Sand Racing Report 10^th September 2022

The Guernsey Motor Cycle & Car Club following advice from the UK’s motor sport associations (ACU & Motorsport UK) & guidance from the States of Guernsey proceeded with their final race meeting of the 2022 season, not allowing competitors to fire up their engine’s till after club president & clerk of the course Ian Le Page gave his debrief & then lead a minutes silence in memory of the Queen.

Once again the weather & tides had effected the condition of the beach so the course had to moved even further south towards the rocks to avoid stony patches in the sand. With a number of competitors involved with shipping vehicles up to Alderney ready for next weeks events there were less car drivers & riders then normal.

The main attention was on the MX A group where Owen Waddingham led Jarrod Carrington by 5 points in the twisty course championship so a further 2 wins sealed the championship for Owen. In the oval championship positions were reversed with Jarrod having a 6 point lead over Owen, unfortunately having to pull out of the first race & not starting the second race Jarrod lost this championship. In the MX B group George Bourgaize sealed both championship but was pressed hard by Tom Wood, Marcus Crittell & GH Smit, Ben Le Prevost scored a well deserved third place in the second twisty race considering that his bike only has 125cc compared to the rest riding 250cc machines. The most dramatic scene seen on the beach all season occurred on the second lap in the first oval race when Marcus Crittell got caught onto GH Smit’s bike & was dragged into the wet bend, luckily the only damage was to Marcus’s bike.

For only the second time this season 3 adult sliders were present on the beach as Jordan Noel had made the journey up from Jersey, having to come up on Thursday & going back on Tuesday such is the shipping service provided between the islands. Erin Ogier who has appeared on the most occasions this year was hoping to hang on to her 37 point lead in this class’s championship but 3 wins from Noel & no finishes from Erin means Noel has scored the most points this year. Rob Teed making only his third appearance this year had a day to forget as he also failed to finish any races that he started.

Once again Tyler-James Savident had solo runs on his junior mx bike whilst Casey Gallienne was the leading junior rider on a slider. Second place was taken by Charlie Walker in three races only beaten once when his elder brother Sam the only intermediate rider finally got his bike to run this just left the youngest rider on the beach this season on the smallest slider Digby Cleal to pick up third place in the junior slider class .

Only 4 cars in four classes appeared for this meeting so no championship positions were going to change. With Jamie Le Page not being present his seat was given to former autocross racer & current hill climber Lee Poole who enjoyed his two races & thought he will be upgrading his hill climb car over the winter has not dismissed the idea of finding a suitable car for the beach. Three time this season Gary Le Page has geared himself up for the final handicap race but once again due to a couple of red flag incidents with the bike classes the final batch of races were cancelled because of tide & time restraints.

Now the long wait to next season begins giving competitors time to either re-fettle their machines or consider purchasing something new. Hopefully all current competitors will continue next year & others will also join this exciting pastime.

Paul Stanford.