Ellis and Clement claim fifth at Assen
Double and current World Sidecar champions Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement secured a fifth place in the feature race in round four of the FIM World Sidecar championship at Assen in the Netherlands on Sunday.
After the eight-week summer break the World Sidecar championship got back underway with a visit to the Cathedral of Speed.
It’s been a lot of hard work for Ellis and Clement as they work around the set up problems they have encountered with the new outfit.
But having recorded three podiums in previous rounds the Anglo/French duo, based at North Kelsey near Market Rasen, are not far away from the top three.
First qualifying threw up some issues with the rear tyre but after a few adjustments they were more comfortable in the final session and completed qualifying in a close sixth place for a third row start to the Sprint race on Saturday. With the top six very close on time it was going to be a fight for the podium between them.
As the race began they were quick to take up fifth place and had a close battle for position with Reeves/Wilkes and Paivarinta/Christie throughout the nine laps, crossing the finish line in sixth place just 0.093s away from Paivarinta/Christie.
The feature race on Sunday was a close and eventful affair with Ellis and Clement starting from the third row once again. They were up to fifth at turn one and one lap later were challenging Paine/Rousseau for fourth but unable to make their move stick.
At the final corner they ran wide onto the runoff area and lost ground crossing the line in sixth place at the start of lap three.
They fought their way back up to fifth and entered into a race long battle with Paivarinta/Christie for the position. Ellis and Clement began to pull away mid-race but in the latter stages of the 20 lap affair tyre wear came into play and they were back fighting for position.
On the penultimate lap Ellis drifted wide which allowed Paivarinta to get ahead but Ellis was quick to pass him once again. The battle raged through the final lap with Ellis hanging onto fifth place and crossing the finish line 0.2s ahead of Paivarinta to claim a top five finish to the race.
The next round is at Oschersleben over the weekend of October 4/6.