Sand Racing Report 16th May 2015
An early start time did not deter the competitors from turning out for
the 3rd round at this year’s local sand racing championships. The
biggest field was in the MX class were there were 13 riders riding a course
that had a twisty section on the infield coming out of the slip bend before
returning onto the back straight just prior to the wet bend then taking a kink
right to line up for the jump which was positioned just in front of the lap
recorders/handicappers box giving them a clear view of the riders numbers.
Their first 3 races were for championship points which resulted in Billy Rive
claiming the maximum whilst the 2nd& 3rd spots were
claimed by 4 different riders. Sand race chairman Kevin Rumens had decided to
make their 4th race a handicap for the Slater Trophy & having
rebuilt a KTM Enduro bike had decided to give in a run out for this meeting
& was a little surprised that he managed to defend off the chasing pack to
take this trophy. Final race of the day was on the oval track & it was here
that Billy Russell got his only win of the day. With no English riders present
it was an all local affair in the slider class with Anthony Bougourd taking 3
wins whilst Rod Teed took the other two, all good practise for the upcoming
Sand Ace meeting in July. George Van Der Tang put in a couple of good rides
& Dave Cleal seems to be getting to grips with his new bike. Intermediates
had just 2 riders again & when Ricky Rive rode his Honda MX bike he could
beat Jarrod Carrington but when he was on the JRM Slider Jarrod was the
quicker. Cadets have moved up to 5 riders but it was Dan Clark on his Honda
150cc Slider who was in charge lapping the rest of the field in must races
& even when he stalled on the start line in one race & was almost a lap down before he started
he still took the race win. It was much closer between the other riders with
Ben Le Prevost on his little 65cc MX type Kawasaki taking the 2nd
spots whist each of the others managed a 3rd spot. Jack Bougourd on
his first meeting this year was riding quicker, Harry Ogier had the
disadvantage of having to get to know Dan Clarks slider from last year as he
waits for the engine on his bike to be rebuild after ceasing last meeting &
newcomer Luke Bush just had to learn not to stall or put too much power down
from the start line.
Positions in the car classes do not alter that much, the closest class
is in Production saloons 1401-1800cc where the battle to be first was evenly
matched between Wayne Martel & Eric Trump whilst Shaun Leigh making his
first appearance this season could have caused more rivalry had his radiator
not split. Neil Bourgaize in the smallest car in this car gave chase but did
not have to contend with the Robilliard brothers who were forced to miss this
meeting with a tummy bug which affected both their families. Simon Carre in the
only 1400cc car mixed in with these 4 whilst the Quattro of Karl West
outperformed the Golf of Jamie Lucas in the 4WD class but it was Jamie who took
the win in the handicap by a wide margin as his speed increased for this race.
Gary Duquemin having changed from hydraulic to a cable clutch on his special
could not gage if this had improved his car as Clint Blondel had to retire his
special with an electrical/fuel problem. This did mean that Clint could
concentrate on his sidecar outfit which prove the quicker of the 2 present
though Bill & Jason only did 2 races as Jason had other rowing commitments
to go too.
Paul Stanford
Paul Stanford