SANDRACING REPORT 17/09/2011
The number of local competitors for the final meeting of the 2011 season was reduced due to the clashing Alderney motor sport weekend & a family wedding but the addition of four 1000cc sidecars enlivened this event. From the very start as they took to the sand first for 2 practise sessions the sidecars showed that though this was to be demonstration runs that was not going to stop them from going flat out. It was obvious for the beginning that the father & son pairing of Rod & Gareth Winterburn on the Ducker Yamaha R1 grass track machine was more suited to the nature of the flat but wet sands of Vazon winning all 5 of the demonstration races. This bike had a smaller chair & less bodywork compared to the 3 speedway outfits of which Richard Moore & Rob Winspear on the LCR Yamaha ThunderAce was the quickest. The style of riding was that the passenger would ride almost as a pillion on the back mudguard down the straights before flinging themselves over the machine with their heads barely inches from the sand as they cornered on the bike course but ridden in a clockwise direction. It was the change over from cornering that proved to be the most difficult as it was the pairing of Mick Stace & Daz Whetstone on the Steer Yamaha R1 who were lifting the cambered chair wheel the most once entering the straights even doing a couple of tight spins coming out of the wet bend. These machines proved to be almost 100% reliable as it was only Mark Heatley & Martin Davies on the Mitch Yamaha ThunderAce who was having problems. Just to show that they were not only sidecar aces the Winterburn’s also each rode in the final race for sliders.
The sliders was a battle between the 2 local Anthony’s & Stoke resident Dan Winterton, with Dan winning all championship races whilst Anthony Queripel took the other 2 wins. In the middle field it was a contest between Dave Cleal & Martyn Guilbert whilst there was serious racing between the lower place riders of Eddie Goracy, Rudy Maree & George Van Der Tang.
Juniors again proved to be very competitive with the main 3 placing being fought over by Billy-Reece Rive, Josh Lambourne & Alain Branquet though Jarod Carrington did seek in a couple of 3rd places. This just left Billy Russell & Ricky-Lee Rive to fight over the final places. For this final meeting the cadets faced their longest track of the season which suited the larger bike of Barnaby Queripel as he won all of these races but this did not stop Daniel Clark from trying his hardest to keep on terms even standing up on the foot rests as he rode the top straight.
There should have been 7 cars but Paul De Jersey on entering a third different car for only his 3rd meeting found that the clutch on this car had broken but did get in a couple of races including wining the handicap race by sharing the Honda Civic of Darren De Carteret with Eric Trump having the only other saloon. There were 4 grass track cars but they never managed to be on track all at the same time as by the time Jean-Paul Kennedy had got his car up & running which was the fourth race Jarod Smith had already retired his car after only completing one race.
Gary Duquemin was not certain his car would last the afternoon & by the 4th race was having serious gearbox problems so it was only Ian Robert who started & finished all 5 races even though at times even his car was not sounding completely healthy.
So that brings down the 2011 season of highs & lows, good close racings, committed juniors & cadets but also low fields at times. Lets see if the rumoured addition of more cars, the sight of sidecars again, a British championship all materialise when sand racing returns in April 2012.
Paul Stanford