Double British F1 Sidecar champions Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood were to race for the first time at Cadwell Park for round eight of the Hyundai Heavy Industries British Sidecar Championship this weekend but their endeavours were cut short.

Sidecar driver Ricky, from Portsmouth, and his passenger Ryan, from Dover, had a promising start at the Lincolnshire circuit. The skies opened just before qualifying, making it a very wet session, which isn’t the pair’s strongest suit. But they still managed to qualify in second place for the weekend’s first race.

Ricky said: “It was our first time racing here at Cadwell. It’s a challenging track for sidecars so to get P2 in the wet was a great achievement.

“The weather conditions were great going into race one and we were really looking forward to it. Sadly, our bike cut out in the warm-up lap owing to an electrical failure. We couldn’t make the grid after that and had to abandon the race.”

Ricky and Ryan had to start race two from the back of the grid and were making good progress, picking their way through the traffic, getting up to P8 on the third lap. Sadly, their assault was cut short when they got involved in an incident with two other outfits and spun their bike at Park Corner.

Ryan said: “It was the biggest crash in our racing career and we’re very lucky to have come out of it unscathed. But to have two DNF’s (Did Not Finish) in a row is very disappointing. We know we can do better than this so we are feeling rather frustrated that we just can’t seem to show people what we are made of.”

Ricky said: “It is very frustrating but we have yet again learnt more about our bike. The next round is in six weeks at Assen in the Netherlands and that is one of our favourite tracks. We will be heading there with a positive mindset.”

With two DNFs, Ricky and Ryan have now officially missed out on their bid for the 2017 championship title but they remain in second place overall. With two rounds to go, they will continue to fight for race victories.

Ends

Notes to editors:

• Ricky and Ryan are the reigning Hyundai Heavy Industries British F1 Sidecars champions.
• They raced to victory in 2015 with Ricky Stevens, from Portsmouth, as driver and Ryan Charlwood, from Dover, as co-rider.
• In 2016, they successfully defended their title after joining the Bournemouth Kawasaki team with Quattro Plant and Cool Milk as headline sponsors.
• Ricky and Ryan have rejoined the Bournemouth Kawasaki team in 2017 under the banner of JG Speedfit Kawasaki. They will be in the company of BSB riders Leon Haslam and Luke Mossey, road racer James Hillier and fellow sidecar team Costello/Hauxwell.
• For more information and updates, go to www.teamrickyandryan.com

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