|
Kent brothers Tim and Tristan Reeves have retained their world sidecar title in style by winning the three races at Rijeka in Croatia over the weekend securing their second world title with three races left to race.
Qualifying at Rijeka was a bit of a lottery with a dryish first session and then the final period run in the wet. The faster times were set on a drying track but Tim aged 32 and Tristan 26, failed to make pole as they blistered a tyre, which slowed then down somewhat.
As they began their heat for the match races Tim and Tristan were carrying the full 30kg of ballast on board. Although they were entitled to drop down to 20kg they decided on the grounds of continuity to run all weekend with the full quota of extra weight. Tim explained: “To keep the full weight load onboard saves us the trouble of removing it and then having to put it back on if and when we won the next race.”
The brothers Reeves won their heat and semi-final in the match races and went on to win the final with a three second advantage over Paivarinta.
Next up it was the Sprint race, which they did win but not without incident as Tim explained: “We got a bad start but soon caught up with Paivarinta who was leading the race. But I went into Turn 11 a bit too hot and hit the kerb, slid across the track hitting the kerb the other side and then running along the grass before re-joining in third place. We soon got back on the pace and settled down to concentrate on passing the two outfits ahead. We got past Delannoy ok and then chased after Paivarinta who we caught and passed to secure our second win of the weekend.
“Because our closest rivals Manninen and Kuismanen had crashed earlier in the day we were aware that it was possible to wrap up the championship at Rijeka. We figured that if Paivarinta won the gold race we only needed to finish third to take the title.”
As the race got underway Tim was content to sit back in second place behind Delannoy but the race was stopped following a crash involving Steve Norbury and Scott Parnell. |
|
“Towards the end I could see that Paivarinta was having a few tyre problems and I decided to go for the win,” said Tim. “I wanted to clinch the title on a winning note and it worked out just fine.
When they finally got back on track Paivarinta took the lead with Reeves following and they both pulled well clear of Delannoy who was circulating in third place.
Knowing he didn’t need to rush Tim was content to sit behind conserving his tyres for a last lap challenge. Tim began to close in on the Fin and caught and passed him on the last corner to take the win and also the world title.
“We are over the moon with the result and are looking forward to racing in the final rounds with no pressure, we can just go out there and enjoy our racing.”
Tim and Tristan would like to thank their sponsors: Richard at Eastern Airways; Neil at HS Contractors; Roger at Lime Logistics; Stuart and Guy ant NME (engines); Stuart and Steve at Morris Lubricants; the Ovenden family at Goody Demolition; Paul at Commercial Tyres; Sean Ryde (mechanic) and all friends and family for their continued support.
Tim added: “A special thank you must go to our employers, John, Martin and Barry Lee and all at Ringway Infrastructure because without their valued help and allowing us the time off work all this would never have been possible.”
With eight wins, two second places, one third, one fourth and a sixth in the 13 rounds campaigned to date Tim and Tristan have scored 279 points and their nearest rivals Pekka Paivarinta and Timo Karttiala (Finland) have scored 188. With three races, one at Assen in Holland on Sept 3 and the final two rounds at Karlskoga in Sweden the following weekend on Sept 9/10 and 75 points up for grabs it is mathematically impossible for Tim and Tristan to be caught therefore they have been declared World Sidecar champions once again!!
|
