No title despite double success

Motorsport

Tim Reeves and passenger Gregory Cluze claimed a win double in the final British Sidecar Championship meeting at Brands Hatch – but it wasn’t enough to secure the title.

The pair, riding for the E-Aide Motorsport/Remse Racing team, took their total of victories in the season to 12, but third place was enough for leaders Ricky Stevens and Folkestone’s Ryan Charlwood to be crowned winners with 397 points, 11 ahead of their rivals.

The ultimate difference came at Mallory Park in July when the AngloFrench pairing were denied an entry.

Tenterden-based Reeves admitted to mixed emo- tions about how the final weekend unfolded.

“What can I say? I did everything I could, and to end the season with 12 wins is obviously very pleasing but it’s equally disappointing to have missed out on the Championship,” he said.

“We knew we needed Ricky and Ryan to have a DNF in one of the two races to have a chance of adding another title to our collection but sadly it didn’t happen.”

Reeves and Cluze went into Sunday’s finale 29 points behind, grabbing the lead from the outset.

By the end of lap two, their lead was close to four seconds. They controlled the race from there on, eventually taking the chequered flag ahead of Chris Walker and Ash- ley Hawes by a margin of 5.3secs.

The previous day the pair took pole position in Saturday’s 10-lap opener, but a sluggish start saw them overhauled and pushed back to third behind Ben Holland/Lee Watson and John Holden/ Stuart Ramsey.

A lap later they were up to second having got by Holden and on lap four they took the lead, something they were never to relinquish.

The race was so close – Reeves and Cluze’s winning margin was just 0.051secs over Holland/ Watson with Stevens/ Charlwood only two tenths of a second further back.

‘It’s disappointing to have missed out on the Championship’

PW F A Ps Postling A ........... 6 6 42 12 42 Little Chart A....... 5 3 29 16 29 Iron Room B........ 6 3 27 27 27 Iron Room A ........ 6 4 25 29 25 Ruckinge A ......... 5 2 24 21 24 Little Chart B....... 5 2 20 25 20 Challock A .......... 6 2 19 35 19 Postling B ........... 5 0 12 33 12