British F1: Snetterton 300 circuit welcomes round two 21-23 August
Finally, the wait to re-join the BSB paddock is over for the Molson Group British Sidecar Championship. Round two takes us to one of the most popular and sidecar friendly tracks on the BSB tour.
The Snetterton 300 circuit has plenty of wide-open spaces to observe social distancing, and a super-fast race environment which always delivers great on-track action.
With a truncated five round, ten race season now fixed, there will be no room for error. The opener at Cadwell Park is already behind us, with scores firmly on the board for all the top runners.
Two weeks ago, in Lincolnshire, former champions Steve Kershaw, now with new passenger Ryan Charlwood (Santander Salt/Quattro Yamaha), took double victory ahead of his team-mates and reigning champions Todd Ellis and Charlie Richardson (Santander Salt Honda).
Third in the new title chase heading for Norfolk is the SBR Yamaha duo of Lewis Blackstock and Paddy Rosney. They showed they are more than capable of running at the front, so expect them to do more of the same at Snetterton.
High profile non-starters in round one included Ricky Stevens/Johnny Allum and Ben Holland/Jed Pilmoor-Brady. They run in the same Kawasaki team, with financial and sponsorship issues already blighting their new season. There is no sign of an imminent return for the luckless southerners, so they are unlikely to appear next weekend.
Chris Walker and Ashley Hawes recorded a zero in Lincolnshire with a blown engine and will certainly be hoping for a bagful of points alongside the A11. They have a lot of catching up to do, but The Stalker has the speed as we have seen on many occasions.
Sam and Adam Christie (CES Yamaha) sit fourth in the standings, ahead of Phil Bell and Justin Sharpe (Marin Motorsport Yamaha). Ben and Tom Birchall unveiled their new short chassis F2 Honda LCR two weeks ago, treating Cadwell Park as a shakedown. It will be interesting to see if they stay with the short bike next weekend or revert to the tried and tested long LCR given the fast nature of Snetterton’s many bends. It is their intention to contest all five rounds in 2020, so they will almost certainly be in the hunt at the season end.
Making a first appearance this year are Shrewsbury’s Rupert Archer paired up with Ben Chandler, and Pete Founds/Jevan Walmsley with their short chassis Suzuki.
John Holden and Jake Lowther also need to make up for a zero in race one at Cadwell and have a good record at Snetterton. The tough Holden is podium material as we have seen in the past.
With around twenty crews entered as we go to press, expect a colourful blend of speed and first-class entertainment with live Eurosport TV coverage exposing the action to its large audience.