Yesterday’s penultimate round of the 2013 Maxxis British sidecarcross championships saw Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain win all three races to take the overall win and more importantly clinch the title. Also for Stuart it was win number eleven which sets a new record in British motocross history. Their efforts yesterday were achieved despite Stuart suffering from a very sore shoulder sustained in Belgium last week.
With this meeting so late in the summer the weather conditions and also track conditions could have been bad but the weather was perfect with plenty of warm sunshine and the hard working members of the Halstead club made sure the track preparation was spot on.
The drama for team Brown / Chamberlain started about 45 minutes before the start of practice when the decision was made to change the engine as the new Zabel motor currently installed was misbehaving. Although time was tight the change was achieved and they made it in time for the beginning of practice.
Despite this unwanted drama Brown went on to set the fastest time in practice nearly two seconds quicker than second placed Jenkins / Chamberlain. Etheridge / Grahame were third and Jarvis / Humphrey fourth.
The riders came to the line for the first moto just after 1 pm and the long drag up the hill from the line was headed by Brown from Jenkins with Etheridge third. As the riders completed their first lap Brown had pulled away slightly from Jenkins while Etheridge held third from Wilkinson / Parmenter.
The position at the front remained unchanged for the first few laps but the scrap for fourth place was hotting up between Wilkinson, Jarvis and France. On lap four France passed Jarvis which is how they finished. Towards the end of the race Jenkins closed on Brown but he could not quite get close enough to make the pass so Brown took the win from Jenkins with Etheridge third.
In the second leg Brown took the holeshot but this time it was Parr / Haynes in second place. The Franks brothers were in third place ahead of Etheridge, Keane / Horton, Bowers / Kirwin, Wilkinson, Jarvis and Jenkins back in eighth. After two laps Jenkins was already up to third place and closing on Franks who was second. Wilkinson had to come into the working area on lap four to change a damaged rear wheel and rejoined in twenty first place. Jenkins was up to second place on lap three but that was as high as he was going as Brown was clearly in the lead and not about to get caught. With just over one lap to go Jarvis, who’s KTM motor had been letting off steam for a while, pulled up when the motor gave up. Brown took the win from Jenkins with Etheridge third, France fourth and Franks fifth. Wilkinson could only manage to finish fourteenth.
Brown now led the championship by 78 points from Wilkinson with Jenkins now third and it was now a very real possibility that Brown would clinch the title in race three.
The final leg was headed by Brown from Wilkinson, Etheridge, Franks, France and Jenkins. By the end of the second lap Etheridge was up to third with Jenkins fourth. Two laps later Jenkins was up to second place and started to close on Brown. Etheridge was slowly closing on Wilkinson but after fifteen minutes disaster struck when he went off the track just before the finish line and while he was untangling himself from the fence France got past. Brown went on to take the win from Jenkins with Wilkinson third and France fourth.
Although Brown / Chamberlain have won the championship next week’s final round at Canada Heights should see a tussle for the minor placing between Wilkinson, Jenkins, Etheridge, France and Jarvis who are only separated by 34 points