Glorious conditions greeted the crews as they arrived at Brands Hatch and luckily a small shower before qualifying soon dried out and the teams took to the 2.43-mile GP circuit. Lacking the ultimate torque of the larger capacity machines, Ben and Tom still piloted their Mitchells of Mansfield Yamaha to second fastest, just a second behind the leaders.

Ben Birchall and Tom Birchall, Mansfield, Mitchells of Mansfield
Round 06 Brands Hatch
British Superbikes
20th – 22nd July 2018

Race 1 started well for the Birchalls who were the fastest of the 600cc machines off the line. By the end of lap two the brothers had made their way into third place. Another strong move took them to second where they would remain until the finish – unchallenged by the larger machines behind.

With the Kentish sun growing warmer, Race 2 got underway with the usual reverse grid. This saw Birchall Racing start from the fifth row in ninth. Following a good start, the impressive corner speed of the Birchall’s LCR Yamaha was obvious – the team carved their way through the pack, chasing down Race 1 winners Kershaw and Clark. Despite setting their fastest lap of the weekend in the closing stages of the race, the Mansfield based Birchalls couldn’t quite catch the leading pair and settled for the runner-up position.

Ben Birchall: “I really enjoyed Brands Hatch, we had a great weekend. While we weren’t quite able to take the overall win against the 1000s, I am happy with the pace we were able to set on the 600 bike. Thanks to our friends and sponsors who came along to support us and thanks to Craig Fitzpatrick for his excellent work on the engine and ignition – the bike was working great! I’m really looking forward to the next BSB round at Thruxton now.”

Tom Birchall: “That was a lot of fun, it always feels good to race in front of your home fans, so thanks to everyone out there for their support. The bike was perfect and Ben was driving really well – all-in-all a really good weekend.”

Birchall Racing’s next outing will be the seventh round of the British Sidecar Championship held at Thruxton on 3-5 August.

2018 British Superbike Championship, BSB BSB R06 Brands Hatch GP, Kent, 22nd July 2018.
Ben Birchall and Tom Birchall, Mansfield, Mitchells of Mansfield

Results – 2018 British Sidecar Championship – Round 6, Brands Hatch

Race One Result
1. Kershaw/Clark
2. Birchall/Birchall
3. Ellis/Richardson
4. Bryan/Hyde
5. Stevens/Charlwood

Race Two Result
1. Kershaw/Clark
2. Birchall/Birchall
3. Stevens/Charlwood
4. Bryan/Hyde
5. Lovelock/Lawrence

Photo credit: Tim Keeton – Impact Images

2018 British Superbike Championship, BSB BSB R06 Brands Hatch GP, Kent, 22nd July 2018.
Ben Birchall and Tom Birchall, Mansfield, Mitchells of Mansfield

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Following a winter of training, testing and development on their World Championship winning outfit, Ben and Tom Birchall went out to gain valuable race data ahead of their first 2018 FIM World Sidecar Championship event of the year at Le Mans this coming weekend.

After qualifying in pole position Ben made an excellent start and despite losing out on power to the larger 1,000cc machines, the brothers led into the first corner. From there the 2017 World Champions managed to pull away from the field and were never challenged – Ben skilfully controlling the pace from the front.

The race gave the team the perfect opportunity to fully test their outfit under racing conditions. Work carried out by CF Motorsport to the Yamaha R6 600cc engine proved to be a great success with the machine performing flawlessly throughout the weekend. Pole position, a race win and fastest lap would give the Birchalls added confidence ahead of Le Mans.

The team opted to sit out from Sunday’s race due to the wet conditions of the track, Ben and Tom decided it was important for them to stay focused ahead of the first round of the world championship and not risk any mistakes.

Ben Birchall: “I’m really pleased for the result at Brand Hatch – the weekend couldn’t have gone any better. We were able to gain some great data from the CF Motorsport built R6 engine. We are really looking forward to starting our 2018 World Championship campaign now and would like to thank everyone who has supported us for this season.”

Tom Birchall: “That was a cracking start to the year – just what we needed. To get pole position and a race win helps to justify all the hard work we have put in over the off-season. Thanks to Craig Fitzpatrick for his assistance too, the bike and motor were perfect all weekend. I can’t wait to get to Le Mans now and hopefully things will go just as well there and we can get this year’s championship off to a flying start.

Birchall racing now head to Le Mans for round one of the 2018 FIM World Sidecar Championship on the 20-21 April.

2018 British Sidecar Championship Round One – Brands Hatch

Race 1
1. Birchall/Birchall LCR Yamaha, 12:33.368
2. Kershaw/Clark LCR Kawasaki, 12:36.235 +2.867
3. Bryan/Hyde LCR Kawasaki, 12:39.322 +5.594

Photo credit: Double Red

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Using a 600cc Honda engine in the LCR chassis the Mitchell’s of Mansfield supported riders were contesting the Cup section of the British championship which runs within the main race for the larger engine capacity F1 outfits.

The Birchall brothers qualified their long wheelbase LCR in an overall position of sixth and began their challenge from a third row grid position. As the lights went out for the start of the 15 lap race Ben (39) and Tom (29) maintained their sixth place within the mixed grid of riders and were leading the Cup by a considerable margin.

They moved upfield to fifth on lap 11 and crossed the finish line in that position to take a well earned win in the cup.

Once again starting from the third row, Ben and Tom began their second race on Sunday in 10th place. They moved up to ninth on lap two but their progress was halted by the pace car which was brought out to allow for the safe removal of a crashed outfit. Once the car left the track they were overtaken by some of the more powerful F1 machines but as the race progressed they got their heads down and began to reel in the outfits ahead. By lap 11 they were in 11th position and on the penultimate lap they passed Walker/Hawes and Archer/Thomas to cross the finish line well ahead of many of the F1 competitors in ninth place and once again took a decisive win in the cup class.

Ben said: “We had another great weekend here at Brands Hatch and we are really pleased to be leading the championship by such a great margin. I have to thank all our supporters and sponsors for their continued support.

“The first race was really good and we were happy with our pace as we were able to find a clear track to get the speed up. The second race was more challenging as we were all bunched up when the pace car left the track. But we had a great fight for position with Chris Walker and Ashley Hawes who we finally managed to pass with one lap remaining.”

With these two wins Ben and Tom Birchall have a commanding lead in the championship with 30 points from nearest rivals Reeves/Christie on 14..

The next round is at Knockhill on June 26 but the Birchalls along with one or two more competitors will be away in Hungary on World championship duty. They will return to the domestic scene at Snetterton on July 10th.

Their attention now switches to the Isle of Man TT races where last year they won both races giving them a total of three wins overall. Practice begins on Monday through to Friday with the first three lap race on Saturday, June 4 at 2pm, this year the programme has been altered and the second race will not be run until the final day, Friday, June 10 at 10.15am.

Main image credit: Dave Yeomans

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Starting from a sixth row grid position for the start of the first race the start was delayed to allow for a shower of rain to pass through. Subsequently the race was reduced in distance from the scheduled 10 laps down to six.

It was always going to be difficult to catch the leaders in such a short race but this was made even more so because Ben opted for wet weather tyres which turned out to be the wrong choice. Unable to make much headway the Mitchell’s of Mansfield supported team completed the race down in 20th position.

The weather was fine and dry for race two later in the day and Ben and Tom lined up for a start from the 10th row. This time they made no mistake with tyre choice and finished in 15th place overall but were the fastest 600 machine on the track posting the fastest lap for a 600 with a 1.34.626s – 92.57mph.

Ben commented: “After making further adjustments to the new bike we went to Brands Hatch to see how the bike performed mixed in with the British F1 competitors who were using the bigger engine capacity outfits. Unfortunately we made the wrong tyre choice for the first race which then affected our grid position for the second encounter. But the engine ran well and we were pleased with the times we posted during race two. If we had started from nearer the front of the grid we could have been looking at sixth or seventh place at the flag.

“Our season is now complete but we will spend the winter months developing the bike further in preparation for the 2016 world championship where the new rules come into effect. 2016 is to be a transitional year where the competitors who have already made the change to 600 engines will run alongside riders using the bigger capacity engine for a final year thus allowing teams the time to make the change to the 600cc engines which will be used solely from 2017.

“We were encouraged by the reception we received from the officials and public at Brands Hatch and would like to thank them plus all our sponsors and supporters for their continued input to the team.”

pic credit Dave Yeomans

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