Review of the 2008 Sidecar Speedway Season.

Review by Colin Martin (Soton).

On paper last year’s sidecar season in the UK looked a thrilling one with the Solent Open title in late May up for grabs along with the main event of the prestigious World Championship Gold Trophy and the five round series to determine the British Sidecar Speedway Champions.

Did the season deliver all that was promised?

It most certainly did with top drawer action all the way, never a dull moment in the entire year. Surprises all along the line
in all the events; the best season I have witnessed. Thrills in abundance and not too may spills, thank goodness.

The UK teams travelled across the water to Ryde for the Solent Open Championship on the Isle of Wight for the opening sidecar event of the new season. Straight away the bar was raised as Team Tyrrell and Team Cossar arrived with two bikes at their disposal, unheard of in previous years, expressing their commitment to the year that lay ahead. But spare machinery in the pits is one thing but it’s the results on the track that tells the real truth. And both lived up to their investment along with Gary Jackson / Carl Blyth, Rich Moore / Rob Winspear, Ivor Matthews / Rick McAuley et all.

Two heats, 12 and 15, were worth the admission price alone as Jackson and Tyrrell fought for supremacy and the Solent title.
Tyrrell was unbeaten in his previous three rides whereas Jackson’s night started with a zero but the Chester team clawed their way back into contention with a win and a second place. They squared up to each other in heat 12 with Jackson making the holeshot from Tyrrell who immediately put the pressure on his rival. Riding mid track, Jackson covered Tyrrell’s every passing options successfully for three laps until Matt drove high onto the turn two banking and skillfully wriggled through the narrowest of gaps between his rival’s sidecar fairing and the boards to emerge in front down the back straight to remain unbeaten at that juncture in the meeting.

The Solent Open final re-matched Jackson against Tyrrell, with Rich Moore / Rob Winspear and Paul Whitelam / Alan Elliott also getting into the action for the meeting’s finale.

As before Gary made the better start with Matt, then Rich and Paul not far behind. Tyrrell began to reel Jackson in as Moore and Whitelam swapped places for third. Jackson, wary of Tyrrell’s intention, drove higher on the pits turn to keep his adversary at bay but Tyrrell read Jacko’s blocking move perfectly and dropped off the steep banking early to draw alongside. A wheel to wheel power battle ensued towards bends three and four as Team Tyrrell hugged the inside line, Jackson drifted wide, cutting back to the pole line to thwart the valiant effort by Tyrrell by less that half a wheel at the finish. Moore finished on the podium after Whitelam was excluded by the steward for going off the track on the last bend, forfeiting third place as a consequence.

Looking at the stats for that meeting is interesting, upon reflection, as they closely resembled the stats at the end of the season.

With Jackson taking the first title of the season from Tyrrell, the sidecar teams then had a long wait from May until August when the BSSC itself got underway.

Plymouth hosted the opening BSSC round and what a meeting it was to enjoy!

To begin, Aussies Dave Bottrell and Ben Pitt, over here for the Gold Trophy, confirmed their participation in the entire BSSC series, added to the line up just for the night were the World Champions, South Australia’s Mick Headland and Paul Waters. Despite the obvious jet lag showing on his face, Headland was prepared to give it a go, getting valuable track time in the process. First time out on the track brought the Aussies together. Headland did his customary mono wheel away from the start as Bottrell headed for the high line. Mick rode the track just brilliantly taking the chequered flag comfortably.

In fact, both Headland and Bottrell went on to make the final to take on Rich Moore and Matt Tyrrell. Fortunes were reversed as Bottrell won from Tyrrell and then Moore as Headland inexplicably spun out on the pits turn when well placed.

After the opener, the leaders were Bottrell / Pitt with 18 points: Mick Headland / Paul Waters and Rich Moore / Rob Winspear on 15 points and Matt Tyrrell / Shaun Yates with 14 points. Shock of the round was the lowly three points return from Gary Jackson and Carl Blyth as mechanical problems put a dent in their title aspirations at this early stage.

The Isle of Wight hosted round two. Headland and Waters didn’t compete on the Island preferring to prepare for the Gold Trophy. Adelaide’s Rockin’ Ronny Parker made his debut in the series in place of the World Champions. But that had no influence on the outcome as Bottrell and Pitt pitched in with another 18 point haul to increase the lead over Tyrrell and Moore.
Jackson showed good form and began to recover from the Plymouth nightmare.

After the Island round: Bottrell 36 points, Tyrrell 31 and Moore 28.

Round three and the wide open spaces of the Blunsdon raceway at Swindon in Wilshire provided Botts and Pitty with a circuit more like home and they duly obliged with a 16 points haul but the chasing pack managed to contain the Aussies somewhat with Tyrrell and Jackson earning 15 points as Moore drifted back from the leaders with 13 points on the night.

Points after Swindon were Bottrell 52, Tyrrell 46 and Moore back on 41.

With the next planned round at Weymouth had to be cancelled as the track was not suitable to host the 1000cc sidecars, time ran out in the end for Dave and Ben who had to pack up and head for their homes in Queensland and back to work, leaving the series on 52 points. The race for the title was effectively, barring any insurmountable problems, between Matt Tyrrell and Richard Moore.
They had two meetings to make up their points deficit to Bottrell’s final total.

The next battle of the title contenders took place at Reading, Moorey’s home circuit and Team Skeleton took the golden opportunity to close in on Team Tyrrell. The Grand Final saw Moore take on Tyrrell, Jackson and an emerging team from the pack, Mark Cossar / Andi Wilson. Team Skeleton made the start theirs as Tyrrell had to give best to Jackson for second place as Cossar trailed at the back.

A fitting end and finish to the nights racing that the local boys, Moore and Winspear, took the victory in the last ever sidecar race at the Smallmead track.

With just one round to go all four contenders had the pressure applied as Team Tyrrell and Team Skeleton both surpassing the Bottrell / Pitt score after the Reading meeting.

After Reading: Tyrrell now had 60 points, Moore with 58, Bottrell on 52 with Jackson on 45 and Cossar now in third place contention on 43.

With the final round at Swindon, could Team Skeleton take the title from Team Tyrrell as they had now closed within two points of the leaders?

Would Team Jackson and Team Cossar be able to climb above Bottrell and snatch third place away from the Aussie duo?

In fact, would the experience of Gary Jackson be strong enough to keep the young Cossar / Wilson pairing at bay for third?

All would become clear on the 25th September at Swindon.

With so many permutations possible, the meeting became a cat and mouse game between Tyrrell and Moore.
Matt won his opening race, as did Moore who had to do something really special to make up the two points deficit.

Unfortunately for Moore and Winspear as the points pendulum swung in Team Tyrrell’s favour when the Skeleton’s dropped points in the qualifiers. Both teams made it through to the Grand Final and last race in the series, however by simply getting into the final, Matt Tyrrell and Shaun Yates achieved their dream in being crowned the 2008 Champions on 79 points to Rich Moore and Rob Winspear’s 73 with Mark Cossar and Andi Wilson pipping Gary Jackson and Carl Blyth by one point for that final podium place.

BSSC Milestone:

In the five round series, Team Tyrrell and Team Skeleton were the only crews to achieve a double point score in every meeting.

Reflecting back on 2008, they said:

Matt Tyrrell / Shaun Yates: 2008 British Sidecars Speedway Champions: Races: 30. Points: 79. BSSC Average: 10.53.

‘2008 is my best year so far on sidecar speedway. Obviously, that's due to a combination of experience and a determination to win following the last 2 years.  Those years were frustrating as I missed out on better placings due to mechanical failure.       This year we were determined to eliminate this risk as far as possible so we prepared ourselves better during the winter months - both the machinery and my own personal fitness.  I was also more focused this year due to the increased level of competition.
Bringing two bikes to each event, I wanted to be as certain as possible that the only reason for not winning would be my riding ability and not machine failure.  However, as the season turned out, we only had to bring in the second bike on 2 occasions - Plymouth and the Gold Cup at Kings Lynn.
 In my opinion, it was also great for the series to have the Australian duo of Dave Bottrell / Ben Pitt competing. I can honestly say that I love racing against the Aussies. They are the best in the world and we have to race against them to improve our own riding style and standards. In my opinion, it was also great for the series itself to have Dave and Ben competing. 
Looking back, it was a good thing to happen in the penultimate round at Reading as it made me very determined to have a clean sweep at Swindon.  I was not prepared to lose the series again in the last round. I was obviously disappointed with myself as I missed a gear in the first corner of the final at Reading. 
Rich was riding superbly that night and this was to be expected at his local track and he deserved the win.  Again, it's good for the series when the competition is so close, particularly when it goes down to the wire in the final round!
Dad kept us updated all night at Swindon on the points tally.  However, my game plan for that night was to win every race and in particular, to get a fast time in my first race. I think Rich went into the last round with a psychological advantage after Reading so I had to get a good result in race 1 to enable me to perform at my very best throughout that meeting, I wanted to remain unbeaten all night and although we realised that we just had to finish, there was no way that Shaun and I were going to poodle around the track in the last race!
Both Shaun and I have improved over the last few years. Racing with and talking to the Aussies has helped both of us tremendously. The longer we have raced together, Shaun's ability to read the bike and how it handles is spot on.  He doesn't just turn up for race day, he puts a lot of time into the prep at the workshop, even after the arrival of his son, little Charlie!

We will be making a few alterations to engines and set up for 2009 and the defence of the BSSC title.  Not telling you what though but watch this space...’

Our success could not have been achieved without the support of the following: Our grateful thanks to you all.                

Grubby and Millie - New Look Builders of Horsham
Frost Builders
Thor Motorcycles
Dad - C & MJ  Tyrell Builders     

Richard Moore / Rob Winspear: 2008 BSSC Runners Up. Races: 30. Points: 73. BSSC Average: 9.73.

‘Yes, 08 has been a good season for Team Skeleton, let’s see if we can keep it up. 
I think we have settled with the LCR now, we’ve done a few changes for the new season that I didn’t want to do, that works in theory, whilst in mid season last year. The change in riding style just felt comfortable and felt I had more control; it takes me back to when I rode MX as a driver and passenger.

Reading was the one and I couldn’t believe the support from the other riders and crowd after that. I didn’t let Team Tyrrell put me under pressure because everyone out there can score points over each other, and we went to Swindon looking at it that if I had a bad night I would be third; a fair night second and a good night then there would have been one big celebration party!

Unfortunately, I missed the gear change at Swindon in my third and fourth heat which was a big blow and that was that, so that is a big mod for this year because it also happened at the Gold Trophy at Kings Lynn’

We would like to thank in no order:

Nunzi and Julie Iuia
Ian and Jan Mills.
The people who organised our meetings at home and away. Team Bavaria.
Rob Heath.
Stuart @ Extreme Clean and Power Platforms.
Our trusty mechanic, Paul Alexander.
Pannelwise.
Display Signs.
GRL Motors. 

Mark Cossar / Andi Wilson: 2008 BSSC Third Place. Races: 27. Points: 57. BSSC Average: 8.44

Every season since coming onto the shale, Mark has improved in leaps and bounds but this time around, with Andi Wilson on board, Team Cossar has surpassed previous seasons. In fact, there is only one spot left and that is to be the future Champions. Mark, Andi and their support team worked hard to get themselves within striking distance of a potential podium place and the final round at Swindon. It was their last race in the series where they secured the necessary points to earn their third place.

Gary Jackson / Carl Blyth: 4th place. Races: 25. Points: 56. BSSC Average: 8.96.

Not the best of starts for the current champions whose season agenda was to achieve a triple crown of titles. But after round one they were down by 15 points on the leaders with just a trio of points in the bag, along with the level of competition increasing every year, Gary and Carl has some serious ground to make up. They picked themselves up though, riding hard for the rest of the rounds and only just missed out on third place by a solitary point.

Dave Bottrell / Ben Pitt: 5th place: Races: 18. Points: 52.  BSSC Average: 11.56.

See Team 36’s comments below.

Ivor Matthews / Rick McAuley: 6th place: Races: 25. Points: 49. BSSC Average: 7.84.

Good start to the season for this new but experienced pairing that started to put double figure scores together from round two after a less than ideal beginning at Plymouth. Best meeting was at round two on the Island with 12 points.

Craig Cheatham / Dave Hogan: 7th place: Races 26 Points 48. Races: 25. BSSC Average: 7.38.

Consistent scoring through the four opening rounds in the series but all in single figures. Team Cheatham always have one very good meeting in the BSSC series but saved their best for the last round at Swindon with 15 points.

Mick Cave / Ben Goddard: 8th: Races: 25. Points: 46. BSSC Average: 7.36.

Cavey and Chesney dropped back into eighth place at the end of the 08 BSSC season, from sixth in 2007 but still remained solid performers through the year.

Pete Lloyd / Nick Wilson – Liam Brown: 9th: Points: 30. Races: 21. BSSC Average: 5.71.

Change of engine this season to Honda and Team Orient Express remained on the pace until round four where a tumble first time out forced them to withdraw from the meeting. Lloyd returned to action at Swindon, now with Liam Brown onboard in place of the injured Wilson, to score eight with a good performance to keep them just inside the top ten.

Paul Bickley / Phil Stoneman: 10th: Points: 20. Races: 17. 4.71.

A challenging season for Team Bickley, who only competed in four rounds, but still managed a worthy top ten placing.
Phil sadly ended up on the injured list after an accident on the grass track.

Roger Wynn / Richard Masterton: 11th: Points: 19. Races: 18. BSSC Average: 4.22.

Return to the sport for Roger after injury and for Rich who took time out from racing but once they got back into the racing groove posted their best scores of seven at Reading and during the final round at Swindon.

Tris Winterburn / Gareth Bemister – Shaun McCotter – Terry Madley - Kev Colbourne: 12th: Points: 18. Races: 24.  BSSC Average: 3.00.

‘A bit of struggle to get the bike ready as I ran out of time against a mixture of working away through the week, passengering Mark Cossar on grass and spending time with my 3 year old son. Our early problems were a mixture of ignition timing and carburetor problems.

After Plymouth I knew that I could do better, I was just lucky other people had bike problems as well to even things out.

The next round at Smallbrook, we had bike problems yet again and Sean hurt his wrist which did not help matters, so it was a disappointing night for me.

Really enjoyed myself at Swindon with the bike being right for the first time. The second outing was fantastic with a lot more confidence but a shame about my disqualification in my first heat when Mark Cossar took off my passenger, think he was scared I’d beat him !!. No, it was just first corner bunching and Kev was unlucky to lose his grip. I did enjoy the bigger tracks but we will see how I fair this coming season on them.

In the Winterburn family battle, yeah it is 2-0 to our Rod, so I’ve got to let him beat me or nowhere to keep me bikes.
Truthfully there is no way Rod will let his younger cousin beat him, that first turn at Swindon he was under the feet, I knew Rod and Craig would push me hard as Kev and I were really struggling for drive.

Really surprised at the BSSC result, in the end, as they all have a lot more track experience than myself so was happy with 12th in my first year.

I am competing in the BSSC and the Track Racing Championship with Kev. Colbourne in the chair, and hopefully beat Rod a good few times in the process

Would like to thank Mark Cossar for sorting my misfire and carb problems the day we had free in between the Isle of Wight and Swindon meetings, Matt “fatman" Fumarola for his mechanical skills and trying to show me the ropes at meetings.

Gareth Bemister for passengering me at Plymouth even though I think he was more nervous than me.
Paul Whitelam Jnr and Lee Hicks for their help at Plymouth trying to get me back on the track when it was not running right.

Last but not least, my thanks to Terry Madley for jumping on back at Swindon; and to Kev. Colbourne doing the last two rounds and agreeing to do this season with me’

Rod Winterburn / Gareth Winterburn: 13th: Points: 16. Races: 10. BSSC Average: 6.40.

‘The Gold Trophy was a big stage to start for us on sidecar speedway as neither Gareth nor I had ridden on shale before.
It was very different to what we expected!

From that meeting, we didn’t expect anymore than to finish the meeting the right way up and in one piece.
So to finish 5th was a complete surprise as we only bought the bike, for little money, just to do the Gold Trophy at King’s Lynn.

All that was done to the bike in preparation was a new front tyre, cleaned the carbs, changed the oil and painted the fairings. After the meeting, we decided to have another go on the shale rather than just park the bike up in the garage. But we managed to finish 13th from two BSSC meetings.

What could we do in a full season? Well, it is a long, long way from 13th up to 1st: we did learn that this sport takes a lot of hard work which we don’t mind but time is always something we never have enough of during the working week.

We had some good battles with my cousin, Tris, in the two BSSC meetings but on track he is just the same as anyone else.
He’s just another meeting rival to be beaten.

Due to Gareth’s arm injury sustained on the grass, he has stepped down from the passenger role for this year and his friend, Liam Brown, is going to ride with me when he can.

Can’t thank any sponsors, as I’ve never had any sponsorship from anyone in all the time I’ve been racing. (but it would be nice to have one)’

Mick Headland / Paul Waters: 14th: Points: 15. Races: 6. BSSC Average: 10.00.

Only rode in on meeting in the BSSC but showed everyone why the South Australian’s became the World Champions in 2007. A breathtaking all action style that meant they were unbeaten in the qualifiers but spun out in the Plymouth Grand Final.

Will Offen / Andy Wood: 15th: Points: 14. Races: 16. BSSC Average: 3.50.

‘First season on the speedway for us after five years on the grass track, I’ve always wanted to race on the shale after watching the Australians when they’ve been over here. The bike came along at the right time and our first time out was the opener at Plymouth and we scored seven points. Unbelievable on the night but everything went downhill after that!
We did struggle setting the bike up with only our grass experience to draw upon but we have learnt from that situation.

The clutch blew out at Reading and we couldn’t get the problem solved or find another suitable engine in time for the last round at Swindon, so that was a low point for the team. Despite that, we’ve got the bug for speedway racing and will be in the TRC and BSSC in 09.

Andy and I would like to say thank you very much to Lee Ray, Gavin Newlyn, Adrian Lawrance and to our families for all their help and support in our first sidecar speedway season’.

Ronny Parker / James Benfield – Paul Waters: 16th: Points: 10. Races: 8. BSSC Average: 5.00.

‘Rockin’ Ronny only participated in two BSSC rounds. A colourful character from Adelaide, the Prince’s best score was seven points at Swindon with fellow countryman Paul Waters acting as his passenger.

Paul Downes / Terry Madley: 16th: Points: 10. Races: 15. BSSC Average: 2.67.

A troubled beginning to the campaign for Paul and Terry, who were vying to build upon their progress from the previous year, as a defective rear wheel spindle which took time to realise caused problems in two meetings.
Once resolved the points began to appear.

Mark Heatley / Martin Davis: 18th: Points: 9. Races: 19. BSSC Average: 1.89.

First time on the shale for the Wiltshire based duo. Mark and Martin had mechanical issues plus getting the bike set up correctly for the tracks took its toll on their potential. They put good points on the scoresheet at Plymouth, Reading and Swindon.

Roel Liemburg / Fraser Sutherland: 19th: Points: 4. Races: 9. BSSC Average: 1.78.

‘You can understand that I’m not a happy chappy with the results of the 2008 season.

The season started as normal with trying to find a passenger, which is a big problem for me.
The only one in Holland is Erik Van Dijk but racing mid week in England, he has problems getting time off from his job. So I had to look to England again and found Rick McAuley to passenger for me but, after our first meeting,
he went over to race with Ivor Matthews for the remainder of the season.

Luckily, with help from Dave ‘Falsedawn’ Williams, I found a replacement in Fraser Sutherland and that worked out very well.

The biggest disappointed was at the Gold Trophy meeting in August. After working on the bike for a few years, it finally worked and drove like hell. In practice and after the first heat, I was confident of a good points score even though I was the least experienced driver in the field. The disappointment came in the second heat when, after a good start, I was crashed out by another team. To be honest, that still hurts me mentally.

After the meetings on the Isle of Wight and at Somerton, which were reasonable although the engine was still not 100% after the Gold Trophy crash, I had to miss the next BSSC meetings due to the fire in the Channel Tunnel.

I intended to ride at the last meeting in the series having booked the ferry etc, the dates were changed so I had to miss that meeting too.

A completely messed up season for Team Liemburg is the best way to sum up our racing year.

For 2009, it will be difficult to do the new Track Racing Sidecar Championship as a result of the current financial crisis. As a self employed person, there is not a lot of work about for me at present and with costs of a meeting including the ferry, tyres, etc I think a meeting will cost between 500 – 600 Euros (£450) each time.
With the Euro exchange nearly on a one to one basis with the pound, and no sponsorship, it will be a hard job to do.

But I never give up as this sport is my life, thankfully my wife supports me in my racing, so we’ll see if I can be part of the UK sidecar speedway season’he last words of this review should go to Dave Bottrell who is currently on the sidelines after his accident in Queensland.

‘Ben and I were fortunate to get a start in the BSSC, which I thank all involved for the opportunity. The disappointing side was not being able to finish what we started. The venues that we visited Plymouth, IOW and Swindon impressed me not only with the organisation and venues themselves, but what really struck me was the enthusiasm of the non-sidecar public that attended. With the right promotion and competitor support it seems the sidecar scene can take off in the UK.

The repair of our Suzuki following the Super Cup meeting was not as successful as hoped as the only bottom end we could find in the UK was found to have no 2nd gear (after it was installed). This hampered us somewhat but it was good to have the engine on song again. The level of competition in the BSSC was quite good. The top half a dozen crews all charge hard and are on good equipment. The exciting thing for British sidecars is the next tier riders are getting new and better equipment, so in no time they will be up to pace with the top guys and the cycle of pushing each other faster will begin as happens in Aus.

The tour of the UK left us with mixed fortunes. The Gold Cup was our obvious goal, while disappointed we also consider ourselves fortunate.

From the moment we hit the track our Suzuki didn’t seem to be performing, as we knew it could. All through practice and during the meeting we struggled to pull gearing the engine would normally scream through and this was on what I consider a slick track. All became clear at our next ride (The IOW Supercup) where the same problem worsened and wrecked the main bearings on the crank.
Luck was on our side to firstly finish the meeting, but also to make the best of a "Bad Decision" in our first heat to finish 3rd.

In a top line meeting with no final, you cannot afford to drop a heat and finish on a podium without other results going your way.

We met some really great people both on and off the track and hopefully one day we can return to catch up again, if I ever heal up!’