Beach of the piece!
By TMX Archives on 14th Oct 11
The 2011 Weston Beach Race saw David Knight (MBE) ride into the history books, aboard his Team Farioli KTM, as the only six-times winner of the event since the beach race began.
Paul Winrow also claimed a new record, winning this year on a Can-Am. With five overall quad wins to his credit, the only multiple quad winner since 1999, Winrow was confirmed as the Quadmaster of Weston.
Entries and spectator numbers reflected the economy and numbers were down – but on a positive note the racing was fantastic and RHL organiser Gareth Hockey maintains he remains 100 per cent true to the Beach Race and looks forward to growing it back alongside his new beach race venture which will take place at Swansea next March. A blustery day on Saturday was followed by a windy and wet Sunday morning with the rain stopping briefly as the main race of the weekend began. The course was the same on both days but conditions could not have been more different. Sunday was hard going as the sand was considerably heavier and the course wetter than the previous day.
As 1pm approached on Sunday, the top 25 riders in the main race of the weekend gathered at the
entrance to the parc ferme. These seeded riders had their bikes moved out of the main enclosure and into a small section leading onto the tarmac road to the beach.
The remaining 350 plus riders all queued behind the barrier fence to rush to their bikes once the fence was removed. The word ‘stampede' does not adequately describe this scramble as the security officers unlocked the fence.
The top 25 all calmly walked to their rides once the crash barriers were removed but tension had been high in the build-up to this moment. Paul Edmondson stood cool, calm and collected as a joking Knighter and a pensive Brad Anderson exchanged glances with Tom Church and Jamie Lewis, all realising that the 2011 winner was probably in this select group.
Organiser Gareth Hockey mounted his quad at 1pm and led the pack onto the beach. No sooner had the last rider left the tarmac road, than the race began and the top boys were hammering down the start straight to the first dune.
Brad Anderson led the pack into the massive dune section followed by Lewis in second spot, just ahead of Knight in third with Church in fourth. Ando had a slight hiccup, getting stuck atop one of the dunes and Lewis took control for a short time.
Ando then took over the lead on the third lap but was soon overtaken by Church who headed the melee at the one-hour mark. Knighter was always in touch with the leaders but it was obvious to all onlookers that something was amiss with his 450 KTM, which had developed a mis-fire and was steaming badly. Not fully recovered from his recent hip surgery, it looked as if the Manxman would have to wait for his fifth Solo win at Weston.
Despite these issues Knight took over at the front and although he made an unscheduled fuel stop the big Manxman continued to challenge for the lead. Knight's second stop saw Church overtake him and David rejoined the race in second spot with just Church ahead of him. Getting back to the front with 30 minutes left on the clock it was still unclear who the winner would be and if Knight's bike would go the distance. Easing off a little towards the end of the race, although still producing some of his fastest laps, Knight rode into the history books as the only rider to record six Weston Beach race wins.
Tom Church had battled consistently throughout the race and pushed Knight right to the bitter end, matching him lap for lap to take second place as north east hero Brad Anderson overcame brake problems and an extended pit stop to take the final podium position.
Jamie Lewis was never out of the top five and pushed hard to the finish to take fourth place while Lee Edmondson had a terrific ride and was lying in fifth place until his chain came off and wrapped around the front sprocket with just four corners to go. He pushed the stricken bike over the line as riders flew past him, eventually taking ninth overall.
Neville Bradshaw took over Edmondson's fifth place followed by Nathan Watson in sixth, James Lassu in seventh and Nick Life in eighth. With the unfortunate Lee Edmondson in ninth it was arch-rival enduro star Daryl Bolter who completed the top ten.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX OCTOBER 14
QUAD Q1 CLASS (Solo)
Top Finishers
OVERALL: 1 (13) Paul Winrow (Can-Am), 2 (44) Carl Bunce (450 Suzuki), 3 (2) Stefan Murphy (240 Honda), 4 (4) Paul Hannam (450 Suzuki), 5 (5) Jerome Bricheux (525 KTM), 6 (9) Chris Cooper (450 Suzuki), 7 (3) Stephens Atkins (450 Yamaha), 8 (342) Cyril Debouck (450 KTM), 9 (37) Jeremy Forestier (450 Yamaha), 10 (53) Antony Barrett (450 Suzuki), 11 (11) Shane Orchard (450 Suzuki), 12 (97) Paul McConway (???), 13 (20) Keiran Power (450 Honda), 14 (7) Dwayne Barnes (450 Honda), 15 (26) Peter Gallagher (450 Honda), 16 (335) Brendan Retter (450 Suzuki), 17 (94) Chris Tite (450 Yamaha), 18 (1) Jason Wildman (450 Suzuki), 19 (19) Liam Garbett (350 KTM), 20 (57) Chris Murphy (450 Yamaha), 21 (34) Martin Evison (450 Yamaha), 22 (31) Robert Swann (505 KTM), 23 (49) Richard Smith (450 Honda), 24 (21) Martin Benbow (450 Honda), 25 (33) Colin Barrow (450 Honda).
QUAD Q2 CLASS (2-Man)
Top Finishers
OVERALL: 1 (206) Keitch/ Price-Draper (450 Suzuki), 2 (255) Langford/ Lloyd (450 Yamaha), 3 (201) Henson/ Bray (700 Honda), 4 (205) Miller/ Barnes (450 Honda), 5 (216) Kerruish/ Thorpe (450 Suzuki), 6 (214) Walton/ Canavan (700 Honda), 7 (237) Dinham/ Marsh (550 Yamaha), 8 (222) Dunn/ Davies (450 Can-Am), 9 (202) Page/ Page (450 Honda), 10 (204) Jones/ Lylett (800 Can-Am), 11 (238) Walters/ Gick (700 Yamaha), 12 (231) Munden/ Munden (450 Yamaha), 13 (207) Magee/ Ireland (700 Yamaha), 14 (221) Brodard/ Collard (525 KTM), 15 (234) Harris/ Ball (650 Kawasaki), 16 (25) Downes/ Downes (450 Yamaha), 17 (212) Forrest/ Bown (660 Yamaha), 18 (211) Downs/ Bullen (450 Can-Am), 19 (208) Summerfield/ Hackett (250 Suzuki), 20 (209) Oram/ Oram (450 Yamaha), 21 (232) Feakins/ Hoople (???), 22 (236) Davies/ Davies (450 Can-Am), 23 (210) Illing/ Atkin (680 Honda), 24 (215) Neill/ Walton (450 Honda), 25 (213) Laurie/ Clarke (450 Honda).
QUAD Q4 CLASS (4x4)
OVERALL: 1 (400) Jeremie Soyez (800 JPS Can-Am), 2 (36) Clyde Thomson (800 JPS Can-Am), 3 (24) Dave Thornton (800 Can-Am), 4 (412) Simon Webb (800 Can-Am), 5 (406) John Cullen (Yamaha), 6 (405) Neil Martin (700 Yamaha), 7 (410) Paul Huxley (800 Can-Am), 8 (408) Jack Kavanagh (700 Yamaha), 9 (413) Simon Lang (800 Can-Am), 10 (415) Mark Slade (???), 11 (555) Robert Gee (650 Can-Am Renegade), 12 (414) James Clunie (420 Honda), 13 (409) Thomas Keating (700 Yamaha), 14 (404) Paul Fenlon (700 Suzuki), 15 (402) Jerome Arnan (800 JPS Can-Am), 16 (401) Bruno Garrochinho (800 JPS Can-Am), 17 (411) Jimmy Freeman (700 Yamaha), 18 (18) Jon Morgan (800 Can-Am), 19 (407) Graham Widdicombe (800 Can-Am).
YOUTH SOLO BIG-WHEEL 85cc
Top Finishers
OVERALL: 1 (114) Robert Davidson (Honda), 2 (11) Tom Neal (KTM), 3 (18) Alfie Bowtell (KTM), 4 (66) Josh Coleman (KTM), 5 (30) Kyle Casement (KTM), 6 (178) Danny Mell (KTM), 7 (99) Ben Watson (KTM), 8 (258) Adam James (Suzuki), 9 (56) Jamie Buckingham (Yamaha), 10 (14) Max Pinny (KTM), 11 (130) Joe Yeardsley (Yamaha), 12 (98) Todd Kellett (Kawasaki), 13 (32) Matthew Boam (KTM), 14 (74) Luca Spiteri (KTM), 15 (8) Luke Oldfield (Honda), 16 (31) Ben Coleman (???), 17 (61) Connor Dickens (KTM), 18 (20) Piers Kirkpatrick-Jones (KTM), 19 (15) Kane Bennett (Honda), 20 (33) Josh Greedy (KTM), 21 (95) Kieran Green (???), 22 (537) MaCauley Davies (Suzuki), 23 (16) Reece Bowen (???), 24 (46) Camlann Macdonald (Honda), 25 (23) Jamie Mayo (Honda).
SIDECAR CLASS
Top Finishers
OVERALL: 1 (114) Williams/ Jones (590 KTM), 2 (113) Chandler/ Millett (535 KTM VMC), 3 (105) Penfound/ Rogers (525 KTM VMC), 4 (149) Strutt/ Lawry (Thatcham), 5 (115) Hamm/ Maile (610 Husqvarna), 6 (126) Bourne/ Bourne (610 Husqvarna), 7 (124) Webb/ Truman (???), 8 (112) White/ Baker (450 Yamaha), 9 (111) Petty/ Andrews (525 KTM), 10 (125) Whittaker/ Mitchell (???), 11 (123) Russell/ Goodridge (???), 12 (119) Mann/ Burke (585 KTM VMC), 13 (107) Gray/ Galley (500 Kawasaki EML), 14 (116) Place/ Place (500 Kawasaki), 15 (120) Smith/ Smith (Warwick), 16 (121) Dow/ Hutchman (480 Yamaha).
ADULT SOLO CLASS
Top Finishers
OVERALL: 1 (101) David Knight (KTM), 2 (4) Tom Church (KTM), 3 (60) Brad Anderson (Honda), 4 (2) Jamie Lewis (KTM), 5 (272) Neville Bradshaw (250 Honda), 6 (99) Nathan Watson (KTM), 7 (14) James Lassu (???), 8 (40) Nick Life (450 Suzuki), 9 (12) Lee Edmondson (250 KTM), 10 (16) Daryl Bolter (300 KTM), 11 (110) Tommy Alba (250 Kawasaki), 12 (169) Steve Holcombe (250 KTM), 13 (28) Dan Thornhill (250 Suzuki), 14 (44) Luke Mellows (???), 15 (23) Josh Waterman (250 Suzuki), 16 (43) John May (???), 17 (25) Luke Hill (125 Honda), 18 (24) Ryan Staveley (250 KTM), 19 (511) Josh Brine (???), 20 (55) Steve Bixby (???), 21 (82) Jack Rowland (???), 22 (35) Ross Benton (250 KTM), 23 (41) Derek Bawn (300 KTM), 24 (10) Nigel Kibble (450 Honda), 25 (109) Dale Raynor (250 Honda).
ADULT SOLO OVER 40 CLASS
Top Finishers
OVERALL: 1 (107) David Salkeld (350 KTM), 2 (53) Eddie Sloane (540 KTM), 3 (245) Paul Smith (250 Yamaha), 4 (79) Anthony Dean (150 KTM), 5 (75) Sipke Booi (450 Suzuki), 6 (81) Robert Mcleod (250 Yamaha), 7 (72) James Munden (125 GMB KTM), 8 (202) Stephen Speed (250 Honda), 9 (86) Richard Main (250 KTM), 10 (447) Lee Carpenter (450 KTM), 11 (137) Graham Mays (250 Yamaha), 12 (888) Steve Ferney (250 Kawasaki), 13 (400) Mark Waller (200 KTM), 14 (111) Reg Sears (250 Honda), 15 (84) Mike Dowson (250 Honda), 16 (381) Andrew Leask (???), 17 (121) Dave Watson (250 Kawasaki), 18 (193) Karl Chadwick (200 KTM), 19 (178) David Gibson (450 SNR Honda), 20 (37) Kevin Neesam (450 Kawasaki), 21 (284) Paul Baron (125 Yamaha), 22 (67) Shaun Copeman (450 KTM), 23 (786) Wayne Bradley (???), 24 (155) Paul Hamilton (250 KTM), 25 (500) Malcolm Russell (300 KTM).
