Sand Racing Report 9th September 2017
The sun did shine as competitors & officials assembled on Vazon beach for the
final time of the 2017 sand race season & though entries may have been a little
down in adult competitors there was no let up the cadet, junior & intermediate
classes as final championship points were still on offer. It is a credit to the
club that 18 youngsters aged from 6 to 16 riding in these 3 classes on either MX
style bikes or sliders were present with the support of their parents, relatives
& friends. The support & training that the club provided earlier in the season
has seen an improvement in the riding skills of the majority of these youngsters
who hopefully will continue riding on into their late teens & as adults.
Unfortunately there was a delay in proceedings as Stephanie Best had to be
transported to hospital after taking a heavy fall from her bike & a little later
Lewis Le Blanq also needed treatment on the beach. In the classes Thomas Vining
won all the cadet races but the minor placing were well fought out. Dan Clark is
now finding it harder to win in the mixed junior/intermediates as Patrick Le
Friec & Luke Bush were pushing him all the way to the finish. Though racing has
now finished in Guernsey both Thomas & Dan will be racing in the national grass
track meeting in October.
The largest entry of local sliders saw Bill Cohu & Billy Rive make rare
appearances but is was the battle between father & son Colin & Bob Teed which
was of interest as the class championship was to be decided at this meeting with
Bob taking the spoils whist Dave Cleal completed 47 years since his first race.
With the MX twisty course championship already being decided in Billy Rive’s
favour he did not push himself too much in these races allowing Jarod Carrington
to take the wins as his main aim was to win the oval championship. The title
fight was close but another win sealed another title for Billy as Mark King just
could not match his pace. Unfortunately the earlier delays meant that this class
could not close off the season with the 20 lap handicap race for the Pealing
Carey Trophy. The 2 sidecar outfits of Clint Blondel/Kev Bennett & Bill Cohu
/Jason Carre were on the beach but though Clint has pushed hard showing what can
be achieved here & away this class has been poorly supported by other local’s.
With breakages that occurred at the previous meeting the number of cars present
were down to just 7 & with Sam De Carteret’s buggy deciding to digest its engine
there were just 6 left spread over 4 classes so the only competition was in the
production cars 1400-1800cc class. The only real interest came in the handicap
race where Billy le Page had to overtake the first car away the Mini of Graham
Jehan 3 times to gain the lead but as Graham himself lost the lead to the other
saloons Billy could only manage 3rd behind Matthew Board & winner Neil
Bourgaize.
Though the season has ended work will not stop as repairs, modifications,
purchase of new machinery will take place over the winter months whist some
competitors will move on to trials or autotests during this period, before
returning to Vazon in 2018. Date for your diary Sand Ace 16th June 2018.
Paul Stanford