Motor Sport
THE father and son team of Gary and Dan Knight had a testing time during rounds three and four of the Superside World Sidecar Championship.
The pair, who form the Macclesfield-based Redline Superbikes team, endured a harrowing race against the clock in Holland after they had learned that they would only be able to compete in the first of two qualifying rounds before returning home as Dan needed to sit an important exam.
The Knights finished the first qualifying session in seventh position, a good result with a new engine.
On returning to Assen after Dan's final exam, they learned that they had dropped just two places on the grid.
Forced to hurriedly prepare their bike after the race was brought forward an hour, Gary and Dan took to the new Van Drenthe track, but an engine lacking in power, a slipping clutch and a brake fluid leak, conspired to add valuable seconds to their lap times.
The Knights were then forced to wait until the chicane shortly before the final lap, because of a host of yellow flags, to overtake Jo Moser and then hang on until the finish for a creditable tenth place.
The racers and riders then met in Germany for round four, a support event for the MotoGP. The Sachsenring circuit combines both fast corners with gentle slopes, near-vertical bumps and several curves, and the Redline pairing reached a top speed of just over 139 mph in the first session, eclipsing that after the interval.
The two-day meet, in humid temperatures topping 41 degrees, began with an 11-lap sprint race, and the Knights crossed the line in fifth, despite a shredded rear tyre, only to be told they had incurred a 20-second penalty for an alleged jump-start.
Despite the team's efforts to reverse the decision on the basis that they weren't informed by lap four, their punishment stood and it was an angry Knight pairing that lined up the following day for the 22-lap race.
A hotly-contested start saw the Redline team tuck into third place, but they soon embarked upon successful manouevres to challenge for the lead.
However, a half-spin on the last lap cost them dearly and they were eventually hanging onto fifth.
The points gathered from Holland and Germany leaves Redline in eighth spot at the tournament's halfway mark.
Gary Knight said: "The race at Assen wasn't ideal, especially the finish after our encouraging qualifying times, but at least we took some points from a difficult, trying and tiring weekend.
"In Germany, we had two tremendous races that had the crowd in a frenzy.
"We're obviously smarting that we lost nine points and five places as a result of the time penalty.
"The clerk of the course would not change his decision, but we're looking forward to seeing the televised race."
The next round of the championship takes place in Austria as the teams battle it out on the Salzburgring circuit.
