SANDRACING REPORT 19/05/2012

It was the earliest start of the whole season at 11am for the 4^th round of the season & for this meeting the organisers had reverted to two double corner’s making the track slightly shorter for the junior & senior bikes & longer for the cars but this did not stop them putting in the longest short course so far this year for the 2 cadet riders. I am sure they appreciated the longer straights where they could push their little bikes that bit harder. Daniel coming out on his new 70cc Honda which had had its engine tuned in better then the previous meetings but was still waiting for new sprockets for the gearing only to have the throttle cable snap as they started their practise . Due to hindsight his dad had brought along the smaller 50cc machine from last year & he used this to great effect by taking as many wins as his only other competitor Barnaby Queripel on the larger 70 cc bike. The 50cc machine now passed onto another rider to see if his son would be interested in racing in this class.

Only the 2 junior Suzuki riders Josh Lambourne & Jarod Carrington appeared for this meeting with Josh dominating as usual even when he gave Jarod a head start. Comment from Bill Cohu club president was “these 2 are blonney quick” & were reckoned to be corning as quickly as the slowest of the slider bikes.

Number of senior riders was thinner then usual with only 7 being present. This did not stop the 2 Anthony’s having ding dong battles for the leading position , whilst Dave Cleal was the best of the rest though Colin Teed & Bill Cohu also made it into the top 3. Unfortunate riders were Dave Patten & Eddie Goracy.

Only 7 saloon cars made in down as there were 2 no shows, though this did not stop them from battling for overall & class positions. 2 most unexpected wins came from Faye Downs in the Rocksand race though to be fair this was gifted to her when partner Shaun Leigh lifted so that she could get the chequered flag. Best performance came from Eric Trump in the smallest saloon present the 1390cc Renault Clio when he held off the rest of the field to take the Northmore race. Only racing car was used by Jarod Smith in the Honda CBR 1000 who drove his heart out trying to overcome his 1 lap handicap in the Jardin Renaut trophy. David Rice was 3^rd time unlucky as having made it to the start line for the practice only moved a few feet before an engine mount failed causing the engine to move & the chain again being broken. The final race of the day had to be red flagged & the ambulance called when Darren De Carteret & Faye Downs collided coming out of the wet bend.

Next meeting is not till 9^th June at 3.30pm so this will give the competitors that bit extra time to repair & prepare their machines for the final meeting before the big British Sand Racing Championship on 23rd June.

Paul Stanford