Northern Ireland Sidecar Grand Prix lives up to expectation as Marvin Vanluchene and Nicolas Musset take victory

The racing was fantastic despite the heavy overnight rain, making the Redbrae track soft and slippery.

Belgium’s Marvin Vanluchene with French passenger Nicolas Musset were the overall winners, stretching their lead in the championship to eighteen points over Dutchman Etienne Bax and Czech Ondřej Cermak with Latvian twins, Daniels and Bruno Lielbardis, completing the podium.

Race one saw Vanluchene/Musset lead from the gate but a late race charge meant Bax/Cermak, seventh on lap one, overhauled their championship rivals on the last lap with the Lielbardis teenagers, delighting the visiting Latvian crowd, in third.

On a drying track, Vanluchene and Musset made no mistakes in race two, winning by nearly eight seconds from Bax and Cermak with Dutch crew Koen Hermans and Ben van den Van Den Bogaart third.

“The rain made it a heavy track with really hard bumps and slippery but by the end of the weekend I think as a team we have got what we worked for and that’s the overall win, so I am really happy” said Vanluchene.

Local crews had their fair share of success with Lisburn’s Neil Campbell and Ross Graham finishing 19th in race one and 13th in race two for 15th overall.

“We had a great weekend” smiled Campbell. “The track conditions were tough and a small mistake, when we got stuck on a large berm, in race one cost us a few places.

"To finish 13th in race two and 15th overall was amazing. It was a big step up for us as we have not done much racing this year but we surprised ourselves with our pace on the day.

"It was great to have so many people there cheering us on all the way round.”

Despite passenger Adam McKibbin being thrown out of the chair in race one and being run over by a following outfit, the McKibbin crew were delighted to score their first World Championship points.

"It was a great experience that we really enjoyed,” said Andy McKibbin. “The conditions were very tough but we managed to survive and score world championship points which was our aim.

"The atmosphere and crowd support was absolutely amazing the whole way round the track.”

Hillsborough’s Mark McLernon was the star of the European quad races, winning race one and leading race two before the chain came off his TDG Yamaha.

The 28-year-old came from a long way back in race one to catch and pass race leader Kacper Mieszkowski four laps from the finish.

“The leader was about twenty five second ahead when I made my way into second,” said a delighted McLernon. “When I caught him I knew I had to pass him quickly as I had lost my goggles half way through the race.

"It was my first European win – in fact it was my first European race.”

On race two he added: “I had a good start before the chain came off on the first lap. I finished sixth overall, so I’m happy enough. What an event!

"I was here four weeks ago and I have to admit I had my doubts about it but everyone worked hard over the past few weeks and it has turned into a great event.”

Lithuanian Laurynas Mikalauskas was the overall winner.