home crowd and sponsors at the British Superbike meeting on September 17.

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Familiar surroundings

Fresh from their heroics at Mallory Park, Ben and Tom are on their European travels once again as they return to the FIM fold.

The Assen TT circuit is a familiar hunting ground for team Mansfield and it’s a circuit where they have seen plenty of success! Several good points hauls have been secured by the brothers at Assen in recent years and it’s a circuit that is remembered fondly but also with sadness.

Remembering Sandor

Long time followers of the Birchalls will remember this as the first circuit the brothers raced on following Ben’s hand injury in the 2014 TT (a race in which the Brothers came second)

Another point to remember is that Assen is also the circuit where we tragically lost German sidecar passenger Sandor Pohl almost 3 years ago to the day.

As we look forward to this weekends racing however,  team Mansfield are in a great place at the head of the points classification in the Sidecar F2 World Trophy. You wouldn’t bet against Ben and Tom securing another brace of class wins at this most famous and entertaining Circuit.

The Cathedral Circuit

The current track was built in 1955 and is known as the TT Circuit Assen, it’s the home of the world famous Dutch TT race and popularly referred to as “The Cathedral” by fans of motorcycle racing.

The Circuit boasts a 100,000 capacity that includes 60,000 seats! World Superbikes has been a regular event on the Assen calendar since it’s first appearance there in 1992.

It’s a technical circuit with tight bends and fast straights, making it popular with riders and spectators alike. There have been a lot of changes in the past few years at Assen, the track has been shortened to 2.83 miles and a reported 83 million euro investment has improved facilities at Assen for all visitors.

What to expect from the weekends weather

All the talk leading up to the race weekend is of the wet conditions that possibly lie ahead in Holland. Saturday morning has the highest chance of seeing rain but with temperatures in the low twenties Celsius hopefully any rain that does fall won’t affect the racing too badly.

Birchall Brothers celebrate at Assen in 2014

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