The Bend ASBK Finals – Focus on Sidecars – Champs Crown – MCNews

ASBK 2022

The Bend – Focus on Sidecars

The third and final rounds of the Australian Horsell Car Championship were contested alongside the regulars that make up the ASBK series last weekend at The Bend, and the costumes carry some exciting dice, featuring some specials. especially in the front yard.

Unlike previous years where there were separate titles for the F1 1000cc and the F2 for the 600cc engine, the classes are combined with all the teams going for full points in the title chase.

Fifteen outfits took part, with several WA teams making the journey across Nullarbor to add to the usual pool of suspects who competed in the previous two rounds at the Queensland Circuit – along with the ASBK round last month. 3 – and Morgan Park earlier this year.

Sidecars are famous for making spectacular antics but in recent years numbers have dwindled in different levels of the sport, but they have emerged from furniture to Bend, although there are whispers from participants that there are a lot of costumes that have been hidden in warehouses around the country, that should be in the right direction.

It was the first time Australian sidecar titles ventured to Bend and there was plenty of enthusiasm. Hopefully if the national sidecar championship continues to be a part of the ASBK schedule and as such, we all expect the numbers to increase.

One notable absence are Oz Sidecar champions Corey and Danyon Turner, but never fear, it’s the level of competition and adrenalin frenzy within the Turner clan that Jamie family members enjoy and Shelby Turner dressed in a well-prepared number 52.

In the first round at QMP, back in March, Jamie and Shelby finished second on Century Pools LCR Suzuki behind Phil Underwood and Tristan Vercoe, on Suzuki-powered Firefox Training LCR with three wins. As patriarch of the Turner clan, Neil teamed up with his son Danyon to finish fourth, but unfortunately only one Turner outfit was on track at Bend.

Underwood entered the meeting with a seven-point lead over Victoria’s Pat Clancy and Steve Bonney in their DeWith Engineering LCR Suzuki 1000 with the Turner siblings finishing third overall, nine points more. So there’s a lot to play with and with Mick Alton and Chrissie Clancy (J&C Engineering LCR600) just two points behind Turner, the battle for the top titles remains open.

After qualifying, it became clear that the title fight was all but more likely to be a two-dress race between Underwood’s Queensland team and Tristan Vercoe and Pat Clancy with Steve Bonney jumping on the chair at the weekend.

Young Clancy is a bit confused in this category as he is under 20 years old and half the age of the usual suspects in the class! After playing solo as a young student, Clancy re-entered the sidecar line-up and proved that the results weren’t faltering. This is understandable. His father, John, was a regular contestant and costume designer for many years while his mother, Chrissie, was a class legend for not wearing a costume in several decades, including including competing on the Isle of Men alongside his regular racing partner, Mick Alton.

The two top contenders didn’t let anyone down and along with Sandgropers Des Harvey and Steve Marshall in their City Panel Beaters RHR 1000 had some very interesting battles in three races for the main title. awake.

Clancy/Bonney snatched the pole from the Queenslanders and when the lights went out, the pair passed each other as Clancy led the way. Underwood tried everything and in the opening rounds even sold out several times in an attempt to outdo the Victorians.

They came close as Underwood was on a rush to get past his young opponent but determined to get past the younger player a lap, he overcame it and turned to let Harvey and Stephens pass. passed and took second place.

Sidecars Race One Result

Sidecars race two

The showdown at the front continued into the second stanza on Saturday afternoon with Clancy once again taking the lead.

Underwood was right with his hammer as the pair were only a few tenths of a second apart in the first three rounds, as they swapped the lead a few times with some sensational power slips from both that sent the crowd passion. Underwood’s over-excited then came into play as he ran wide across the ground past the tough lefties of the T14 and 15, which saw Clancy take the lead as he set the fastest lap to Lower the new lap record set again.

Fortunately the race didn’t last long as Clancy crossed the line to win, the engine gave up when a large column of oil smoke was released as the engine exploded.

As for Turner’s, they don’t have the best weekend. In the first two races, mechanical problems stopped them from racing. In the opening match, the pair stopped on the T6 lap before starting to reach the sixth place while in the second race they dropped to the last place on the opening lap before recovering to finish 10th.^orderalmost slid down.

There’s extra drama on stage two when another longtime competitor, Darryl “Dags” Rayner spins his Shelbourne 600 and spits out his passenger, Karen Warne in the process! Karen was a little shaken as she was launched from the podium of a costume but both moved forward for the final race.

Sidecars Race Two results

Sidecars three races

When the Clancy’s 1000cc engine was destroyed, Pat’s father John set out on a nine-hour lap trip back home to retrieve the 600cc F2 so they could compete in the final race.

As this was the last race in the three-day program, the exercise was completed in time to have the number 26 substitute outfit top the grid for the race that began at 5pm on Sunday.

With such a lack of power on F1 machines, Clancy was overwhelmed by his opponents pulling to T1 to finish the opening round in fifth place, but once he found his footing, he came in second at the end of the third round but now Underwood and Vercoe checked the next postcode to win almost 30 seconds away from Clancy.

In third were Alton and mother Chrissie, who held the Turners back just 0.077 to stand on the podium one last time as a team.

Clancy can totally regret that the mechanical gremlin forced the team to wear 600 cc powered skins and challenge him for the national title when Underwood and Clancy finished with equal points. . Underwood was crowned champion after the countdown because he won five races ahead of young Pat’s three.

Even with the mechanical problems at the weekend, Turner was third overall, just two points behind Alton/Clancy.

Although there were plenty of happy faces on the podium, Alton and Clancy showed some emotion as they explained that this would be their last race together. Chrissie aims to return to the pilot role after satisfying her thirst for a swinging outfit. The Alton/Clancy combination has won several national F2 titles as well as their successful forays into the Isle of Man challenges.

After the beautiful performance of this year’s sidecars, the competitors proved that there is still a lot of excitement in each race. The rest of us can only hope that the skins hidden in that warehouse can see the light of day and join the ranks to ensure that the championship is showcased alongside the SBK classes. normally on a more frequent basis.

Sidecars Race Three results

Sidecar Score