Sand Racing Report 4^th May 2019

Though the skies were grey when the competitors arrived at Vazon for the 3^rd meeting of the season by the time that they had packed up to leave over 3 hours later the sky was blue, the sun was shining if still a little chilly. The running order was revised for this meeting allowing the adult MX then the cadets to run first on the programme as they both had lost their final race at the previous meeting. Though the top of the beach was in better condition than the 2 previous meetings the slip bend was very bumpy resulting in the course being moved slightly across to the northern end of the beach making the course shorter than normal.

With the Rive twins failing to have their MX bikes delivered to the beach there was the opportunity for other rides to dominate this meeting & it was Jarrod Carrington who outrode Josh Pinchemain to take wins in the 3 twisty course championship races & the oval course championship raceleaving Josh in 2^nd place whilst Mark King, Marcus Crittell& Carl Wallbridge picked up 3^rd place slots. For the first time this class managed to get in a trophy race, for the handicap Coronation Cup held on the oval course with their fastest lap times from the previous oval race determining the starting order, this meant that debutant Geoff Van Katwyk a local trials rider more use to riding slow & steady than flat out lead the field away. The result was a win for Marcus Crittell.

The four young cadets (6-8 years old) got lost on which track they were to use when they came out to practice so the course jeep lead them around for a lap so that they knew which way to go. The 3 regulars Gilo, Lewis & Jack were joined by Zach Wallbridge & whilst Lewis on his slider won the first two races he dropped to 3^rd in the 3^rd race after having a slow start then taking a tumble in the 4^th race thus allowing the other boys on the MX bikes to race each other.

On the sliders Jersey rider Jordan Noel was denied any series competition as Rob Teed was not riding leaving the veteran rides Colin Teed & Dave Cleal to have their own battle as Erin Ogier riding her brothers bike failed to complete a race.

The juniors/intermediates were split into 2 classes determined by the type of bike they ride so first out were the MX bikes with Rhys Melass& Cody Wallbridge additions to this class. Rhys on the largest bike took the wins from Ben Le Prevost whilst Alisha Wild King was again showing improvement but again took a tumble which stopped her completing the afternoons racing. In the slider division in was once again Dan Clark from Thomas Vining whilst Gemma Le Page & Sam Walker were often battling for 3^rd spot with Charlie Walker also not too far behind. The only time Harry Ogier came out to the line on his shared bike he had to quickly dismount as the engine had caught on fire.

The cars provided action straight from practice as when entering the slip bend for the very first time OzzyOzanne’s Jaguar’s rear nearside hub fractured pushing the wheel & tyre under the car causing it to roll over without injury to Ozzy. On the practice restart Billy Le Page’s Beresford buggy failed to get off the line as a link in the drive chain had broken, this happened again when Billy tried to start the 1^st race so his afternoons racing was also cut short. With Andy Henry not present this allowed Mark Le Page to gain valuable championship points & a win in the Rex Collins handicap race. For once it was either of the 2 smaller production cars often leading the saloons with Sam De Carteret & Matthew Board out driving their more powerful competitors. Gary Le Page in the Civic is getting into the swing of beach racing in a front wheel drive car & was giving the 2 Hyundai Coupes of Eric Trump & Neil Bourgaize a much harder time in this meeting even taking a class win whilst Faye Downs was close by.

Paul Stanford