Double British F1 Sidecar champions Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood had hoped to secure a lead in the championship at Knockhill this weekend but had to contend with a series of technical difficulties instead.

Round 3 of the 2017 Hyundai Heavy Industries British Sidecar Championship took place in Knockhill, Scotland. Ricky and Ryan came into this round intent on laying the ghost of Ryan’s accident last year to rest.

Ryan said: “I had a point to prove at Knockhill after being thrown out of the bike and dislocating my shoulder there last year.

“I did manage to stay in one piece but the same can’t be said about our outfit.”

The pair struggled to configure the settings of their outfit during the qualifiers on Friday and as a result, ended up with a P5.

Ryan continued: “The first race on Saturday was a complete drama. The race was red flagged owing to an oil spill on the track. We span our outfit on the oil spill and as a result had to take 17^th position when the race was eventually re-started.”

At the first corner, they got tangled up with some of the slower riders and the wheel arch on their fairing came off which led to their retirement from the race.

Ricky said: “Race two was the highlight of the weekend. We had to start from the back of the grid as we couldn’t finish race one. We managed to fight our way up the grid and end in third which we were really pleased with. It was a good race.”

Under new rules brought in this year, the top ten finishers in the opening race take positions in reverse order on the grid for the following race. This meant that Ricky and Ryan started the third and final race of the weekend in 7^th position.

Ryan said: “In the last race, we found that we had no rear grip at all and we suspect it might be an issue with our suspension. We finished the race in fifth position, which we were disappointed with.

“I feel we’ve really been put through our paces this weekend and we’ll have to regroup for the next round.”

Ricky said: “Knockhill has never been our strong point but we came into the race full of excitement. Sadly the weekend didn’t go too well for us and we now have a lot of work to get the outfit ready for Snetterton in two weeks.”

The next round of the Hyundai Heavy Industries British Sidecar Championship will be at Snetterton from 30^th June to 2^nd July.

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 and road racer James Hillier.

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