Sand Racing Report 15/05/2021

With the second round having to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances it allowed more time for the competitors to fettle their machines for the third round held on a sunny but blustery day. Again with the number of MX riders entered they were divided into two groups so it was the B group that got proceedings underway. What was surprising was that this group was not male dominated as three young ladies Alisha Wild King, Stephanie Best & Gemma Le Page took on the challenge of racing with 5 men. Seasoned riders Luke Bush & Nathan Pinchemain took on newcomer Josh Ballard for race honours & though Luke won the first race it was Josh who having lent his bike to Billy Russell for the A group races then went on to win the remaining 3 races for this class. Sand Race chairman Kevin Rumens put in a tremendous performance to gain 4 fourth place spots only losing out on a higher placing due to the tight corners on the infield section of the track. Unfortunately it was also this class that caused the meeting to be terminated earlier than scheduled as coming into the slip bend for the final time an accident saw Luke that a tumble which required him having to be taken by ambulance to hospital. The A group contained the 10 top riders for this class& whilst Owen Waddingham& Billy Rive were battling for first place Billy Russell on a borrowed bike was the rider in third place with Mark King just behind.

The traditional bike class again only had two riders with Bob Teed taking on Erin Ogier who is learning to get to grips with her more powerful 500cc having over the past seasons risen up through the junior ranks. The earlier you start the better it is, so the two cadets have a few years to go before they race as adults. Luckily for this meeting the bike troubles Digby Cleal had suffered last time out had been sorted so was pushing Tyler-James Savident all the way to the chequered flag. Due to riding different types of bike the junior/intermediates have to be split & Ben Le Prevost who has shoot up in size had the good fortune to have 2 bikes at his disposal to ride though when one breaks down whilst on the track you cannot quickly swap to the other one so this allowed Eve Guille to take a win in the MX division. 3 young lads who are almost identical in size & ride the same engine sized & coloured bikes fought it out in the slider class with Thomas Vining having to keep a beady eye out for the hard charging Lewis Le Blanq who was in his wheel tracks with Charlie Walker never far behind. The most spectacular class surly must be the sidecars but once again we were down to one outfit when commentator John Bichard stated that Clint Blondel had “fried the electrics” so could not run his bike. Clint willingly went marshalling on the wet bend so could watch at close quarters as his son Reece & passenger Thomas Fleet got to grips with their own Yamaha machine that didn’t run at the previous meeting.

Having raced saloons & racing cars at hill climbs & saloons on the beach Karl Marshal quickly got to grips of sliding a single seater on the sand having taken over the ownership of the buggy called “Dave” resplendent with new bright blue body panels. Though Nigel Ozanne took the 2 championship race wins forgetting to check the fuel tank before the third race saw him come to a stop out on the back straight leaving Karl with a race win. The saloons are split into classes of unlimited modified, production to 1800cc & over 1800cc but they still all want to win the race not just their own class. Sam De Carteret in his modified was giving himself self-imposed handicaps by starting after the other saloons so having to chase & pass the others to gain places. Making a return to competitive motorsport after suffering a serious roll over on the first stage of the 2018 Guernsey Rally was Jonathan Robilliard. Just to show that the car section is not just males Nikita Galliennewas out against Matthew Board in the smaller engine production class.

Paul Stanford