Double Eastern Airways Scotch, for Hegarty and Neave at Knockhill 27-29th June
With the promise of live TV on Sunday, and a mid-afternoon slot Saturday, combined with the tight nature of the Knockhill circuit, round three was always going to be spectacular. Whilst on paper, another double victory for the Felixtowe based Sean Hegarty might look a yawn, nothing could be further from the truth.
Race One – Pre-race rain gave many crews a dilemma with tyres. As it happened, a wet tyre choice wasthe wrong one, and several teams paid the price. From his first-ever Eastern Airways pole position, Tony Brown/Ashley Hawes slotted into third behind Hegarty and Roger Lovelock/Aki Alto. It then became a two-horse race at the front with several passing moves from each. The run down to the hairpin had the crowd on its toes, each and every lap, with Sean Hegarty hanging on for the tightest of victories at the flag. There was frantic action all down the field, and a great scrap between Craig Chaplow/Patrick Farrance and the Ben Bygrave/Justin Sharpe combination. Andy Peach, despite a back-row start and problems mid-race, recovered the L&W BMW eighth ahead of Grabmuller. Ben Holland/Lee Watson (Finning Cat Kawasaki) fell victim to a wrong tyre choice but claimed a few points behind Ricky Stevens/Ryan Charlwood (AOS Kawasaki).
Race Two – Hegarty was fired up, and starting from pole, was in determined mood for this one. After early laps pressure, he was never headed, and made it a comfortable win by eleven seconds. Lovelock again showed his class and consistency with another podium in second, and Tony Brown retired on lap six when his front mudguard came adrift. The story of the race however, and thrilling for the live TV audience, was the charge of Andy Peach through the field from eighth on the grid. What looked like a certain podium for Ben Bygrave, was snatched from under his nose by a whisker at the flag, just ahead of Craig Chaplow. Again, this was an action packed affair, and met with complete appreciation of hugely enthusiastic Scottish sidecar fans. Ben Holland salvaged some points from the back of the grid and the Austrian Grabmuller again recorded a solid result to maintain his consistency in the standings.
Race One Result -1/Hegarty/Neave (Hegarty Suzuki) 2/Lovelock/Alto (Driverwolf Laxton BMW)3/Brown/Hawes (Paymundo.com Yamaha) 4/Bygrave/Sharpe (Blue Machinery Suzuki) 5/Chaplow/Farrance (E-Aide Motorsport Kawasaki) 6/BarryJames/Sam Christie (James Racing) 7/Mark Edwards/Lee Barrett (AOS Kawasaki) 8/ Peach Richardson (L&W BMW)
Race Two Result – 1/ Hegarty/Neave 2/ Lovelock Alto 3/ Peach/Richardson 4/ Bygrave/Sharpe 5/ChaplowFarrance 6/James/Christie 7/Edwards/Barrett 8/Holland/Watson 9/ Kershaw/Wilson 10/Grabmuller/Lawson
Standings – Hegarty 170, Lovelock 132, Peach 95, Edwards 81, Chaplow 76, Brown 56, Holland 52Grabmuller 49, Bygrave 46, Stevens 45, Kershaw 36, Holden 29, James 26.
Round Four comes from Brands Hatch 18-20th July
PAYMUNDO 