Brave Irwin collars Weston

But no amount of torrential rain, spray and sand – or even a suspected broken collarbone – was going to deny Northern Ireland's Graeme Irwin his maiden Weston victory.

 

The 31st running of the Weston Beach Race was full of twists and turns and if you could put up with the weather it was an excellent spectacle, with high drama from start to finish.

 

With just under 500 entrants the field was smaller than previous years – the main casualties seemingly the blow-up dolls, bananas and Winnie the Pooh characters.

 

But that did nothing to detract from the racing, and the start is still enough to get the hairs on the back of your neck standing up. 

 

When the flag dropped Scott Elderfield and Tom Church were almost neck-and-neck as they flew down the opening straight, with Elderfield sliding his Lanes Kawasaki into turn one first. 

 

As they hit the dunes for the first time it seemed nobody had told Elderfield that they are supposed to be difficult as he made short work of them and immediately began to gap the field, with Church, Joe Jones, Robert Davidson, Aaron Poolman, Daryl Bolter and the McKanney's trailing in his spray. 

 

Behind the leaders some of the carnage we are more used to at Weston started to unfold, claiming some of the top names as the inevitable crashes, log jams and pile-ups caused mayhem amongst the 450 plus other riders, as they tried to navigate a safe passage through the monster dunes. 

 

Cashing in on the misfortune of others Elderfield was quite literally in a class of his own, as by the fourth lap he had already pulled out over a minute lead as Nathan Watson, Church and Bolter fought for position behind him.

 

Further back, and clawing his way up from an average start, Graeme Irwin was looking the fastest man on the track. 

 

At the hour mark the motocross boys were doing themselves proud, with Elderfield sitting comfortably on a two-minute lead over Watson, Irwin, Clarke, McCanney, Moffat and 

Bolter.

 

But, just like F1, Weston can be won or lost in the pits and with Watson in for fuel Irwin took up the reins in second and began closing the gap on Elderfield, as he lapped 20 seconds quicker, while Steven Clarke began his assault on the top five.

 

As the conditions deteriorated the rate of attrition amongst the riders was rising, as the elements took their toll on man and machine, with many being forced to push their bikes from the circuit or be towed back to the pits. 

 

As the clock counted down the top five had stabilised into what, barring mechanical issues, looked  set to be the finishing order. And then after two hours and seventeen minutes of leading the race, Elderfield was the hugely unlucky recipient of a mangled chain, leaving him laid up against the railings with nothing but sore hands and sand in his eyes for his valiant efforts. 

 

Of course one man's loss is another man's gain and the high flying Irwin happily accepted the lead ahead of Watson and Clarke.

 

With 20 minutes to go Irwin was riding the motocross section like he had only just started.

 

And as he consistently lapped quicker than Watson it was looking like a done deal.

 

With less than two laps to go, though, Irwin crashed, eating dirt in a big way, and with Watson only 30 seconds behind the Heads and All Threads man used up all of his Irish luck as the Suzuki fired into life within a couple of kicks. 

 

Riding with a suspected broken collar-bone for an entire lap, Irwin managed to keep his nose in front of Watson to take a hugely popular victory.

 

FOR FULL RESULTS AND PICTURES SEE TMX OCTOBER 18

 

Adult Solo Race – Sunday

23 Laps: 1 (55) Graeme Irwin (Suzuki), 2 (4) Nathan Watson (250 KTM).

22 Laps: 3 (36) Matt Moffat (350 KTM).

21 Laps: 4 (77) Todd Kellett (450 Kawasaki), 5 (7) Stephen Sword (450 Honda), 6 (3) Daryl Bolter (350 KTM), 7 (6) Ryan Staveley (300 KTM), 8 (63) Nick Life (300 Husaberg).

20 Laps: 9 (511) Steven Clarke (450 KTM), 10 (11) Robert Davidson (250 Kawasaki), 11 (354) Joe Jones (450 KTM), 12 (95) Dan Thornhill (Kawasaki), 13 (10) Jamie Roper (350 KTM), 14 (9) Frazer Norrie (300 KTM), 15 (13) Lee Edmondson (300 Gas Gas), 16 (44) Luke Mellows (450 Suzuki), 17 (450) Nigel Kibble (450 KTM), 18 (12) Steve Bixby (500 BSA).