Reigning champions Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood managed to maintain their lead in the Hyundai Heavy Industries British F1 Sidecar Championship at Snetterton at the weekend.

Tricky weather conditions and a spin in the first lap saw them finish the first race in 9^th place but they redeemed themselves on Sunday with a podium finish.

Just two weeks after Ryan was thrown from the bike during practice at Knockhill, which resulted in a dislocated shoulder, the racing pair were reunited for Round 4.

Ryan had to undergo an intense healing programme in the run-up to this round to ensure he would be race-ready. His swift recovery allowed him to be given the all clear by his therapists but Ryan admitted it hadn’t been an easy couple of weeks and a lot of work had gone into regaining his fitness.

Ricky said: “It’s been great to have Ryan back on board this weekend and considering it was only two weeks ago that he dislocated his shoulder he has done a sterling job getting here!”

The sidecar pairing had a mixed weekend, however.

On Saturday, the weather conditions were far from ideal. Heavy rain in the morning meant that the races were delayed and the track was slippery. The pair spun their outfit on the first lap and had to claw back lost time, eventually ending in ninth place.

Ryan said: “Unfortunately we got caught out by the tricky weather. Everybody thought it was dry but once we went out, it felt like grease was on the circuit, it was so slippery. We chased Tim (Reeves) on the first lap, but the outfit went off and did a full turn. By the time we were back on the track, we had lost close to 30 seconds.”

On Sunday, the weather was much brighter and Ricky and Ryan got off to a good start. The race was red flagged on the 10^th lap owing to oil on the track and the pair finished in second place.

Ricky said: “We got aggressive towards the front, we found ourselves third after the first lap and that’s where we stayed for the first few laps trying to push ourselves into second place.

“By the time we got through, it was just a little bit too late to chase Tim (Reeves) down.

“We were determined to get on the podium though and get the valuable 20 points.”

This was Ricky and Ryan’s sixth podium of the season and they now head into the next round at Thruxton from 22^nd to 24^th July with a three-point lead in the rankings.

Despite their recent bad luck, the team’s confidence is still high and they are determined to work hard to keep their position going into the next round.

Ryan said “Thruxton is one of our favourite tracks – we feel confident there. It’s all about speed.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• Ricky and Ryan are the reigning British F1 Sidecars champions.
• They raced to victory in the 2015 championship for team AOS/Be Wiser with Ricky Stevens, from Portsmouth, as driver and Ryan Charlwood, from Dover, as co-rider.
• In 2015, they also beat the world champions by four seconds, effectively making them the best F1 sidecar racing team in the world at present.
• For the 2016 season, Ricky and Ryan have joined the Quattro Plant Cool Kawasaki team. The newly sponsored team has a new livery and the backing from Bournemouth Kawasaki. The Quattro Plant Cool team also includes British Superbike riders Luke Mossey and Filip Backlund and Supersport rider Andy Reid.

For media information contact:
Sarah-Jane Freni
Account Director
Shooting Star
0117 3131120
sarahjane@weareshootingstar.co.uk

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