Reigning world and British F1 sidecar champions Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance clinched the British title for a second term when they rode to a double victory at Snetterton on Sunday.
 
The meeting was tinged with sadness because of the tragedy that befell Steve Norbury and Rick Long in Germany the previous weekend when Norbury lost his life and Long received severe leg injuries and as a tribute to Steve, Tim used the Norbury race number on his championship winning outfit at Snetterton and dedicated both race wins and the British title to Steve Norbury.
 
All riders carried the number on their bike and over 40 sidecar outfits formed a grid to pay their respects with a minute’s silence prior to the warm ups on Sunday morning.
 
Reeves and Farrance dominated both free practice and qualifying sessions to claim pole position for the start of the final two rounds of the F1 British Sidecar championship but as the opening race got underway Reeves got a bad start and dropped to third for the first three laps. But he soon made up the ground and took the lead on race four to pull away and take the win over 5.6 seconds ahead of nearest rivals Sean and Mark Hegarty.
 
Race two saw Reeves again mess up the start, this time he was down in sixth place at the end of lap one but made progress to fourth on lap two. One lap later he made it through to second place and finally took the lead on lap four to again pull away to a commanding lead to take the victory and the title ahead of the Hegarty brothers.
 
Amazingly, Reeves and Farrance won every race they contested in the series and also broke the lap record at every circuit this year. They were forced to miss two rounds – four races and a potential 100 points because of date clashes with the world championship but because they won the remainder of the rounds they took the title with an 18-point advantage over Richard Gatt and Paul Randall.
 
Tim said: “We are both really pleased to have won the title for a second year but we are saddened by the loss of Steve Norbury who will be sadly missed by everyone in the sidecar paddock. I dedicate both race wins and the British Championship to Steve and also Rick who remains in hospital in Germany for further treatment.”
 
With the British title under their belts Reeves and Farrance now turn their attention to the final round of the FIM World Sidecar championship and travel to Le Mans in France to defend their world title on Sunday.
 
The title is in the lap of the gods as Reeves trails Paivarinta by just seven points. If Reeves wins at Le Mans he has to hope that his rival finishes in third place or below to claim his fourth world title.