Ellis and Clement Hungary to extend series lead

North Kelsey sidecar driver Todd Ellis and French passenger Emmanuelle Clement rode to a win and a second place at the Pannonia Ring in Hungary to extend their championship lead over current Champions Schlosser/Fries on Sunday in round four of the 2022 FIM World Sidecar championship.
Ellis and Clement in action in Hungary. Photo: Wally WaltersEllis and Clement in action in Hungary. Photo: Wally Walters
Ellis and Clement in action in Hungary. Photo: Wally Walters

Following the long trek to Hungary, the team acclimatised themselves to the hot weather and went out in free practice on Friday to reacquaint themselves with the circuit and ended the day in first place with the fastest lap of 1m 58.214s.

Saturday qualifying went just as well with Ellis/Clement taking pole position with a fast lap of 1m 55.885s in hot, sunny conditions ahead of the first race later in the day. They lined up in pole position ahead of Schlosser/Fries who had ended the session in a close second place.

As the 15 lap affair got underway Ellis/Clement got the best of starts and were first into the first corner closely followed by Schlosser/Fries and Streuer/Kolsch but the latter two became involved in a fight for position which allowed the leaders to get away.

As the race unfolded the three leading outfits pulled away from the pack and although at times Schlosser/Fries were nearly alongside they were unable to make a pass on Ellis/Clement who took the chequered flag for the win and 25 points just 0.234s ahead of Schlosser/Fries.

On Sunday it was just as hot but with a strong wind which made it feel a bit cooler for the teams. Once again starting from pole position Ellis/Clement took the lead from Schlosser/Fries but this time Streuer/Kolsch, Kershaw/Charlwood and Payne/Wilkes were right behind them.

The top four manage to shake off the attention of Payne/Wilkes and proceeded to fight it out between them for the win. Places were exchanged within the group throughout the remainder of the 15 laps.

Eventually Streuer/Kolsch snatched the lead and managed to pull a small gap which was sufficient for them to take the win with a margin of 1.396s over Ellis/Clement with Schlosser/Fries finishing in a close third place and Kershaw/Charlwood coming home fourth.

This strong set of results give Ellis/Clement a further 45 points and they now head the rider standings on 185 points, 23 ahead of Schlosser/Fries on 162.

There is no time to relax as the teams now head to Croatia for round five of the World championship over the weekend of June 25-26.

Market Rasen rider Tom Neave returned to action for Honda Racing at Knockhill, putting his concussion problems behind him.

He finished 17th, 13th and 14th in his three races to sit 19th in the Bennetts British Superbike championship.

His twin brother Tim did not compete in the Pirelli National Superstock rounds, where he trails leader Brayden Elliott by a point.

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