The Knockhill circuit in Fife Scotland was the next venue for the Raptor racing Paymundo sponsored sidecar racing team of driver Tony Brown and passenger Ashley Hawes. Making the long trip, over the weekend of the 27th to 29th June 2014, it proved to be an eventful weekend for them in the third round of the Eastern Airways British Formula one sidecar championship. With a large crowd expected, more track time and two 15 lap early afternoon races, the Sunday race being televised live along side the British Superbike championship, the pair were really looking forward to the event. Tony has never seen the circuit let alone raced there and it was some time since Ash had raced there, so it would be a learning curve for them both. Taking it steady in Friday’s practice the pair were to shock themselves and the other team by taking position for Saturday’ first race. Completing 16 laps they were trading places with Lovelock/Alto and championship leaders Hegarty/ Neave when they took pole on lap 15 by 0.043 of a second averaging 87 mph. The top nine sidecars were only separated by one second. Back in the paddock the pair looked shocked by what they had achieved and speaking to Tony he just couldn’t believe it. Perhaps the 10 hours sleep they had the night before had helped.
Saturday’s first race was a fast affair with the expected battle between Hegarty/Neave and Lovelock/Alto taking place the Raptor boys keeping in third place trying to close the gap, but not being helped by back markers over the fast 1.2 mile circuit. At the flag the team took a well deserved third place. Tony was disappointed with his start which put him back several places and was aiming not to make the same mistake in race two.
Sunday’s race was held in glorious conditions straight after the first Superbike race. Again from the start Tony and Ash went about the business of chasing down Hegarty/Neave and Lovelock/Alto, especially with the good start they made. Settling into a safe third place and catching the leading pair disaster struck on lap five when the mudguard on the sidecar came lose and they had to retire.
The frustration was clear for all to see especially with the cameras following them as they stopped. The result keeps them in sixth place in the championship. A clearly disappointed Tony knows that they need to be more consistence to keep moving up the championship positions. Since the race Tony has now found an engine fault with metal small metal parts in the engine which means the Yamaha engine needs a rebuild before the next round at Brands Hatch in three weeks time.
The team would like to thank the following for their support:
Wallace interior solutions
Pagid
Keith Whiting
Ian Hamilton at Express Tyres
Herne Bay Motorcycles
Infinity Pro
Jennifer Shone at Knox
John Mcqueen at LS2
Ros and Lawrence Tumber
Surlingham Solutions
Wurth
AMR Exhausts
Sam Christie
Sam Ryder
Steve English
And of course all our family and friends supporting us, fingers crossed our luck picks up from now on 🙂
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