Sand Racing Report 16^th June 2019

Those around the island walkers who passed by Vazon late morning/early afternoon may have noticed a completely different set up on the beach for the latest sand race meeting. Due to the very bumpy condition of the sand at the southern end of the bay the pits were located alongside the wooden wave breakers as the track was extended further north, way pass the slipway where the pits are normally placed. The finish line was only a few yards off to the left of the bottom of the slip so the lap recorders had a good view as the bikes sped away from the starting tapes, whilst the cars started from the only section of firm sand on the outside of the wet bend.

As has been normal for this season the MX bike class were first on the programme with their 3 races on the twisty infield track followed by one championship race on the oval course & for once there were different winners for these 4 races. With 15 bikes racing there was muchovertaking & changing of places which made the races more entertaining to watch but kept the lap recorders busy writing down the correct result. Their final race was a handicap where the slowest leads away & gradually the rest of the field are released to try to catch the lead bike, unfortunately an error by the chief lap recorder saw the chequered flag waved a lap early leaving Kevin Rumens the winner by a very small margin. Next up were the youngest riders the 6 to 8 year old cadets where Lewis Le Blanq&GiloRobilliard continued their battle for line honours whilst Zach Wallbridge with his unusual motocross style of riding, standing on the pegs for the straights found he was in a battle with newcomer Tyler-James Savident who was the only rider in this class to take a tumble when he was clipped in race 5 by a late starting Lewis.

Next we moved to 4 wheels with the mixed classes of 6 saloons & the solo racing car of Mark Le Page who was fortunate to finish both championship races before his chain broke. Gary le Page who won the handicap race said that by leading this race he could choose his own lines into & out of each corner which made his speed quicker whereas when you’re racing in a pack your line can be determined by what’s happening around you. Though the saloons race in 3 classes they were fairly evenly matched & the smaller engine cars could easily beat their larger rivals.

Finally we ended up with 3 more bike classes, the senior sliders dominated by Jersey rider Jordan Noel from Colin Teed & Dave Cleal. Erin Ogier was the most unfortunate in this class as the only race she finished was when she used Colin’s bike for the committee cup race as her bike & her brothers borrowed bike could not last these short 4 lap races. The juniors/intermediates are split into 2 groups with Ben Le Prevost finding he is being pushed even harder in the MX division by a vastly improving Alisha Wild King. On sliders Thomas Vinning was not due to race but a cancelled UK event meant he was here before departing to race in the UK on the following day. Once again Dan Clark led this class whilst an improving Gemma Le Page got the better of Sam & Charlie Walker who seemed to be having problems with their machines.

With a 3 week gap to the next meeting riders & drivers have more time to repair & re-fettle their machines before taking to the sands on 6^th July.

Paul Stanford