Thrills on the side for mates

THEY say you need to be slightly demented to race sidecars around street circuits and the House of Madness team fits the bill.

Twenty-three-year-old Wanganui dairy farming mates Cory Winter and Tim Shepard come into the final round of the Suzuki Series F1 sidecar championship in third place on points.

And surprisingly, the pair race a F2 600cc machine up against series leaders Aaron Lovell and Tracey Bryan's 1000cc grunter. Second placed on the leader board, former Wanganui lads Adam Unsworth and Stu Dawe now based in Auckland, also race a 1000cc machine.

House of Madness team manager Dave Lett tipped his crew to produce a podium performance over the two races of the final leg on Boxing Day.

"These guys are the up-and-comers in sidecar racing in this country and really exciting to watch," Lett said yesterday.

"Cory and Tim's riding style is pretty spectacular to watch. Cory has become one of the sport's late breakers into corners, so I'm pretty sure they well be the crowd favourites. Anything can happen on the day, but one thing I know they'll give it 100 per cent."

Lett is a former rider himself and was not surprised Winter and Shepard were turning heads.

"And some of those are old heads who know what it takes to make it in this game. I'm tipping them to run third in the series even though they are under-powered compared to most," Lett said.

The House of Madness sidecar team was put together about a year ago and finished fourth in last year's Suzuki Series F1 Championship. They also ran third overall in this season's Barry Sheene trans-Tasman Challenge at Hampton Downs.

While the pre-1982 Classic Sidecar event on Boxing Day is not a championship round, Winter and Shepard give it their all on a pre-1976 XS Yamaha.

"Cory and Tim will be the darkhorses in both classes and while House of Madness is the main sponsor, these guys give it their all for everyone of their race supporters," Lett said.