With conditions dry but very windy the first round of the FIM Sidecar World Championship got under way at Donington Park running with the “Thundersport GB” event.

As the lights went out for the 22 lap race it was Ben and Tom Birchall on their “Mitchells of Mansfield” LCR, Suzuki who took the whole shot into the first corner, right on their tails was Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood on their “AOS/Be Wiser” LCR, Kawasaki, running alongside them was Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze on their “Team E-AIDE Motorsport” LCR, Kawasaki, right on their tail was Pekka Paivarinta and Kirsi Kainulainen on their “44-Racing” LCR, BMW.

Reeves and Cluze managed to overhaul Stevens and Charlwood and give chase to the Birchall Brothers.  On the second lap the red flags came out when an incident with John Holden and Andy Winkle resulting with passenger Winkle needing hospital treatment.

The restarted race was now to be run over 19 laps.  Again as the lights went out it was the Birchall Brothers taking the lead with Reeves and Cluze second, Stevens and Charlwood third, Paivarinta and Kainulainen fourth, slotting into fifth place was Ben Holland and Lee Watson on their “Finning Cat” LCR, Kawasaki.

  Mike Roscher and Anna Burkard on their “Roscher-Burkard-Penz 13 Racing” LCR, BMW sixth, and Bennie Streuer and Geert Koerts with their “Team Streuer” LCR, Suzuki, slotting into seventh.

The battle at the front between the Birchalls and Reeves/Cluze was hotting up, they broke away from the pursuing pack and it was to be a hard fought battle with the two teams passing each and other on numerous occasions during the 19 lap race. On lap seventeen, contact between the two teams, resulted with the Birchall Brothers entering pit lane at the end of lap seventeen with a rear wheel puncture.

Stevens and Charlwood were now up to second place, and with no other teams threatening they were to take the chequered flag for second spot, the team were delighted with the result with both Stevens and Charlwood saying: “Unbelievable, what a feeling, second in our first World Championship Race, what a result for all the team.”

Paivarinta/Kainulainen were to have a great battle with Holland/Watson throughout the race with the two teams swapping places throughout.  As the race was in its closing stages Paivarinta/ Kainulainen managed to break free from Holland /Watson.  

They were to take third place in the race and were overjoyed with the result.  Kirsi Kainulainen, also is the first female passenger to stand on a World Championship podium in forty years, the last was Dane Rowe.  Holland and Watson were a bit disappointed with their fourth place, but enjoyed the battle during the race.

Bennie Streuer and Geert Koerts had a lonely race but the team did say that they were lacking power throughout the race, they were to finish in fifth place.

Mike Roscher and Anna Burkard were to cross the line in sixth place, a good start to their season campaign with good points.
Although Reeves and Cluze finished the race in first position the incident on lap seventeen resulted with them being disqualified from the race.

This resulted with the final podium positions being 1st Stevens/Charlwood 2nd Paivarinta/ Kainulainen 3rd Holland /Watson. The second round of the championship will be next weekend in Le-Mans, France.