Stuart took the right Lines
By TMX Archives on 16th Oct 08
THE 2008 Weston Beach Sidecar and Quad Race was again probably the toughest of the events at the 26th annual event. Racing for three-hours with the dunes still at their full height the Sidecars teams just look at this as a challenge as this is their annual battle to become the Sidecar champions of the beach.
The sun shone throughout which helped to make a brilliant day's racing. This year the result was controversial with only provisional results issued at the end of the event, but it was Stuart Lines and Geoff Wigglesworth who claimed the victory for the first time with John
Lyne and Steve Kirwin taking second ahead of Mark Kinge and Stuart Dance.
As the flag dropped hundreds of Sidecars and Quads blasted along the 1.5-mile straight to the first bend. Simon Bradford and Neil James were first to the first corner, but were also one of the first casualties with a damaged hose. The
duo had to return to the pits for emergency repairs.
Dow and Hutchman were the first to charge ahead over the first few smaller dunes heading for dune five, the first large dune. Dow held the lead for the first part of the race with Davies and Walton just a few dunes behind ahead of Lines and Wigglesworth with Scott Elderfield and Ian Pierce holding fourth.
On a charge behind were Mark Kinge and Stuart Dance, with last year's winners, Gareth Andrew and Wayne Davey, following them through the first lap.
Lines went on to quickly complete the first lap and was soon on lap two, before many of the other teams had even completed one lap. Davies held second with Dow also suffering problems on lap two, dropping back out of the top 20.
This left Kinge in fourth with Lyne and Kirwin closing from behind.
By the time the leaders were starting lap three, hundreds of bikes were still queuing to get over the larger dunes, with many riders already stuck fast.
The marshals did an excellent job of keeping people moving.
The riders used all their energy to push their outfits to the top of the dunes to get moving and avoid a gridlock situation.
As some dunes came to saturation point, the fence at the bottom was moved for safely reasons and the bikes gushed through to keep the racing going.
Andrew and Davey were picking up speed on every lap, keeping up a fast pace and moving towards the leaders, but they also went missing, only completing seven laps.
Behind, top motocross team John Lyne and Pete Girling kept the leading crews in their sights as did Kinge, all keeping their pit stops to a minimum.
Staying close to the leading teams was Davies, with David Williams and Graham McPhee close behind as were John Rutherford and Mike Hedges, the latter crew recovering well after a mid-field start, and just staying ahead of Graham Jones and Simon Brown.
Winners Lines and Wigglesworth managed to get in 14-laps despite breaking down on the final lap and needing to be towed back along the beach. However, this was one more lap than Lyne and Kirwin who were just a few minutes behind but did make it to the flag.
Kinge and Dance held third with 12-laps completed, despite also breaking down on the final lap. The next few positions were very close with four more teams also completing 12-laps. Williams and McPhee held on for a well deserved fourth position ahead of Jones and Brown.
And that's where this years fun' ended exhausting but well worth the effort for all those who were taking part.
Make way for the tractors to rebuild the track ready for day two..
Captured scorching across the beach Stuart Lines/ Geoff Wigglesworth grabbled glory in the Sidecar class.
WESTON BEACH RACES 2008
CROMWELL TRUCKS SIDECAR RACE
14-Laps: 1 Lines/ Wigglesworth (Yamaha).
13-Laps: 2 Lyne/ Kirwin (450 Yamaha VMC).
12-Laps: 3 Philpott/ Dance (500 EML), 4 Williams/ Mcphee (500 Kawasaki), 5 Jones/ Brown (525 KTM), 6 Davies/ Walton (500 Kawasaki Wasp), 7 Topp/ Geraghty (580 KTM).
11-Laps: 8 Rutherford/ Cooper (525 VMC), 9 Beresford/ Machin (650 Husaberg VMC), 10 Chandler/ Millett (525 KTM VMC).
10-Laps: 11 Marshall/ Evans (610 Husky BSU), 12 Hubbard/ Hubbard (610 Husqvarna EML), 13 Bradford/ James (KTM), 14 Nevill/ Nevill (450 Yamaha).
9-Laps: 15 Rutherford/ Hedges (612 KTM VMC), 16 Mann/ Burke (660 MTH/BSU), 17 White/ Scrivens (500 Honda), 18 Mallaber/ Jory (500 Kawasaki), 19 Elderfield/ Pierce (610 Husky EML).
8-Laps: 20 Hyde/ Parmenter (450 Yamaha VMC), 21 Strutt/ Lawry (500 Honda), 22 Hyde/ Meakin (450 Yamaha VMC), 23 Mulley/ Studd (500 Kawasaki EML), 24 Mildren/ Day (500 Kawasaki VMC), 25 Burrows/ Burrows (500 Honda EML).
7-Laps: 26 Andrew/ Davey (525 KTM), 27 Campbell/ Mcmullan (650 Husaberg VMC), 28 Field/ Watkins (500 Honda VMC), 29 Weir/ Ford (650 Husaberg), 30 Penfound/ Rogers (500 Honda).
6-Laps: 31 Barnes/ Harker (500 KTM/EML), 32 McIlroy/ Hewitt (640 KTM), 33 Spence/ Ross (650 Honda), 34 Radford/ Clark (525 KTM VMC), 35 Hughes/ Reeves (500 Kawasaki), 36 Gray/ Galley (640 KTM).
5-Laps: 37 Turnock/ Beresford (500 Kawasaki), 38 Jones/ Davies (500 Kawasaki), 39 Walford/ Franks (499 Kawasaki).
4-Laps: 40 Bourne/ Bourne (500 Maico), 41 Ross/ Barrett (500 Honda VMC).
3-Laps: 42 Alexander/ Smith (500 Honda EML), 43 Withers/ Saunders (540 KTM), 44 Welbourn/ Burgess (650 Honda Wasp).
2-Laps: 45 Parry/ Pearce (500 Honda EML), 46 Dow/ Hutchman (541 KLTVPS), 47 Collier/ Collier (500 Honda), 48 Mead/ Samson (610 Husky), 49 Rowell/ Pomfret (500 Honda VMC).
1-Lap: 50 Glackin/ Bourne (610 EML), 51 Truman/ Hicks (640 KTM).