Sand Racing Report 26^th July 2014

The class with the largest number of bike competitors had to ride the longest course yet laid out for the MX riders. From the start they rode the complete slip bend before turning into the twisty infield section which had much better flowing corners & no sharp right hand bends before joining the back straight just prior to the wet bend which they rode before moving to the outside of the track along the top straight to take the jump which was positioned just north of the commentator’s box, a layout they all enjoyed. To make this more challenging they rode 4 championship races of 6 laps dominated by Billy Russell & Tony Duquemin before moving onto their first ever handicap race run over 10 laps. This became a close race as the first rider away Ian Le Messurier had a lap lead even before his brother Paul left the start line & this rose to 2 laps for the faster riders but by the last lap middle field rider Matt Le Gallez just pipped newcomer Michael Beausire to the flag with one of the faster riders Frankie Brouard taking 3^rd spot. To round their afternoon off they then had a 10 lap scratch race on the oval track.

Slider class saw the welcome return of UK rider Rob Fortune who gained a couple of 2^nd places. Anthony Bougourd claimed the championship & committee cup wins, whilst Rob Teed won the 2 scratch races & dad Colin won the Pealing Carey Handicap trophy. Making some impressive rides was George Van Der Tang who with a bit more consistency would be challenging for higher finishing positions but ended his day in an unusual way by taking himself & his bike for a swim into the fast retuning tide on the exit of the slip bend during the final slider scratch race.

Even when giving himself selfimposed handicaps by starting after the other intermediate riders you knew that Billy Rive would also end up taking the chequered flag which he did in all 5 championship races & even a 2^nd place when joining the adults for their last race. Main battle was between the MX riders in this class with Jarrod Carington, George Symons & Josh Lamourne all in with a chance of leading this group whilst Ricky Rive on his Slider & Rhys Melass were gaining on those in front of them.

Unfortunately cadet riders have been thin on the ground this year so it is no surprise when Dan Clarke takes all the wins leaving Kieran Bennett struggling with mechanical problems on his bike & Ben Le Prevost still learning to master his bigger bike.

9 cars turned out for this meeting but once again 2 were sidelined with mechanical failures by end of practice & Simon Carre only managed to get his car out & finish 2 races. Jack Sanders when out dominated the racing car class but most consistent driver was Clint Blondel. Changing to smaller rimmed wheels certainly helped production car driver Neil Bourgaize who was much closer to Wayne Martel & Eric Trump then last meeting, whilst Jonathan Robilliard will be thinking of doing the same to his car for the next meeting though this did not stop him from winning the handicap race in a nail biting finish as by a bumper he just beat Jack Sanders.

Paul Stanford.