Isle of Man TT stars lead British Sidecar Championship chase
Friday 28 September 2012
TT
Leading competitors from the Isle of Man TT are tied in a tight four-way battle for the top positions in the British F2 Sidecar Championship with just one round to go.
With 50 points up for grabs at Brands Hatch this weekend, the top two crews are split by just 7 points, while there are just 5 points between 3rd and 4th.
Ian and Carl Bell lead the way with 200 points, but Gary Bryan and passenger Jamie Winn are only just behind, with 193 points. While not in the title hunt, Carl Fenwick, partnered by Mark Sayers, and Conrad Harrison, partnered Lee Patterson, are fighting for third place – with 141 points and 136 points respectively.
The penultimate round was held at Snetterton, and produced two thrilling arces.
In the first race the Bells and Bryan/Winn had Fenwick/Sayers and wildcards Tony Brown and Ryan Anderson to battle with, as the outfit of Harrison and Patterson was forced to retire on lap 9 of 12 with a holed radiator.
In lap 11, the leading four outfits hit backmarkers, allowing Fenwick to edge in front of the Bells for the lead, only to be denied the win by a blown engine.
Bell battled Bryan to the line, taking the win by 0.238 of a second, with Brown/Anderson third.
In race two, Bell and Bryan took immediate control as the outfits of Harrison and Fenwick faced battling their way through from the back of the gird after race one retirements.
Fenwick managed to recover to 3rd, with Harrison in 5th behind Brown, but all eyes were on the leading chairs, with only metres separating them throughout the 14 laps.
Bell held the lead at the end of every lap and held on to take the win, this time by just 0.218s.
The final event of the championship at Brands Hatch takes place this weekend.