SAND RACING REPORT 8^th June 2013

As the season reached its halfway point it was the last chance for the slider riders to get in their final practice before the big British Championship meeting on June 22^nd. To this end there were 3 visiting riders present who made their presence felt by taking 4 of the 5 race wins. UK resident Dan Winterton taking 3 wins plus having the 4^th race red flagged after taking a massive tumble in the wet bend which saw his bike flying through the air with bits flying off, but he was out in the final race. Jersey rider Jamie Griffiths took the 1^st race win plus a further 2 2^nd & 3^rd places. The only local to get his name on a top spot was Rob Teed. Mike Clark took 2^nd place in the 1^st race but cruised across the finish line with a blown motor, the other Jersey rider Kevin Bishop also managed 1 2^nd place whilst Bill Cohu & an impressive George Vandertang got their names in the results with a 3^rd place apiece.

The other 2 bike classes were all dominated by a single rider taking all 5 race wins, Barney Henry on the MX, Billy Rive in the Intermediates & Rhys Melass in the Cadets. There was a poor turnout of just 4 MX bikes that were riding an anticlockwise course which turned into the infield on the inside of the slip bend turning sharp left then sharp right before going over the jump then into a series of sweeping curves before rejoining the main course on the entrance to the wet bend. The main contest was for 2^nd place between the 2 250cc riders Tony Duquemin & Paul Le Gallez but a shoulder injury was taking the strength out of Paul in the tricky part of the track allowing his brother Matt to claim a couple of 3^rd places. In the Intermediates Josh Lambourne rode the first 4 races with faulty front forks so having lost 2^nd place to Ricky Rive rode Billy Rive’s spare Honda 85cc. Dan Clarke had a bad day, running wide out of the wet bend he lost the lead of the first race before crossing the line with a broken motor on the smart Kawasaki 65cc slider. Having to move back to his MX bike he tried too hard off the line in the 2^nd race as he flipped his bike into the air so losing a lap as he got restarted. This allowed the battles between Kieran Bennett & Barnaby Queripel to move up the finishing order. Meanwhile the 2 riders Braden Morris & Ben Le Prevost on little 50cc machines were enjoying their afternoon rides.

The highlight of the car races was for the Jardin Renault handicap trophy as the handicapper got his timings just right to give a fantastic race. Jack Sanders in the fastest car on the beach had to start last & overtake the other 8 starters to get the win but though he tried his hardest, being blocked in by slower cars in the slip bend, going wide in the wet bend & having to clean his visor from the sand being thrown up by the cars he was overtaking just meant he lost out by a matter of a couple of car lengths to the fastest saloon on the beach driven be Simon Carre. The remaining cars crossed the line in very quick order no more than a cars length between them. Only car not present in this race was the Honda Special Gary Duquemin as he pulled out near the end of the second race with a broken front stub axle thus his shared driver Kevin Rumens not even getting a race.

Paul Stanford