| 2001 Sidecarcross World Championship | |
|---|---|
| Season | |
| Grands Prix | 14 |
| Start date | 1 April 2001 |
| End date | 30 September 2001 |
| Drivers | |
| Champions |  Kristers Serģis Artis Rasmanis |
| Sidecarcross des Nations | |
| Chronology | |
| Previous season | Next season |
| 2000 | 2002 |
The 2001 FIM Sidecarcross World Championship, the 22nd edition of the competition, started on 1 April and finished after fourteen Grand Prix on 30 September 2001. [1]
Contents
The defending champions were Kristers Serģis and his passenger Artis Rasmanis from Latvia who also took out the 2001 championship, thereby winning their fourth World Championship together, becoming the third team in the history of the sport to do so. [2] For one race of the season, the first of the two German Grand Prix, Serģis rode with Dutch passenger Christian Verhagen by his side, in all other events he participated with Rasmanis. [3] The pair won the competition with a margin of 123 points, with Dutch rider Daniël Willemsen and his Belgian passenger Sven Verbrugge coming second, as they had done the year before. Willemsen, like Serģis, used a different passenger for one event, Czech rider Premsyl Novotny in the first of the two German Grand Prix. Third place went to the Swedish combination of Henrik Söderqvist and Tobias Sylwan, who had previously achieved the same result in 1999. [2] All up, 51 teams were classified in the overall standings with last place going to the Estonian team of Tommas and Tinnu Soir. [4]
The Sidecarcross World Championship, first held in 1980 and organised by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, is an annual competition. All races, manufacturers and the vast majority of riders in the competition being in and from Europe. [1] [4] Sidecarcross is similar to motocross except that the teams consist of two riders, a driver and a passenger. Races are held on the same tracks as solo motocross but the handling of the machines differs as sidecars don't lean. The majority of physical work in the sport is carried out by the passenger, who speeds up the sidecarcross in corners by leaning out. The coordination between the driver and the passenger are therefore of highest importance. [5]
