The fifth round of the Maxxis British sidecarcross championship was held at Canada Heights yesterday. Heavy rain throughout Saturday afternoon and into the evening left the track with a number of very soft areas but despite this it was rideable provided riders thought about where to go.
Timed practice was a bit of a lottery with a number of machines becoming set in the deeper mud but at the end of it the order was roughly what would have been expected. Series leaders, Brett Wilkinson / Dan Chamberlain were fastest with Gary Moulds / Steve Kirwin second and Jake Brown / Zac Snell third.
The first race became more a case of keeping moving forwards rather than racing. At turn three about ten bikes became stuck at the bottom of a short steep hill and some were still there when the leaders came round for the second lap. Further round the track there a couple of other very soft areas where bikes became stuck. Because of all the obstructions around the track the race was red flagged before twenty minutes was up. With the result being taken from the lap before the red flag the winner was Moulds with Pelling / Pannell in second place and Campbell / Parmenter third. Brown was fifth and Wilkinson fifteenth. The leading Expert in this race was Rob Oldfield now reunited with his regular passenger Faye Barnes who finished fourth.
By the time the gate dropped for the second moto the track had dried considerably under the warm sunshine and the club had removed some of the very boggy areas. Moulds took the holeshot from Wilkinson with Brown third. Wilkinson was in determined mood and took the lead on the next lap and never looked back. The leading three remained in those positions to the flag. Behind them Hodges / Ide worked their way up form tenth on lap one to finish fourth. Balsillie / Haynes were the highest placed Experts in seventh.
For the final race only twenty bikes came to the line. This time Wilkinson took the holeshot and never looked back. Moulds was in second place but made a mistake on lap three and dropped from second to fifth. Hodges started in third place but was overtaken by Campbell and Brown on the first two laps. Over the next two laps he worked his way back up to finish third. Brown climbed from fifth to second which is where he finished. The leading Expert in this race was Osbaldiston / Cooper.
With just one round to go next weekend Wilkinson now leads Moulds by forty two points with Brown a further twenty six points behind the Irishman. In the Expert class Balsillie leads Oldfield by sixty one points with Danny and Lewis Gray in third place. So in both classes there is still a lot to play for.