This weekend sees the Eastern Airways British F1 Sidecar Championship back on the ‘big stage’ as they once more line up alongside the premier British Superbike Championship, this time at Donington Park. It’s the third time the three-wheelers have shared the paddock with the leading solo competitors in the country and with just three rounds of the series remaining, the title race is hotting up.

Last time out saw Championship leaders Tim Reeves/Gregory Cluze edge ever closer to regaining their title with a superb hat-trick at Cadwell Park and that allowed them to extend their points advantage to 120 points but with 175 still available, anything is still possible. However, they’ll be looking to wrap up the series as quickly as they can and what better way to do it than with another victory, or two, this weekend.

It might have been a hat-trick for the Anglo-French pairing at Cadwell but none of the races came easy and it should be equally tough this time around with Nottinghamshire brothers Ben and Tom Birchall all set to again be their stiffest opposition around the 2.5-mile GP circuit. The duo are effectively out of contention for the Championship due to missing two earlier rounds so they simply have race wins to aim for something they’ll be extremely keen to do having had to accept second place in all of the Cadwell races.

They currently lie 155 points adrift of Reeves and so it’s Scott Lawrie and James Neave who lie closest to the leaders and they’ll be aiming to ensure the title doesn’t get decided for another round at least. The duo were again a picture of consistency at the last round, taking third in each race, but they know they need to be finishing in front of Reeves and Cluze if they are to keep the Championship open until Silverstone later in the month.

While Reeves has a commanding lead, the battle behind is incredibly tight with just 51 points separating 2nd to 6th in the Championship standings and behind Lawrie and Birchall, the competition’s extremely intense with Roger Lovelock/Rick Lawrence, Andy Peach/Charlie Richardson and Phil Bell/Ashley Hawes all having been consistently in the top six this season. The trio have, more often than not, been fighting it out for the final podium positions at each and every round and more of the same is expected at Donington.

Other crews expected to feature prominently include Ben Bygrave/Calum Lawson, Ben Holland/Lee Watson, Barry James/Jamie Winn and John Clarke/Stuart Graham, the latter having recorded their best result of the season, 4th, at Cadwell. Keep an eye also on Craig Chaplow/Patrick Farrance who returned to form at Cadwell with some strong top ten finishes.

With three rounds remaining, including Donington, Reeves leads on 305 points followed by Lawrie (185), Birchall (150), Lovelock (147), Peach (135) and Bell (134).

Qualifying takes place at 12.55 on Saturday, with the first 10-lap race scheduled to take place later that day at 18.00. The second is set for 10.30 on the main Sunday race day.