ROUND one of the national sidecar championship at Ruapuna at the weekend was a mixed bag for defending champion Spike Taylor and swinger Dennis Simonsen, of Masterton. They suffered handling, tyre and electrical problems with the LCR 1000cc Yamaha R1, yet still managed to end the weekend third on points andin a better position than at this time last year. Taylor said from Christchurch that on Friday the bike had some electrical problems but was circulating well and he was confident of a good performance. The electrical problems returned on Saturday morning and the handling had gone off, with the bike difficult to steer. That got progressively worse during practice, the LCR circulating 8 seconds below its best at the circuit last year. The electrical problems recurred too. Taylor replaced what parts he could and slackened the front bearings to free up the steering. That worked for a while, but in Saturday's race the steering got tighter and tighter. They just about went off at one stage, slowed and were lapped, but kept going just to register some points, and were surprised to finish third. "I was too scared to open it up, in case we went off," Taylor said. Sunday was wet, and the pair went out with a borrowed rear tyre which punctured two laps from the finish. They limped on, with Simonsen out on the chair to reduce loading on the deflated rear and finished a very fortunate fifth. For the third race the pair grooved an old slick which didn't provide any bite until halfway through the 9-lap race. The only drama there was making a charge for the line a lap early. Still, they registered a fourth in that race and came away reasonably happy with their position. They are 15 points down on the leader, compared with 30 last season. The Scrivener/Mead pairing lead with 69 points, followed by the Lawrance brothers on 62, Taylor/Simonsen on 54 and Law/Ravenwood on 50. Round two is at Teretonga, Invercargill, this weekend. Taylor is hoping for brilliant sunshine, although the forecast is for rain.
