Arnie teminates 'em
By TMX Archives on 14th Mar 14
Sand-racing master Arnaud Degousee again gave his fellow competitors and the spectators a lesson in how to win a beach race,The Frenchman won all six of his races over the weekend at QRAs Margate Beachcross event and even lapped the entire field of riders in one of the 20-minute plus two lap races.
While the Pro Solo class was all about Degousee, the Pro Quads was an epic battle for supremacy between Carl Bunce and Paul Holmes, which ended with Bunce taking a seven-point advantage in the standings after the six races over the two rounds.
The weather at the weekend was so mild that spectators spent both days in t-shirts and it brought out a massive crowd estimated at between 16,000 and 18,000 over the two days.
The event included the first two rounds of the QRA British Beachcross Championship, with all solo, quad and youth riders getting three races each in the deep, unforgiving, power-sapping sand.
Degousee got the holeshot in Saturday's first solo race and went on to notch up his first race of this year's series, with countryman Cedric Tosatto climbing through from an initial sixth to finish second.
The fast-starting Florent Becker was third after spending most of the race in second, with young Mitchell Lewis upholding British honour in fourth – the final rider on the lead lap.
It looked like Degousee had spoilt his winning record in race two. Leading on lap three, he stalled his Yamaha and while he kicked it back into life dropped back to sixth.
This left Tosatto in the lead ahead of Lewis and Becker – but not for long. It took Degousee just three laps to move through into second and three laps later he was in the lead and heading for his second victory of the day.
Tosatto held second, ahead of Lewis, Jamie Wilson and Becker.
There was no mistake by Degousee in the third and final race on Saturday as he led from start to finish, with Arthur Ringot moving through from fourth to second.
Lewis was again top Brit in third while Becker, who was second into the first turn, dropped down to fourth ahead of Wilson.
Holmes led the first Quad race into turn one from Oli Sansom and Bunce, while last year's champion Jamie Clarke held seventh.
Bunce was up to second by lap two and closing down Holmes as Clarke moved to third by halfway and a lap later Bunce managed to find a way past Holmes for the win.
Mark McLernon got the holeshot at the start of race two but by the end of the third lap Holmes and Bunce where again battling for the lead at a very fast pace on the rough course.
With four laps to go Bunce managed to find a way past Holmes for the lead and the win as the pair crossed the finish line separated by less than two seconds, with McLernon a distant third from Clark.
Holmes got his second holeshot of the day in an action packed third and final race of the day, from Bunce, McLernon and Clarke.
On lap two Bunce made a mistake and dropped back to fourth behind Clarke and two laps later Holmes did the same, letting McLernon through for his only win of the weekend.
Holmes hung on to second, while Bunce recovered to third, relegating Clarke to fourth.
Adam Moore bagged two wins and a second to top the Youth Solo class from race-two winner Charlie Newton, while in the Youth Quads Max Remy's run of wins came to a close when he crashed out of the lead in the last race.
Remy finished third but still managed to take the overall from brothers Jamie and Axel Bone.
Degousee continued where he left off in Sunday's round two, grabbing the holeshot and then going so fast he lapped the field and even doubled the finish-line jumps.
Becker and Wilson spent most of the race fighting over second before Lewis roared back from fifth at the start and passed them both for second.
Degousee was way out in front again in the second race, with Becker and Wilson battling over second before Lewis again passed them both by the halfway point and finished the race as the only rider not to be lapped by the leader.
Becker held on to third from Wilson with Tosatto recovering from a fall to fight his way back to fifth at the flag.
Degousee made it six wins from six starts in the last Pro Solo race of the weekend, with Lewis a distant second and Becker and Wilson filling the next two places.
Degousee leads the championship on maximum points from Lewis, Becker, Tosatto and Wilson.
Saturday's rivalry between Bunce and Holmes had an added dimension in Sunday' second round, as Stef Murphy turned up on his Yamaha to mix it up a bit.
Bunce, though, got the holeshot in race one and powered away for the win, leaving the rest to fight over the other places.
Murphy found a way past Holmes on lap two with Sheldon Seal doing the same a lap later, after passing Clarke.
Seal and Murphy swapped places a couple of times before Murphy made second-place his own, with Seal ending the race a distant third ahead of Holmes fourth.
Bunce, Murphy and Holmes were really going for it in the second race, with Murphy taking the lead on lap three.
Holmes and Bunce were going at it wheel-to-wheel but with two laps to go Murphy stalled and beached his Yamaha as Bunce took his chance and charged through for the win.
Holmes held on to cross the line in second, while Murphy managed to get going again to claim third.
Seal holeshot the third and final race of the weekend, trailed by Murphy, Clarke and Holmes, with Bunce back in fifth.
Murphy took the lead at the halfway stage as Bunce and Holmes – who seemed to have spent all weekend in each other's company – fighting it out over third behind Seal.
With four laps to go Holmes seemed to find some more pace and rocketed to the front, passing Murphy on the last lap to snatch the win, with Seal, Bunce and Clarke trailing the leading pair home.
Bunce ended the day leading Holmes by seven points in the championship after the first two rounds, with Clarke and Anthony Barrett close on their heels.
Newton once again headed the Youth Solo class runners with two wins and a runner-up spot from Moore, while in the Youth Quad class Remy won all three races from Jamie Bone.
