It has been a busy 3 weeks since Treasure Racing’s 1st World Championship race meeting at Le Mans went pear shaped. The repairs required to the carbon fibre fairing were completed thanks to Dirk Heinemann & the team at Vektor Modelltechnik. Followed by a new coat of paint provided by Karl-Heinz Mattner and Anatoli Hildebrandt at Auto-Service Mattner. Adam and Darren were busy trying to get the bike back up to its former condition prior to the Le Mans incident. Many thanks to Albert Raesfeld from B&R Tyre Services for his help and organisation when it came to organising all of his contacts to help us out with the Carbon repairs and the re-painting of the bike, leather repairs and purchasing of new helmets. The bike looks Fantastic again! Repairs to Adam’s leathers were made by Herr Geesmann and the people at Modeka in Beckum. Due to time constraints new helmets were sourced through our new friend’s at Arai Deutschland instead of Treasure Racing’s sponsor Arai Australia. Three weeks between race meetings sounded like a long time to organise everything that needed to be done, but in reality, everything finally managed to come together on the last day prior to leaving for round 2 of the Sidecar World Championship.

While everyone in Australia celebrated Mothers day on the weekend of the 8th & 9th of May (Happy Belated Mothers day to all!!!!) Treasure Racing was competing at the 2nd round of the World Sidecar Championship at Schleiz in Germany. On arrival to the very picturesque location that is the township of Schleizer Dreieck the weather was freezing at a very chilly 7 Deg C. The track at Schleiz at one time used to be a 7Km long street circuit through the township, but is now a proper race track that still uses mostly public roads for the circuit, now a more standard 3.8Km in length. If you were unlucky enough to break down during a race, you might have the good fortune of stopping in front of the pub so you could drown your sorrows while sitting on the front verandah watching as the race continued on without you!!!


Schleiz’s Pub Verandah
Photo supplied by Frank Schauroth


Photo supplied by Frank Schauroth

Adam had raced at Schleiz in 2007 during his first World championship campaign but for Darren it was another new track to learn and as such Adam and Darren spent the 1st untimed practice session re-acquainting and learning the track. Next came the 2x qualifying sessions, Qualifying 1 on Friday afternoon and Qualifying 2 on Saturday morning. The boys set themselves a big task ahead for the races when they qualified in lowly 16th position.


Photo supplied by Frank Schauroth

RACE 1
Saturday afternoon saw the first of two races for the weekend, an 11 lap sprint race which had Adam get off to a good start making up 2 places within the first few corners. Adam & Darren managed to latch on to the back of a group of 4 sidecars that towed them along and out of the reach of the pursuing pack eventually finishing the race in 14th position almost 8 sec’s in front of the next team.


Photo supplied by Frank Schauroth

RACE 2
Sunday saw Adam & Darren front up to the start line for the 22 lap Gold race, after getting away from the start the boys settled into a good pace and managed to pass a few sidecars in the first few laps. Treasure racing was then forced to pit for a drive thru penalty for a jump start! When returning to the track the team was faced with playing catch up from last position. The boys rode hard and worked there way through the field to finish in 11th position after 22 laps.


Photo supplied by Frank Schauroth

Treasure Racing now stands 16th in the World Championship, with 3 rounds left. The next round will see Treasure Racing make the long trip thru Europe, down to the Rijeka Circuit in Croatia on the 19-20 June.

The DeWith Motorsport tuned Suzuki engine performed perfectly all weekend. Adam and Darren appreciate the support they’ve receive from Albert Raesfeld since landing in Germany. Thanks to Albert for his continued support and providing transport and accommodation for the team, also for his help in providing contacts for all repairs to the sidecar and racing gear. Treasure Racing would also like to take this opportunity to thank Henry Schwaden for all of his enthusiasm and help over the weekend as our volunteer pit crew. Thanks must also go out to Frank, Katrin, Luca and family for supplying the hospitality over the weekend for the team. Treasure racing has fan clubs springing up all over the place and for the weekend of Schleiz, we had special guests from Austria and our “Aircom Systems” sponsors all the way from Australia on hand to cheer us on.


Adam, Albert & Darren
Photo supplied by Frank Schauroth

This weekend coming, see’s Treasure Racing compete at the 2nd round of the IDM (German Sidecar Championship) at Oschersleben. This series has many of the World Championship Teams and some of the best German and European teams competing, and will make a great test bed for Adam and Darren to hone their skills and improve their speed for the 3rd round of the World Championship in Croatia.

Signing off for now

Adam and Darren
Treasure Racing
F1 sidecar #38