Sidecar World Champion Harry Payne Eyes 2025 British Championship Bid to Elevate Sport’s Profile

Sidecar racer Harry Payne is considering competing in the British Championship in 2025, fresh off securing a world title in Portugal alongside partner Kevin Rousseau. At the final round in Estoril, Payne and Kevin Rousseau secured victories in both races, with the second race decided by a mere 0.053 seconds. This performance allowed them to overcome a seven-point deficit and narrowly defeat Marcus Schlosser and Luca Schmidt. Payne, who hails from Wivenhoe in Essex, aims to achieve both domestic and international success next year, a move he believes will further elevate his profile, despite international titles typically preceding domestic ones. Speaking to BBC Essex, Payne stated, “The World Championship is only a six-round series and the British is also six rounds, so 12 would be perfect for the whole year – just add the British to what we’re doing.” He added, “We’ve got a great group of personal sponsors and small team sponsors but we’re missing the title sponsor, which is the big one. I’m hoping this (title) will help us get that little bit of extra exposure.” Payne made his debut in the FIM World Championship in 2021, achieving a fifth-place overall finish in both of the preceding two seasons. He expressed his resolve to “leave everything on the track” during the final round in an effort to surpass his Swiss competitors, even though he and Rousseau encountered conditions they had not anticipated would be advantageous. The Team #45 racer commented, “Being November, normally it’s monsoon season but it was beautiful weather, 20-25 degrees, absolutely perfect.” He continued, “That put us on the back foot, but we’d worked really well in the weeks leading up to the race and we’d come with a few upgrades on the bike to try and minimise drag and maximise the top speed of the machine, because that’s where we’ve been really struggling against the Swiss team, and it seemed to pay off.” Following their victory in the first race, the subsequent 17-lap race “felt like 117,” according to Payne. He recounted, “He came past twice, but just out-braked himself twice and we managed to nip straight back through. My brakes were fading away, I didn’t have the edge grip (on the tyres) I needed so I was having to alter my lines to try to get the best out of the bike and it was so hard.” He concluded, “I was completely finished after the race. I’d never done two races in a day at this level.” After starting as the trailing pair before the initial race, Payne and Rousseau became the team to overcome for the second race, intensifying the pressure on their performance. Payne stated, “We were prepared for the second (before the start of racing) and were happy whatever happened. We were the underdogs.” He further described the situation after the first race: “After the first race, we were all just walking around the pitbox, we didn’t know what to do, I was just a bit of a mess really. What should I do? What’s the plan? How are we going to tackle this? Mind-boggling stuff.” He concluded, “But we managed to keep our cool and it came good.” Following their return drive from Portugal, the duo, known for first donning their distinctive pink wigs “as a bet for the Dutch Grand Prix,” intends to celebrate their victory with friends and family this weekend. Testing for the upcoming season is not scheduled to commence until January. Payne also mentioned, “I’m just going to be working on a few things to make it go faster in a straight line. We can’t go any faster on the corners. Just better aerodynamics because we’re struggling with top speed compared to the Swiss guys.” He concluded, “That’s what we’re going to work on and try and bring this same sort of energy to next year, keep up the good vibes and try and defend the number one.”