Stevens and Charlwood encouraged by Donington display as sidecar duo keep podium place in sight

In the penultimate round of the Molson Group British Sidecar Championship former champions Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood showed their quality with a strong performance for The Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki team.
Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood in action at Donington Park. Picture: Tim Keeton/Impact ImagesRicky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood in action at Donington Park. Picture: Tim Keeton/Impact Images
Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood in action at Donington Park. Picture: Tim Keeton/Impact Images

The opening race at Donington Park went well as they secured a fine fourth place, just 0.212 seconds off the podium.

Portsmouth’s Stevens and his Dover-based passenger Charlwood had plenty to be encouraged about with the way they performed, although race two wasn’t so positive for them.

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They finished in seventh place which saw them to move up to fifth overall in the Championship standings.

Stevens said: ‘We qualified in sixth which meant we started race one on row three of the grid and finished fourth which was pretty good.

‘Although we felt with a few adjustments to the bike we could do a lot better in race two, we were unable to improve on that finishing seventh.

‘It’s not where we wanted to be, but we were pleased to get two strong point-scoring results.

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‘It means we’ve still got a good chance of finishing third in the championship, especially with double points up for grabs in the final round.’

Team-mates Ben Holland and Lee Watson retired on the eighth lap of the first race.

Sunday’s second encounter started in dry conditions but was ultimately stopped early as rain began to fall.

Holland and Watson were again forced out of proceedings.

It was so frustrating for Havant’s Holland.

He said: ‘We endured another very disappointing weekend owing to mechanical failures.

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‘We qualified in ninth for a row four start on Saturday but had to run in a new engine in free practice which put us on the back foot and sadly a gear change issue put paid to any hopes we had of finishing the race.

‘In race two the bike developed an electrical misfire which meant we were forced to retire early once again.

‘Two DNFs have really reduced our chances of finishing in the top 10 this season but that is still the aim.’

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