Chris Etheridge

Chris Etheridge is a retired British sidecarcross rider. In the Sidecarcross World Championship his greatest success has been three top-ten finishes in a career stretching over sixteen seasons from 1986 to 2001, while domestically he has won ten national British Sidecarcross Championships, a record at the time but since broken. In this era however Paul and Mark Millard proved to strong for Etheridge on each occasion, the Millards taking out five consecutive national titles. The closest Etheridge came to finishing above the pair was in 1987 when he finished only thirteen points behind.

With a new passenger, Nick Brace, a new engine make, a Zabel, and the retirement of Paul Millard Etheridge started to dominate the national championship from 1991 onwards, winning six consecutive titles until 1997. The first three seasons were won with a comfortable margin, in 1994 however Etheridge took the title out by only four points. Etheridge had almost missed out because of a broken shoulder the week before the final round but rode despite the injury and against the doctors advice. From 1994 he switched to Garry Withers as his permanent passenger, having utilised him before sporadically.

His record of ten national titles was surpassed by Stuart Brown in 2013 when the latter won his eleventh title.

World Championship Chris Etheridge made his debut in the Sidecarcross World Championship at the opening race of the 1986 season, the British Grand Prix, finishing third in his first-ever race and eighteenth overall in the competition. The first seven seasons Etheridge experienced moderate success in the competition, racing sporadically, with a twelfth place overall and two podium finishes in races in 1991 as his best result. A more successful era followed from 1993 to 1995 when, racing with Garry Withers as his passenger he finished in the top-ten each season. The 1993 season became his best-ever in the World Championship, finishing seventh overall and taking out three race wins, one in Germany and two at the British Grand Prix in Langrish, thereby winning the later event, the only GP victory in his career.

Season by season The season by season results in the World Championship for Chris Etheridge: Season Passenger Equipment Position Points Races Wins Second Third1986 Shane SkeatsMaico-EML18475——11987 Shane SkeatsMaico-EML28143———1988 Shane SkeatsKawasaki-WASP24315———1989 Ray ElthamKawasaki-WASP5511———1990 Nick BraceKawasaki-WASP26213———1991 Nick BraceZabel-EML12585—111992 Garry Withers Shane Skeats Nick BraceZabel-VMC188212———1993 Nick Brace Garry WithersZabel-EML7239223121994 Garry WithersZabel-VMC10108151——1995 Garry WithersKTM-BSU 910613—1—1996 Mike Turner Garry WithersKTM-BSU165291——1997 Paul Henderson KTM-BSU18428———1998 Garry WithersZabel-BSU3773———1999 Jason Peters John ChambersZabel-EML19519———2000 John ChambersMTH-BSU233351——2001 John ChambersMTH-VMC21425——— Overall 1986 – 2001934123634

Key 1 World Champions 2 Runners-up 3 Third placed 4 – 10 Driver finished fourth to tenth

Honours British National Sidecarcross Championship Winners: (10) 1991–1997, 1999–2001 Runners-up: (5) 1986–1991