The Bend ASBK Finale – Focus on Sidecars – Champs crowned

ASBK 2022

The Bend – Focus on Sidecars

The third and final round of the Horsell Australian Sidecar Championship was contested alongside the regular classes that make up the ASBK series last weekend at The Bend, and the outfits put on some entertaining dices, particularly at the front of the field.

Unlike previous years, where there were separate titles for the F1 machines of 1000cc and F2 for 600cc capacity engines, the classes were combined with all teams going for outright points in the title chase.

Fifteen outfits entered, with a number of WA teams making the trek across the Nullarbor to add to the bunch of usual suspects that competed at the previous two rounds at Queensland Raceway – alongside the ASBK round back in March – and Morgan Park earlier in the year.

Sidecars are renowned for putting on spectacular antics but in recent years, numbers have been dwindling at various levels of the sport, but they came out of the woodwork for the Bend, although there were mutterings from entrants that there are plenty of outfits that have been hiding away in sheds around the country, that should be out on track.

It was the first time that the Aussie sidecar titles had ventured to the Bend and there was plenty of enthusiasm. It is hoped that if the national sidecar championship continues to be a part of the ASBK schedule and as such we all hope the numbers will increase.

One noticeable absentee was Oz Sidecar champs, Corey and Danyon Turner, but never fear, such is the depth of competition and adrenalin madness in the Turner clan that family members Jamie and Shelby Turner fronted on the immaculately prepared #52 outfit.

In the first round at QMP, back in March, Jamie and Shelby finished second overall on their Century Pools LCR Suzuki behind Phil Underwood and Tristan Vercoe, on their Suzuki powered Firefox Training LCR with a three-peat of wins.  While patriarch of the Turner clan, Neil partnered with son Danyon to finish fourth overall, but unfortunately only one Turner outfit was on track at the Bend.

Underwood came into the meeting leading the title by seven-points from Victoria’s Pat Clancy and Steve Bonney on their DeWith Engineering LCR Suzuki 1000 with the Turner siblings third overall a further nine points adrift. So there was plenty to play for and with Mick Alton and Chrissie Clancy (J&C Engineering LCR600) just two-points behind the Turner’s, the battle for top honours was still wide open.

After qualifying it was obvious that the battle for outright honours would more than likely be a two-outfit race between the Queensland team of Underwood and Tristan Vercoe and Pat Clancy with Steve Bonney hopping on the chair for the weekend.

Young Clancy is a bit of a misnomer in the category as he is under 20 and less than half the age of the usual suspects of the class! After dabbling on solos as a junior, Clancy rejoined the sidecar fold and has proved the fruit didn’t fall far. It’s understandable. His dad, John has been a regular competitor and constructor of outfits for years while his mum, Chrissie, is a legend in the class having been hanging off the side of the outfits for a couple of decades, that has included competing in the Isle of Man alongside regular racing partner, Mick Alton.

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The two leading contenders didn’t let anyone down and along with Sandgropers Des Harvey and Steve Marshall on their City Panel Beaters RHR 1000 put on some very entertaining battles during the three races for the outright honours.

Clancy/Bonney grabbed pole from the Queenslanders and from lights out the pair were all over each other as Clancy led the way. Underwood tried everything and in the opening laps even running out of rack  a couple of times in his efforts to get past the Victorians.

They went close as Underwood was having a red-hot crack to overtake his younger rival but with little over a lap to go his determination to get past the youngster, he overcooked it and spun allowing Harvey and Stephens to get by and grab second spot.

Sidecars Race One Results

Sidecars Race Two

The duel at the front continued in the second stanza on Saturday afternoon with Clancy again, getting the jump at the start.

Underwood was right on his hammer with the pair separated by just a few tenths of a second in the first three laps, as they swapped the lead a couple of times with some sensational power slides from both having the crowd enthralled. Underwood’s over exuberance then came into play when he ran wide onto the dirt through the tricky left handers of T14 and 15, that saw Clancy pull away as he set the fastest lap of the race to lower the newly established lap record yet again.

It was fortunate that the race wasn’t any longer as when Clancy crossed the line to take the win, the engine gave up the ghost as a large plume of oil smoke escaped as the engine blew.

As for the Turner’s, they weren’t having the best weekend. In the first two races mechanical problems halted their charge. In the opener the pair came to a halt at the T6 hairpin before getting underway to eventually finish sixth while in race two they dropped to last on the opening lap before recovering to finish 10^th, almost a lap down.

There was added dramas in leg two when another long-time competitor, Darryl “Dags” Rayner spun his Shelbourne 600 and spat out his passenger, Karen Warne in the process! Karen was a bit shaken as one is when launched off an outfit’s platform but they both fronted for the final race.

Sidecars Race Two Results

Sidecars Race Three

With the 1000cc engine of Clancy’s machine destroyed, Pat’s dad, John commenced a nine hour round trip back home to pick up the F2 600cc machine so they could compete in the final race.

As it was the last race on the three-day program the exercise was completed in time for the replacement #26 outfit to front the grid for the race that commenced at 5pm Sunday afternoon.

With such a deficit in power to the F1 machines, Clancy was swamped by the opposition on the drag to T1 to end the opening lap in fifth place, but once he found his groove, he was up to second by the end of the third lap but by this time Underwood and Vercoe had checked out to the next post code to take the win by nearly 30-seconds from Clancy.

In third was Alton and mum Chrissie who held of the Turners by just 0.077 to stand on the podium for the last time as a team.

Clancy may well rue that mechanical gremlin that forced the team to use a 600cc-powered outfit and challenge his charge to a national title as Underwood and Clancy finished on equal points.  Underwood was crowned the champ on count-back as he had won five races to young Pat’s three.

Even with the mechanical woes of the weekend, the Turner’s finished third overall taking the spot by just two points from Alton/Clancy.

While there were plenty of happy faces on the podium, there was a fair bit of emotion displayed by Alton and Clancy as they explained it would be their last race together. Chrissie aims to step back into the pilot’s role after sating her thirst for swinging on an outfit. The Alton/Clancy combination has claimed a number of national F2 titles as well as their successful forays to the challenges of the Isle of Man.

After the fine displays of the sidecars this year the competitors demonstrated that there is still a truckload of excitement in each race. The rest of us can only hope that those outfits hidden way in sheds may see the light of day and join the ranks to ensure that the championship is showcased alongside the regular SBK classes on a more regular basis.

Sidecars Race Three Results

Sidecar Points