Husband-and-wife sidecar-racing duo celebrate first victory

Sidecar-racing team Giles and Jen Stainton, fresh from their well-deserved victory at Cadwell Park (PHOTO BY: Sid Diggins).

The husband-and-wife duo who hail from Market Rasen and race under the banner of Team SaS, had never even made the top three before.

But in the Auto 66 Club race at Cadwell Park, they collected a win and a third place, and they carried on the good work by reovering from a crash to finish third in the second round of the British F2 Sidecar Cup Championship too.

The weekend began with the first British Championship race, for which they were delighted to qualify in 16th place after hitting their stride quickly in timed practice on new tyres. They also recorded a best lap time of one minute, 50 seconds, which was four seconds faster than their previous personal best.

A few minutes before the race, it started to rain and the track became treacherous, with standing water in the straight. It resulted in a dramatic accident for the Staintons, from which they were lucky to emerge unscathed.

“As we negotiated the second lap, we aquaplaned and spun,” said Jen. “I was thrown from the machine and that was our race over. We watched as others encountered similar difficlties in worsenining conditions but, fortunately, no serious damage was done. I elected to sit out the remaining Auto 66 Club races and thanks to Sarah Stokoe for standing in and doing a great job while Giles regained a little lost confidence in the wet.”

The Staintons bounced back with a vengeance the next day, however, when surging to victory in the first club race. They crept their way through the pack and sat second on the last lap when the leaders crashed through Hall Bends, leading to a red flag and leaving them in front.

Arguably even more impressive was their performance in the next British Championship race, run over 14 laps of the Lincolnshire Wolds circuit. They crossed the line in third in their category and also finished in the top ten overall.

“We were so excited,” said Jen. “It was an amazing surprise and we couldn’t stop smiling. Thanks to everyone, including our friends and sponsors, the masrshals and the medics, for their help and advice at what was such a fantastic meeting.”