Double British F1 Sidecar champions Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood will be trying to secure a lead in the championship this weekend but are facing a few challenges.  

Round 3 of the 2017 Hyundai Heavy Industries British Sidecar Championship is taking place in Knockhill, Scotland, from 16^th to 18^th June. This is a three-race round and as the pair are currently 15 points behind their main rivals and title challengers, the stakes are high.

But the ghost of Ryan’s accident at the Scottish track last year will no doubt be at the back of their mind as they get on the circuit.

Ryan said: “Last year we had so much riding on Knockhill but our hopes were dashed when I was thrown out of the outfit during practice and dislocated my shoulder. It was a massive blow at the time.

“The injury did heal well however, and I have come a long way since then. Nevertheless, I don’t want a repeat performance of last year so I have trained relentlessly in the past few weeks to ensure my core and upper body fitness are on point.”

As this is a three-race event, new rules brought in earlier this year will apply. Under these new rules, the top ten finishers in the opening race take positions in reverse order on the grid, at the second race. The order of top ten finishers in race two will be reversed once again in race three.

The rules were brought in to add to the excitement for onlookers but it does provide a challenge for the top riders who have to cut through the fray to regain their pole position.

Ricky said: “Losing Ryan at Knockhill last year was a game changer – part of our success is that we are so well-matched so I’m really keen that it doesn’t happen again.

“The new rules were fun but absolutely crazy when we tried it at Brands and I’m still not sure it will work on all the different tracks we race at. It will definitely put extra pressure on us this time around but we’ll have to put what happened last year at the back of our mind if we want to succeed.”

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 and road racer James Hillier.

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Sarah-Jane Freni
Account Director
Shooting Star
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sarahjane@weareshootingstar.co.uk

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