Mansfield's Birchall brothers clinch world sidecar title

The Mitchells of Mansfield-supported brothers had a perfect run setting a time of 1m 33.769s during qualifying to secure a third row start in the mixed grid of riders for the start of the 12-lap Sprint race.

In blazing hot sunshine Ben and Tom set off in the Sprint race and soon overtook F1 team Dechamp/Peugeot but as they closed down on Gray/Christie the red flag brought the race to a halt.

At the restart, now run over nine laps, Ben and Tom got a fantastic start and were soon locked in a fierce, race long battle with the two F1 outfits of Streuer/Daalguison and Holden Wilkes with the Mansfield pair eventually bringing the LCR Honda 600 home in seventh place overall but a decisive victory in the F2 class.

Another good start in the Gold race saw Ben and Tom fight their way through to sixth place overall and to finally cross the finish line in fifth at the end of the 20 lap affair to claim another maximum points result in the F2 class.

Having won all the races to date and with 200 points now on the board no one can catch them and they were pronounced champions.

Ben said: “It has been a fantastic weekend for us and we are really pleased with the way it’s gone.

“The team has worked hard throughout the weekend and we have made more progress with the bike.

“We are all thrilled to bits to have won both races and sealed the world championship.

“We are both looking forward to our home round at Donington Park when we are to be presented with the world championship trophy - what a nice way to end our world championship season.”

The final round is at Donington Park with the British Superbike championship on September 17 and the Mansfield pair will celebrate their world title on home Tarmac.

It is their first world title since clinching the FIM F1 Championship in 2009 and they have since also won the Isle of Man TT title too.

PICTURES BY WALLY WALTERS