AS the 2024 British F2 Sidecar Championship nears its end, reigning title holders Pete Founds and Jevan Walmsley returned to the North East for a rerun of round one at the Darlington circuit of Croft last weekend.

Still trailing in the points to Lee Crawford and Scott Hardie, the FHO Racing/Team Founds outfit were looking to put a big dent in that lead and with three rounds and 150 points still to play for, the title is there to be won.

As Croft is the local track of Crawford, Founds knew he’d have his work cut out as the homester is always fast there.

Saturday’s weather was hit and miss with the track being wet, so the slicks stayed in the awning.

As the lights went out it was Founds and Crawford battling for the front, and into the first corner it was the Kawasaki of Crawford and Hardie who kept the lead, but this was just the start of the battle.

Both bikes were flying as they exchanged places, but then disaster for Crawford as his bike suffered a mechanical issue and he had to retire.

Founds and Walmsley went on to take the win, and more importantly a huge 25 points off Crawford and Hardie’s championship lead.

Sunday was again hit and miss with the weather but the track was dry and the Crawford and Hardie bike was fixed, so the battle could resume.

Founds kept the from the get-go , but Crawford was hot on his tail and the two were pulling away from the field even though they were in a fierce battle.

At one point both were pushing that much they ran through the gravel at turn one and were lucky to rejoin the track.

The battle resumed all race and on the final lap, it looked like the No17 Kawasaki had it, but on the second to last corner Founds made a move into the right hander and Crawford had nowhere to go - a brilliant manoeuvre to take the lead and more importantly the second win of the weekend.

The teams have a quick turnaround now as they head to Donington for the penultimate round this coming weekend.