Sand Racing Report 2nd July
2016
An early morning start did not deter too
many competitors from competing in this round of the sand racing series even to
the fact that there was a more than doubling of competitors in the racing car
class. 5 cars came to the grid & Clint Blondel found that he has now gained
stiffer competition in the form of a returning Billy Le Page in an ex Jersey
Beresford 1100cc which is a little different to the other 4 cars in that his
engine sits over the rear axle (the others have their engine in front of the
axle) this gives him very good grip off the start line but the front end being
lighter is more skittish in the corners, once he finds a way to control this
car Clint can expect him to be even closer. Meanwhile Gary Duquemin was there
waiting to pounce if anything happened to the leading cars but having to watch
in his mirrors as ex motocross rider Sam De Carteret has returned to the sands
in another 1100cc buggy whilst newcomer Ben Brown was having gear linkage
breakages in his car which is only powered by a 600cc engine. Simon Carre at
last has sorted out the engine problems in the only modified saloon racing at
present so was ahead of the battling trio of Jonathan Robilliard, Eric Trump
& Karl Marshall for the first 3 places in the production car class, while
the rest of the field were having close races for the minor positions.
If it was not for the 4 visiting riders,
Dan Winterton& Andrew Whittaker from the UK & Jamie Griffiths &
Jordan Joel from Jersey then the slider class would have seen a field of only 3
local riders. As it was Anthony Bougourd took wins in races 1 & 4 but sat
out races 2 & 3 as he was nursing a hand injury which was making
controlling the bike very painful thus allowing the visiting riders to dominate
these races. If fact in one race no Guernsey rider finished as both Dave
Cleal& Colin Teed retired, whilst for Jordan this was his first visit to
Vazon in only his 2nd season of slider racing. The motorcross class
had its lowest number of riders so far this year with only 6 riders taking part
but this did not mean the racing was any less intense as the Rive brothers
battled with Jarrod Carrington for the top 3 positions but Paul Le Messurier
was doing his best to keep up with them leaving his brother Ian to lead home
Sand Race chairman Kevin Rumens for the final places. It was this classes turn
to have the bike handicap race & as Kevin was the slowest rider he was
first away with the remaining riders set off at timed intervals, it looked as
if a win was on the cards for Kevin but coming onto the top straight for the
last time he was pushed down to 3rd place as first Paul & then
Billy Rive overtook him on the sprint to the finish line.
Unfortunately the junior UK rider who was
expected could not make it to Guernsey for this event due to not being able to
get back to the UK in time for another event on Sunday but is due back in the
island in September so we will have to wait a little longer to see how Dan
Clarke fairs up to more experienced opposition. Luke Bush & Ben Le Prevost
took their normal positions of 2nd& 3rd whilst Harry
Ogier&Kieren Bennett on 2 contrasting types of bike were battling for 4th
spot as Erin Ogier on this longer track was able to use more speed & was
just being lapped by Dan. The 3 cadet riders Gilo, Gemma & Sam enjoyed
their races on the little oval set out using the slip bend corner of the beach
& once Gilo got his bike to run smoothly was the most improved rider from
the previous meeting. Once again it was down to 2 sidecar outfits with Clint
& Ross leading the way from Bill Cohu who had his 3rd different
passenger this season & this one was the most unlikely as motor bike&
car hill climb racer & Guernsey basketball player Michael Beausire is well
over 6ft tall but except for one pirouette coming out of the wet bend he keep correct
position on the bike.
Paul Stanford
Paul Stanford
Paul Stanford
Paul Stanford