Louth sidecar racer Jevan Walmsley toasts British title defence

Louth sidecar racer Jev Walmsley toasted back-to-back British championships as he and driver Pete Founds defended their title with a round to spare.
Jev Walmsley (passenger) and Pete Founds defended their British title with a round to spare EMN-170918-122220002Jev Walmsley (passenger) and Pete Founds defended their British title with a round to spare EMN-170918-122220002
Jev Walmsley (passenger) and Pete Founds defended their British title with a round to spare EMN-170918-122220002

The penultimate round of the FSRA ACU British Sidecar Championship took Team Founds to Mallory Park where they arrived with a healthy points lead and knowing they could tie up the championship.

The pair pushed hard in qualifying and finally hit the top of the qualifying times on lap 11, securing their sixth consecutive pole position for Sunday’s races, just under half-a-second quicker than their rivals.

Heavy rain began to fall as they lined up on the grid, and when the race started, Founds and Walmsley could not get the grip they needed, and were beaten into second place by Lee Crawford and Scott Hardie.

With the track still damp in places, Pete settled into a good pace, but was still unable to get the grip needed to stay with the leading pair.

On a drying track, they picked up their pace, but with a seven-second deficit and laps running out, Founds decided to settle for second place, despite nailing the fastest lap of the race on lap 18.

The track was dry for race two and this time Founds and Walmsley made a great start, keeping their lead into the first corner, and they quickly pulled about five to six bike lengths over Conrad Harrison and Andy Winkle.

They circulated two seconds a lap quicker straight from the off, but a red flag on lap two stopped the race whilst a collision was dealt with.

Founds and Walmsley again made the best start to preserve their lead and were almost a second a lap faster than Harrison and Winkle over the opening laps.

They maintained consistent lap times through to the last lap when they eased off with the safety of a 9.2-second lead as they crossed the line in style to win the race and secure the British Championship for a second consecutive year.

Harrison and Winkle had a late surge, but could only take second place with the fastest lap of the weekend.

The pair are looking to go out on a high at the last two British Championship races at Cadwell Park before turning their attentions to the final two British Superbike rounds at Assen and Brands Hatch where they will be guests in the F600 championship.