Passenger Hawes impressed with Walker sidecar debut

The man brave enough to partner Chris Walker in the 2016 British Sidecar championship has praised his new team-mate after achieving a sixth-place finish at Oulton Park this weekend.

Making his debut in the sidecar class, Walker, along with passenger Ash Hawes, showed strong pace across the weekend in both wet and dry conditions before going on to fight for fifth place in Sunday’s race.

Impressed with Stalker’s performance, Hawes – a former sidecar World Champion – says once he gains the experience and confidence needed to get the wider bike through a gap there’s no reason they shouldn’t be further towards the front.

“These bikes are so much wider than a solo so judging how much space you need to make a pass is quite hard,” Hawes told MCN. “You need to remember where the chair wheel is to be able to fit through gaps. Now he’s got the race experience he’ll be able to judge it better and make the moves more easily as the season goes on.

“He rode fantastically even though every time we hit the crest of the hill we’d miss a gear! We’ve got to adjust something on the bike to make it easier for gear changes because every time we missed a gear they pulled on us and we’d have to wait until we got on the brakes to gain the time back, but all in all it was a good run out.”

For more see this week’s (4th May) MCN.