Sand Racing Report 27^th September 2014

On a bright sunny early autumn day competitors, officials & spectators gathered at Vazon beach to get their final sand racing fix of this season at a meeting which produced some changes & surprises. Making a welcome return to the slider fold was 61 year Mike Clarke riding on the beach for the first time this year as a tribute & in memory of his & Peter Clarke’s late mother who had passed away earlier this month & who had been a regular spectator on the beach watching her sons race for over 40 years. Unfortunately Mike on Anthony Bougourd's spare bike doesn’t feature in the results as the bike kept breaking down. Most impressive rider in this class on only his second meeting on a slider was Tony Duquemin who worked his way through the field as the afternoon progressed till in the final race he was challenging Anthony for the win, second had to do but certainly a rider to watch out for if he continues in this class next season. With a clashing moto cross event the Intermediate & MX classes were depleted in numbers. Tony Duquemin tried out a new KTM in practice but then stuck to the slider leaving only 4 riders with Billy Russell taking on the Pinchemain brothers on a course that included a large u bend in the infield & the jump on the outside of the track right in front of the commentary box. Daniel Pinchemain having had problems with his machine used Billy’s spare bike for the second race before passing it on to Billy Rive who put Billy Russell under much more pressure, in fact taking 1 win in the fourth championship race, also moving into this class for the final couple of races from the intermediate’s was Josh Ballard on Ricky Rive’s Honda 85. The cadets were down to just 2 riders as having taken a number of falls on the beach without injury a fall in a school playground resulted in Dan Clark breaking a wrist whilst Kieran Bennett had been grounded by his parents for inappropriate language thus leaving Ben Le Prevost to collect 5 wins whilst Jack Bougourd had the choice of two bikes, theex Dean Chandler 110cc 4 stroke slider which got stuck in third gear or his normal 70cc Honda MX bike, if he continues racing till he can join the adult class he will have gain 8 years more riding experience then when his father Anthony started racing. No real change in the car classes except for Gary Robert making his second appearance this year, but bits & pieces kept falling off his successful hill climb car.

Surprise of the day was the appearance of a sidecar outfit in the hands of local competitor Pierre Rive who should have had Martyn Guilbert as passenger, instead it was Norman (no surname) from Latvia who only agreed on Friday night to do this, so spent the evening watching sidecar racing clips on U Tube to get to know what he had to do. There is a prospect that 3 of these machines may be in local hands for next year.

Now if the all the competitors who have competed at some time this season continue racing next year along with the people who are rumoured to be preparing, buying or thinking about next year turns to fruition then next season could be a bumper year, we will just have to wait till noon on Saturday 4^th April when the flag drops at the start of the 2015 season.

Paul Stanford