International Sidecar Revival – Cadwell Park

Report by David Gowshall of DEEGEE Motorsport Photography

5^th -  6^th August 2023

The fifth running of the popular Cadwell Sidecar Revival took place last weekend. The Revival has grown year-on-year in size and popularity and is a firm favourite with the spectators, who turned out in good numbers, despite some unseasonable weather on Saturday in the form of Storm Antoni.

As a committed three-wheel fan this meeting is my favourite of the season, and always the first to ink into the diary when the MSV race programme for the year is published.

Photography equipment was checked and re-checked to make sure every opportunity was available to take shots of these spectacular machines and their crews, with two cameras and three lenses packed and charged up ready for use.

With Saturday’s weather forecast set for persistent rain I went along on Friday’s test day for some hoped for “extra” opportunities to capture some action in the dry.

This turned out to be a good plan.  Despite the occasional light shower the day was predominately dry and virtually all the British Championship crews took to the track.

The weekend meeting included round four of the fifteen race, seven-round British Championship series, which includes a number of rounds running alongside the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, which will culminate at Brands Hatch in October.   Cadwell’s Revival meeting was one of two “stand-alone” meetings planned in 2023, the other scheduled to be held at Knockhill on the first weekend of September. 

For 2023, following on from the departure of its long-standing promoter RKB-F1 Motorsport, the British Championship series has a new format which has seen grids containing long GP F1 outfits and some short F2 machinery going head-to-head.



There has also been an opportunity within the races for teams running the heavier and lower specification F1 bikes to compete for the “Cup Class” award.

1. GP Class (long F1 chassis, Minimum weight 370 kilos)
2. Cup Class (long F1 chassis, minimum 395 kilos)
3. F2 Class (FSRA rules minimum 370 kilos)

This new format has undoubtedly stimulated interest and helped to create large grids at each round of the championship. 

Unfortunately, unlike previous year’s, the Revival meeting clashed with the 4th round of the World F1 Sidecar Championship, held at the Red Bull Circuit, in Austria. 

The World Championship is currently dominated by British based sidecar crews with multi-TT winners, the Birchall brothers Ben and Tom (#16), topping the current standings before last weekend. They are closely followed by regular British Championship runners and current 2022 World Champions Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement (#6), the Christie brothers Sam and Tom (#34), and Scottish pairing Steve Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood (#29). Who make up the top four places in the World Championship table at the half-way point of the season. 

Consequently, the GP F1 field on show at Cadwell was missing these crews but the action was still very competitive and provided the spectators with some thrilling action.

The three British Sidecar Championship races, held over a busy two days, were just one part of what has become a “must see” weekend dedicated to all forms of sidecar circuit racing on one of the most historic and demanding racing circuits in the country. 



The F2 crews were also doing battle for their own dedicated FRSA F2 British Championship, with three outings.

The FRSA F2 crews were last in action at Anglesey in mid-July, when the Pete Founds / Jevan Walmsley combination (#72), who in June became only the second crew to lap the Isle of Man TT course at an average speed in excess of 120mph, extended their championship lead with two wins.

Also on the Revival programme were the European Classic Camathias Cup runners, competing in the 5^th Round of the championship, the BEMSEE F1 and F2 club teams, and the FRSA Pre-Injection Championship and British Historic Racing BEARS outfits.

A parade of former sidecar and solo machines and sidecar “taxi” rides during the lunch break on both days added to a packed race programme.

There was also a strong support entry of period solos too, including GP Originals for post-classic bikes, the Lansdowne Cup and the DFDS Yamaha Past Masters Championships.

The event began on Saturday morning with a series of practice and qualifying runs for some of those taking part.  Practice sessions for the British F1 and F2 Championship and Camathias Cup runners, played out in heavy rain, took proceedings up to a brief mid-morning break. 

The rain relented following the break allowing five 6-lap “sprint” races for the support classes to take place in reasonable conditions. This was followed by the exciting British F1 Timed Qualifying after lunch, which was taken early to allow the track maintenance crew to make repairs to a section of barrier damaged when an outfit spectacularly overturned in the woodland section of the circuit.  I’m pleased to say both rider and passenger, who was catapulted into the crowd on impact, emerged relatively unscathed from the experience and have every intention of returning to action next weekend at Snetterton. 

After the lunch break the F2 and Camathias Cup crews completed their Timed Qualifying sessions, the F2 session taking place in monsoon conditions. 

The main part of the Day 1 race programme then got underway, with ten races scheduled, including the first of three British Championship races.   

With the leading crews in the British Sidecar Championship competing in Austria, and a potential 75 points available for three race wins, an opportunity presented itself for those taking part at Cadwell to make up some points in the battle for the F1 GP British Championship.



Lewis Blackstock and Paddy Rosney (#95) on the DHR/Express Tyres Services Yamaha, currently lying third in the title race, 38.5 points behind the leading pair of Ellis and Clement, had the most to gain.

Also, near to the top of the standings and chasing the points were Craig Currie and Justin Sharp, George Holden and Oscar Lawrence and Rob Biggs and Ferry Segers.

The F1 Cup category is proving to be highly competitive with Phil Bell / Hyde (#18), the evergreen Brian Gray with Clement Conil (#7 ) alongside and Simon Robinson/Mick Fairhurst (#19), who rolled out at the previous round at Snetterton, separated by a handful of points.

The track was wet for the first 12-lap clash, which saw the Blackstock / Rosney combination take a small lead over Lee Crawford and Scott Hardie. 

Pushing hard in a close third place in the damp conditions were F2 “aces” Pete Founds and Jevan Walmsley.  As the race reached one third distance, Luke Williams and Jason Pitt (#91), after a poor start made it a close foursome, with only a couple of seconds covering the four outfits.  

Founds / Walmsley and Crawford / Hardie swopped positions a couple of times, allowing Blackstock and Rosney to build a small gap.  Unfortunately ,  Crawford and Hardie’s challenge ended on lap 5 with a gearbox problem. 

As the track dried Blackstock and Rosney extended their lead further and Founds and Walmsley found themselves under increasing pressure from Williams and Pitt, eventually having to concede the runners-up spot after a very competitive ride on their “short” outfit. 

The top six places were completed by Holden / Lawrence, Phil Bell/ Phil Hyde, who extended their Cup Championship lead as a result, and Paul and Tom Kirby (#27).

With everyone just about dried out from the previous day’s downpours, Sunday’s race day action, set to include 17 races, including Saturday’s F2 scheduled opener, which was the victim of Cadwell Park’s 6.30 curfew the previous day, got underway on time.

Track and overhead conditions were significantly improved, I’m pleased to say, with the sun making a welcome appearance in contrast to the previous day’s leaden skies and rain.  However, a heavy shower intervened with the second British Sidecar Championship race underway, causing it to be “red-flagged”, just past the halfway mark, with Blackstock and Romney declared winners.  They were followed home by the beautifully turned-out blue Kawasaki outfit of George Holden and Oscar Lawrence, who got the upper hand over the impressive Thirsk-based pairing of Luke Williams and Jason Pitt.



Phil Bell / Phil Hyde, Craig Currie / Justin Sharp (#42) and Martin Kirk / Kyle Masters (#58) rounded off the top six.

With the track dry again, the third and final British Sidecar Championship race of the weekend was again initially dominated by the Blackstock / Romney combination. They took advantage of a tussle between Williams / Pitt and Holden/ Lawrence to open up a ten second gap at the half-way point.  Holden and Lawrence got the better of the tussle for second place and began rapidly hauling in Blackstock and Romney in the latter stages of the race, but the leading pair hung on to record their third victory of the weekend.



Despite slowing dramatically on the last lap, Williams and Pitt managed to retain third place by just over half a second from a rapidly closing Bell and Hyde, with Martin Kirk and Kyle Masters once again claiming fifth place.

Sam and Jack Laidlow (#84), who had impressed throughout the weekend with their pace, were rewarded with the final top six spot. 

With just three rounds to go in the Championship at Thruxton, Knockhill and Brands Hatch, Lewis Blackstock and Paddy Rosney now lead the championship from the Todd Ellis / Emmanuelle Clement pairing by 36.5 points, which should make for an exciting finale to the 2023 season.



Three very impressive results for Phil Bell and Phil Hyde and the Williams / Pitt duo, combined with a very disappointing weekend for most of their rivals, have given their Cup class hopes a huge boost, and Pete Founds and Jevan Walmsley look odds-on to take the F2 class after a very competitive weekend.

After featuring regular BEARS crew, the speedy siblings”, brothers Graham and John Birkett (#66), who are based in the next village to that I call home, in an earlier report this season, (I can’t believe it was May !!), I caught up with them, as promised, once again over the weekend.

I was particularly keen to enquire how their season had gone so far, and in particular find out how they were recovering from a nasty spill at the recent BHR meeting at Darley Moor, described to me by someone who saw it, as “frightening”.

I’m pleased to say, although Graham had suffered some sore ribs as a result of the “rollover”, and the outfit had been slightly damaged, they were soon back in action on the second day of the Darley meeting and recorded two third in Class results to maintain their 3^rd place in the “Hotrod” championship standings.

After the weekend’s non-championship outing at Cadwell, they will be in BHR championship action once again next weekend, making the long journey to the principality of Wales for some action at the scenic Trac Mon Anglesey circuit, for which I wish them good luck.



I will have one more chance to catch up with them in September when the final BHR meeting will return to Cadwell.

I had been looking forward to the Sidecar Revival all season, and, as shown by the large crowds who attended, so had a lot of other sidecar enthusiasts.  Despite the weather spectators were treated to some thrilling three-wheel action.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s event, which would be something very special if a clash with the World Championship could be avoided.

International Sidecar Revival Gallery