Sunday gold race
With overcast skies and spots of rain falling, it was a dry start to Sunday's 21-lap Gold race. Straightaway it was the Birchall brothers Ben and Tom who got the holeshot into the first series of bends on their Mitchells of Mansfield LCR Suzuki followed closely by Jorg Steinhausen and Ashley Hawes on their Steinhausen Racing LCR BMW.
Right on their tail was Pekka Paivarinta and Adolf Hanni, a small gap and it was Michael Grabmuller and Manfred Wechselberger, Kawasaki, next up was Scott Lawrie and James Neave's LCR Suzuki.
By the second lap the Birchall Brothers had pulled out a bit of a gap to Steinhausen who was fending off Paivarinta. Lawrie and Neave were eager to get by Grabmuller and try to tag onto second and third place teams. By the end of the second lap, leading into the third lap. the rain was falling a little harder, on the fourth lap the red flags came out stopping the race,.
It was not wet enough to fit wet tyres for the second part of the race, as time passed the rain had stopped and the track was dry for slick tyres, but it was deemed a wet race.
It was a 14 lapper, and as the lights went out once again it was the Birchall brothers who led into the first complex of bends, followed by Steinhausen. This time round it was Lawrie and Neave who slotted into third with Paivarinta desperate to get by and tag onto the back of Steinhausen, Kurt Hock and Enrico Becker on their “Hock Racing” LCR, Suzuki, were right with them too.
As the race progressed, the Birchalls were starting to pull out a healthy gap on Steinhausen, who was getting a lot of pressure from Paivarinta and Hanni. Steinhausen fought hard to keep in front of Paivarinta, but when Paivarinta and Hanni did get by they started to chase after the Birchalls, and leave Steinhausen and Hawes behind.
Paivarinta was making good lap times and was starting to catch the Brothers Ben and Tom, Ben was watching his pit board though and he controlled the race from the front to cross the line in first place.
Ben Birchall said: “I think it was the right decision to stop the race, It has been a great weekend for us two wins good points.” Tom added: “I had no problems in the race, myself and Ben would like to thank all our sponsors and friends who make this possible for us, we hope we can do the same in the next round.”
Second place went to Paivarinta and Hanni who could not just catch the Birchalls. Taking the chequered flag for third was Jorg Steinhausen and Ashley Hawes it turned out to be a lonely race for them when Paivarinta passed them. Jorg said later: "We just don’t have the power to stay with the leading two, both Ashley and I are trying so hard but we can’t just get there.” Ashley added: “It’s not what we wanted but it is good points for the team, who have worked so hard over the weekend for us.”
Scott Lawrie and James Neave had a great battle with Kurt Hock and Enrico Becker, Lawrie and Neave could not stay with Steinhausen and Paivarinta so they were settling for a fourth place, but Hock and Becker had different ideas they wanted that fourth place, the two teams had a great battle.
Hock and Becker did manage to pass Lawrie to take the flag in fourth place and Lawrie and Neave fifth with the flag, but for Lawrie and Neave it was to turn out better than it was for Hock and Becker, there was enough of a time difference for Lawrie and Neave to have fourth place from the two part race.
Saturday sprint race
From the lights going out it was Ben and Tom Birchall who took command of the race and were not troubled throughout. They got the start they wanted and led all the way, and set the fastest lap of the race in lap four, with a time of 1'31.213. The only threat to them was from Paivarinta and Hanni towards the end of the race but the the brothers were in control and crossed the line with a 2.273s gap between them and Paivarinta.
After the race Ben said: “We needed that win to set us up for the big race tomorrow, the bike is great, I don’t think we will need to do any adjustments for tomorrow."
Second place went to Paivarinta and Hanni. They got a good start to the race and sat in second place through out. “We had no problems in the race, the bike was good, I am driving 100 per cent trying to get all I can from the machine, but just can’t get past Ben and Tom, they are racing really well, we will have another go tomorrow,” said Paivarinta.
The last spot on the podium went to Steinhausen and Hawes. They had a bit of a battle on when the lights went out they slotted into fourth spot behind Scott Lawrie and James Neave and they had to fight hard to get past, when they did they tried really hard to catch the leading pair, but with only 10 laps there was not enough time and had to be content with third.
Hawes said: “We are a good team together, I am happy with the race but need to be up front, another race tomorrow, we will try again.”
Crossing the line in fourth place was Lawrie and Neave, they had another good start slotting into third place from fifth on the grid, the tried hard to fend off Steinhausen and Hawes, and it was looking good for a podium spot, but when Steinhausen managed to get by, he started to pull away and this left Lawrie and Neave in fourth and a good gap between them and fifth.