Tough weekend at Assen for Ellis and Clement
Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement returned to Assen last week for the penultimate round of the FIM World Sidecar championship.
The double world champions from North Kelsey near Market Rasen are still running fifth in the rider standings despite still having problems with handling and tyre issues with the LCR Yamaha outfit.
The Lincolnshire/French duo were seventh in free practice and improved their position to sixth in qualifying which placed them on the third row for the start of their two races.
Prior to the start of the short sprint race on Saturday the heavens opened and the previous race had to be red flagged because of torrential rain which caused the track to become flooded. Eventually the rain subsided but the track was very wet and slippery with spray causing poor visibility for the riders. The teams were given a few laps of wet practice to acclimatise themselves to the conditions but on the out lap Ellis and Clement had to withdraw with a broken chain so were unable to participate in the session.
With a new rear sprocket and chain fitted Ellis and Clement took their place on the third row for the start of the 10 lap race but were at a disadvantage with no wet practice. Nonetheless they got away to a good start but as they rounded the first corner Birchall/Rosney spun their outfit and flipped upside down. In doing do they caught Ellis and Clement’s outfit causing them to stop and then drop to the back of the grid to slowly return to the pits, their race over.
On checking the outfit it was discovered the gear shift was broken and there was also some damage to the fairing which would need rectifying prior to the second race on Sunday.
With repairs duly completed Ellis and Clement took their place on the third row of the grid in dry and sunny conditions for the Feature race and got away to a really good start moving up into fourth place on lap two of 16. They briefly held third on lap six but then the safety car came out which slowed everyone down. When the car left the track the race was back on but by then Ellis and Clement had encountered a problem and slowed significantly to drop back to sixth and on the final lap they were caught and passed by team Laidlow and crossed the finish line in seventh place.
The final round will be held at Oschersleben in Germany over the weekend of October 3/4.