Sidecar ace Todd Ellis tastes the highs and lows in Assen

Second place finish in race two after non finish...
Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement.Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement.
Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement.

An eventful weekend awaited North Kelsey sidecar driver Todd Ellis at Assen when he and his passenger Emmanuelle Clement suffered a non finish in the first FIM World Sidecar race and a second place in the second encounter.

With only sufficient time between the two qualifying sessions to refuel and change tyres it was going to be tight but the team were quick to get Ellis and Clement ready and prepared for final qualifying and they went out and put the Santander Salt LCR Yamaha on pole to line up on the front row alongside championship leaders Schlosser/Fries.

But as the lights went out it was Reeves/Rousseau on the second row who got the hole shot with Ellis/Clement hot on their heels. The top five outfits pulled clear of the pursuing pack making for a close and exciting race for the win.

With less than half a second covering the top three outfits in the latter stages of the race Schlosser managed to make a pass on Ellis for second place and with two laps remaining Schlosser made a move for the lead followed by Ellis.

But there was contact between Ellis and Reeves with Ellis being forced into the gravel trap and out of the race. Reeves rejoined and finished the race in fourth place but after a post race check Streuer was disqualified gifting Reeves third place behind Schlosser and Kershaw.

Race two on Sunday was equally exciting with Ellis/Clement starting from pole and maintained their lead over Paivarinta/Ilse de Haas for the first three laps.

Paivarinta was overtaken by Reeves on lap four and closed in on Ellis for the lead edging closer with every lap until he managed to pass him on lap eight.

Ellis dropped to third when Schlosser passed him on lap 10 and the top three were joined by Kershaw/Charlwood and Paivarinta/Ilse de Haas to once again engage in a five way battle for supremacy.

In a twist of fate Reeves retired with a technical issue on lap 14 leaving the other four to fight it out over the remaining five laps. This resulted in another win for Schlosser with Ellis taking second place and Kershaw third.

Ellis/Clement retain their second place in the overall rider standings on 133 points but after their double win Schlosser/Fries extend their series lead to 32 points.

The next round is at Rijeka in Croatia on August 20.