Watsons take their first title
By TMX Archives on 2nd Jan 08
FOLLOWING five years of British Championship domination by Stuart Brown and Luke Peters (with a little help from his brother Jason), the 2007 British Sidecar Cross championship season saw team Brown suffer difficulties they could not resolve.
The winter months saw Stuart continue with wrist problems, despite hopes that an operation would fix the injury, but the first British Championship round disaster struck when the bike hit a deep rut, snatching away the handle bars from his hands causing them to crash.
Even when they continued, Stuart struggled to keep control of the bike in the deep ruts and with similar problems at the GP's, Stuart reluctantly withdrew from racing, allowing the wrist to be operated on again. Following rest and rehabilitation, Stuart and passenger Luke are currently training hard and are expected to make a comeback in 2008 stronger than ever.
So, with the 2007 championship title up for grabs, it was the Watson brothers, John and Mark, who rose to the challenge.
They proved to have consistency, taking wins in five of the eight championship races, and the young pair started their racing year as they meant to go on with a second overall behind the Dutch team of Jarno Van De Boomen and Henry Van de Wiel.
Round two at Frome saw the team take their first double championship race win of their career, despite slightly diminished competition, due to a missing Stuart Brown and Van De Boomen crashing out on the opening lap, leaving passenger Henry with a broken leg.
As the morning of round three, at Torrington, dawned, the go ahead was uncertain due to heavy rain. However, the club did everything in their power to make the event successful and, by the time racing commenced, the rain had eased leaving a much improved track, although there was only one racing line, leading to some very interesting manovers.
The Watsons picked up a 30-second penalty on their qualifying time due to failing to stop at a red flag, leaving them on the back row. This did not stop them putting on a great show though and in race one they fought hard for second position but unfortunately stalled the bike before they could challenge for the lead, although a smoother run in the final race gave them an ellusive win.
Unfortunately, poor weather conditions in the UK meant the cancellation of round four, and with no track available for the supposed sixth and final round of the championship, the final round was held at Pontrilas in late August.
The brothers had an easy first race to take their fourth win of the championship and net enough points to give them their first British Championship title of their career, and a second race win of the day reinforced their champion status. Not content with taking the British Championship by storm, they also improved their position in the World Championships attending all but one of the GPs to take 13th position in the world.
Scott Wilkinson and Gary Burt took second place in the championship for the second season, with the assistance of stand-in passenger, Luke Peters. The team suffered problems during round one at Matchams due to a derailed chain. However, perseverance paid off when they went on to take a safe fourth in the final race.
for full report and pictures see T+MX News, Friday, January 4, 2008