Sand Racing Report 20^th April 2019

In the time that tide allows racing to be held this was an action packed meeting as practice for every class & 35 races were crammed into the tight schedule, admittedly the car race lengths had been reduced slightly. The only reason the final 3 races were not completed was due to a red flag in the final junior/intermediate slider race as one of the competitors took a tumble which needed medical attention.

Having been able to get his own bike to Guernsey, Jersey competitor Jordan Noel gave local Rob Teed much tougher opposition even winning 2 races then the previous meeting when he was on a borrowed bike, whilst Dave Cleal& Colin Teed were similarly locked in a battle for 3^rd place. Local basketball star Erin Ogier completed the first 4 races on her 250cc machine before taking over Colin’s more powerful 500cc bike for the final race. There were no problems with the lap keeping of the MX class as the timekeeping caravan was closer to the track then the previous meeting but also every bike in this class were using transponders which was proving a computer back up. As can be seen in the results only 3 riders feature in the top 3 places with a tight battle between the Rive brothers for line honours though this does not mean that the remaining competitors were not also having their own battles further down the field.

Alisha Wild King was showing an improvement in keeping up with Ben Le Prevost, it was only her starts that were letting her down in the junior/intermediate class for MX bikes. Harry Ogier was again suffering from engine problems with his bike, having again to use his sisters bike for a couple of races in the slider class this allowing Gemma Le Page to pick up a number of third places as Dan Clark & Thomas Vining were once again riding away with class honours. The cadets Charlie Clark, GiloRobillard, Lewis Le Blanq& Jack Pollard were using the same tapped start line as all the other bike classes for the first time bringing them closer to the line of spectators sitting on the sea wall. Though they were the only competitors Clint Blondel&Kev Bennett only managed to complete one full race distance on their Suzuki sidecar outfit due to mechanical problems.

A change of rubber improved the handling of Sam De Carteret’s Toyota in the smaller production car class but unfortunately he had no opposition in this class as Andrew Robilliard’s Puma suffered electrical problems in practice. The same 5 cars turned out in the larger production class with the 2 Hyundai’s being outdone by the Skoda in the championship races whilst Gary Le Page is still getting use to his Civic & Faye Downs won the first trophy of the year taking the handicap race win. An engine change improved the fortunes of Mark Le Page as he took the 2 championship race wins in the racing car class before handing over to his wife Lisa for the Fillston& David’s races. Andy Henry had to settle for 2^nd places in the championship races but Billy Le Page was not too far behind before both took wins in the Fillston& David’s races.

Paul Stanford