Stefan dune good
By TMX Archives on 17th Oct 08
AS warm as Saturday's racing had been, Sunday dawned with the promise of even warmer sunshine to bathe the 1,000-plus riders taking part in the 26th Weston Beach race. Warm weather means one thing at Weston, a great race and huge crowd which must have been over 40,000 that were treated to a great race!Taking the opportunity to bang bars with the stars, Honda-mounted Stephan Bunnell went up the start straight side-by-side with David Knight to lead the masses sending sea spray high into the blue sky.
Ian Proudfoot hit the first of the five whoop sections that lead up to Dune One just a second behind Knight to claim his 15-seconds of fame as normal service was then resumed as the first of the mere mortals fell foul of the small whoops while the elite glided over then.
Knight took Dune One with ease with Marc De Reuver, Jamie Lewis, Everts and Josh Coppins just behind.
The soft sand soon opened up to swallow the front wheels as riders began to dig deep and although a good number of riders cleared the opener, there were loads in the traditional position of being stuck on Dune One.
As has been the norm under Gareth Hockey's leadership, the marshals were not slow in opening the side gates to get the riders flowing, though some such as 886' Chris Wainwright took matters into their own hands and made their own course up to bypass the traffic!
Lap two and it was Everts and Coppins side-by-side down the straight as the lead changed for the first of many times through one of the most star-studded and exciting races at Weston in recent years.
Knight was not far behind with Shaun Simpson just ahead of Jamie Lewis, De Reuver and Ashley Greedy.
A couple of laps later and it was much the same with Everts now around 20-odd seconds clear.
His lead was quickly diminished though when Everts found a group of back-markers which slowed his progress, allowing Knight and Coppins to close to within five-seconds.
The front three pulled away from Welsh riders Greedy and Lewis who had taken fourth and fifth spots and so began the early exchanges of the leads.
Race commentary reported with an hour gone, Knight was back in front and Everts had dropped to third behind Coppins as the all-important fuel stop came into play.
Three became two as Knight dropped out then two became one as Coppins went missing, leaving Everts ripping up the dunes on his own.
Knight came back out in front as Everts stopped to refuel, with Lewis now in second spot and Shaun Simpson just behind.
With his F1-pace pit stop over, Everts got back on the gas and was quickly up behind Knight again.
With two hours gone, Everts was back in the lead ahead of Knight, when the third member of the fast pack, Coppins, found his bike had succumbed to Weston see, it happens to the best!
Coppins coasted over the final dune and went out past the finish line, leaving Everts to put enough distance between himself and Knight who was picking every clean line available in an attempt to close the gap.
It happens to the best at Weston and can even happen to the very best.
As the race time began to run down, for the second time in two days a machine problem affected his performance in Saturday's Quad race Knight suffered a mechanical which robbed him of the chance of victory.
Willie Simpson took a Weston win on his first attempt, which just happened to be the first Weston Beach Race and now his son, Shaun Simpson, stepped up the pace late on to blast his way into second spot some 90-seconds ahead of Welshmen Jamie Lewis and Ashley Greedy.
Lewis had ridden a storming race and proved a point that given the opportunity and the machine he can compete with the very best.
Greedy despite finishing a lap down on the lead trio, meanwhile, continues to pick up pace as he builds himself up and no doubt there is a Weston win on the cards in the coming years before he then descends to plod around the beach like another Greedy rider spotted by T+MX no 133!
By his own admission Everts was tired at the race end, admitting: My arms are aching so much, not riding as regularly now I don't quite have the strength I had."
The win was Everts second but as he himself pointed out, in head-to-head battles with triple Weston Solo winner, Knight, at Weston it's now one apiece and you could not help but feel that if the decider' is staged on October 25th 2009, its going to be all or nothing!
David Knight gets the holeshot but was later robbed with mechanical problems and finished 13th on 15 laps.
WESTON BEACH RACES 2008
DOODSONS MOTORSPORT ADULT SOLO RACE
18-Laps: 1 Stefan Everts (450 KTM), 2 Shaun Simpson (250 KTM), 3 Jamie Lewis (450 Honda).
17-Laps: 4 Ashley Greedy (250 Suzuki), 5 Tom Church (450 Kawasaki), 6 Paul Edmondson (450 Suzuki), 7 Marc Dereuver (450 Honda), 8 Tyla Rattray (450 KTM).
16-Laps: 9 Greg Evans (???), 10 Rick Du-Feu (250 Kawasaki), 11 James Lassu (450 Honda), 12 Luke Meredith (250 Gas Gas).
15-Laps: 13 David Knight (450 KTM), 14 Nick Life (250 Suzuki), 15 Luke Mellows (450 KTM), 16 Scott Elderfield (250 Honda), 17 Chris Walker (250 Honda), 18 Ben Saunders (250 Kawasaki), 19 Lloyd Morgan (125 KTM), 20 Tim Truman (250 Suzuki), 21 Jason Fraser (450 Husqvarna), 22 Nick Ames (450 Honda), 23 Michael Deeley (250 Honda), 24 Tim Foreman (250 Kawasaki), 25 Stuart Houlston (250 Honda), 26 Darren Scott (250 Suzuki), 27 Matt Porter (250 Honda), 28 Gary Hoptrough (250 KTM), 29 Joe Dark (250 Suzuki), 30 Rob Meek (450 Honda).
14-Laps: 31 Ty Kellett (250 Kawasaki), 32 Ryan Griffiths (450 Honda), 33 Dominic Blood (450 Honda), 34 Jamie Paget (250 TM), 35 Harry Saywell (250 Yamaha), 36 Adam Smith (25 Husky), 37 Nigel Kibble (250 Honda), 38 Keith Staines (250 Yamaha), 39 Barrie Marshall (450 Honda), 40 Clinton Thomas (250 Kawasaki), 41 James Dodd (250 Honda), 42 Harry Hillas (250 KTM), 43 Matt Burrows (250 Honda), 44 Derek Bawn (250 KTM), 45 Thomas Neesam (250 Kawasaki), 46 Rich Warner (250 KTM), 47 Gavin Houson (125 Husqvarna), 48 Chris Hart (125 KTM), 49 Phillip Studley (250 Yamaha), 50 Ryan Bawn (250 Honda), 51 Ben Pyne (450 KTM), 52 Martin Truman (250 Suzuki), 53 Rolf Booi (450 Suzuki), 54 Scott Hayworth (250 Yamaha), 55 Darren Caws (250 KTM), 56 Guy Chandler (250 KTM), 57 Alex Owen (250 Yamaha), 58 Eddie Sloane (450 KTM), 59 Mark Houson (250 Yamaha), 60 Stuart Rawlings (250 Honda).
13-Laps: 61 Brad Anderson (450 Suzuki), 62 Josh Coppins (450 Yamaha), 63 Richard Collins (250 Honda), 64 Matthew White (250 KTM), 65 Adrian Bradley (250 Suzuki), 66 Ross Blackmore (250 Honda), 67 Chay Granby (300 Gas Gas), 68 James Earney (250 KTM), 69 Roy Wells (450 Honda), 70 Dale Halls (250 Yamaha), 71 Jack Twentyman (250 Honda), 72 Rob Lewis (250 Suzuki), 73 Brendan Fairclough (???), 74 Marc Bates (450 Honda), 75 David Dunn (450 Yamaha), 76 Edward Jones (300 KTM), 77 Paul Hubbard (250 Yamaha), 78 Andrew Greenney (450 Honda), 79 John May (250 Suzuki), 80 Gary Holland (250 Honda), 81 Gary Baker (250 Yamaha), 82 Jack Barnwell (250 Suzuki), 83 Gary Wright (250 Yamaha), 84 Tom Smith (250 Suzuki), 85 Josh Williams (250 ???), 86 Ryan Dick (450 Honda), 87 Lewis Tombs (250 Yamaha), 88 David Frankland (250 Honda), 89 Shaun Kersey (125 KTM), 90 Bradley King (250 Gas Gas), 91 Jamie Faulkner (450 Honda), 92 Ben Swambo (250 Honda), 93 Darren Pyne (300 KTM), 94 Oliver Brunskill (450 Yamaha), 95 Joe Duncan (250 KTM), 96 Adam Smith (250 Yamaha), 97 Sean Tranter (250 Yamaha), 98 Grant Churchward (450 Honda), 99 Joshua Armitage (250 Yamaha), 100 Chris Peppin (450 Honda), 101 Richard Main (250 Yamaha), 102 Chris Nunn (250 Honda), 103 James Holt (450 KTM), 104 Chris Tett (450 Honda), 105 Gary Stevens (450 Suzuki), 106 Mark Rudd (450 Honda), 107 Matt Daines (250 Honda), 108 Michael Hand (250 Yamaha), 109 Steve Hind (450 Honda), 110 Lee Hattersley (450 KTM), 111 Shaun Martin (300 Gas Gas), 112 Richard Benham (250 Yamaha), 113 Danny Shiers (300 KTM), 114 Paul Hubbard (250 Honda), 115 Derek Read (250 Honda), 116 Darren Hughes (450 Yamaha), 117 Dave Roper (250 KTM), 118 Alex Butler (250 Kawasaki), 119 David Williams (450 Honda), 120 Jack Berry (250 Honda), 121 Jack Teale (250 KTM), 122 Darren Kiff (300 KTM), 123 Ryan Bruce (250 Yamaha), 124 Gary Benniman (450 Beta), 125 Matthew Hodges (450 Yamaha), 126 Mark Denslow (250 Yamaha), 127 Neil Thomas (300 KTM), 128 Tom Healey (125 KTM), 129 Simon Stebbings (250 Suzuki).