​Sidecar duo close the gap

​Dire conditions faced them in free practice and qualifying with torrential rain halting the second qualifying session, but Ellis and Clement took pole position for the two races.

On Saturday the first race was delayed for over an hour and although it had stopped raining the track was very wet and slippery when the riders took their grid positions.

As the lights went out it was fellow Brit Harry Payne with Kevin Rousseau in the chair that braved the conditions and led the race from lights to flag. Ellis and Clement were running second for a while but as the race unfolded they fell back in the slippery conditions and settled into fifth place where they finished to pick up 11 championship points.

On Sunday the rain had gone and the sun was shining ahead of race two which would make for a better race.

Once again starting from pole position this time Ellis and Clement got the hole shot into the first corner and began to pull away at the front of the field. But the race was red flagged on lap three for a crash involving the Birchall Brothers.

At the restart now reduced in distance to 15 laps this time it was Payne/Rousseau that got the jump when the lights went out with Ellis and Clement hot on their heels in second place. There followed a battle for the lead with places being exchanged at every corner.

Eventually on lap three Ellis had the lead and the top six teams battled it out nose to tail. Kershaw/Charlwood got their nose in front on numerous occasions only for Ellis to fight back on cornering.

It all came to a head at the last corner when Kershaw had the lead from Ellis. But Ellis wasn't giving up without a fight and nipped up the side to snatch the lead and take the win just 0.09s ahead of Kershaw, the top four crossing the finish line within half a second.

Because the Birchall Brothers did not take part in the restarted race and Ellis and Clement took the 25 points for the win they are now within five points of the series lead.

The next round is at Assen on August 19/20 but before that the team head to Thruxton where they will take part in a round of the British championship this weekend.