Successive wins for North sidecar team after repair drama

North motor sport with ZOE BURN

LEE Crawford continued his Oliver’s Mount domination yesterday as he and passenger Scott Hardie stormed to two sidecar race wins.

The Team ARC duo saw off challenges from multiple-world Championship winners Ben and Tom Birchall as well as Conrad Harrison and Andy Winkle to come out on top in both races.

Crawford, of Bishop Auckland and his long-term passenger Hardie arrived at Scarborough riding high from their success at last weekend’s Battle of Britain event at Croft.

As the Darlington track hosted its only motorcycle and sidecar race event of 2020 last Saturday and Sunday, Crawford and Hardie scored two wins and set a new F2 record and left feeling like they still had a few more tenths of a second still to come.

After a few days at home, the pair headed to Scarborough on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Gold Cup and got off to a good start on Friday, setting a new personal best during free practice.

But the team then found a small crack in the front forks which could’ve ended their weekend early, however, they managed to pull in help from friends to get the repairs done in time for them to line up on pole for yesterday’s races.

In the opening race, they tore off the start line ahead of Harrison and Winkle and quickly edged themselves a comfortable gap at the front to eventually cross the line eight seconds clear.

Behind, Harrison and Winkle were caught up in a scrap with the Birchalls which went all the way to the flag, with Harrison’s machine beating his rivals over the line by 0.242secs.

In the second scrap, it was the Birchalls who were quickest off the line and had already built up a lead of 2.4secs at the end of the opening lap.

But Crawford and Hardie weren’t going to let them have it easy and put their heads down to charge after them. With two laps to go, the gap was down to just 0.3secs but before Crawford was able to consider a move, the Birchalls retired from the race.

This left Team ARC a clear run to the finish line, as Harrison and Winkle banked another second place.

The action at Oliver’s Mount is set to continue today, with more sidecar races along with a number of solo events.

Crawford and Hardie will be hoping to reclaim the Ian Bell Trophy which they won last year, presented by Carl, son of the late Ian Bell who remains the most successful sidecar driver of all time at Oliver’s Mount.

Carl, who had the trophy completely redesigned last year, will be on hand to present it to the winners today.