Weston Motor Club enjoyed another successful Sandocross held on Weston beach.

WESTON Motor Club enjoyed another successful Sandocross on the 41st year of this unique event.

Fifty-one competitors took part in this exciting form of motor sport held on Weston sands and nobody left disappointed despite a few breakdowns. The skill required for driving on sand is different from any other sort of surface due to the unpredictable nature of the sand.

After one practice run of three laps round a 1200 metre circuit, followed by three runs of four laps, the two fastest driver/car combinations were only 0.47 seconds apart with the outright award going to Roger Brunt in his unique two litre, 4wd Vauxhall Corsa from Colin Anderson in his 2.5 litre Xtreme C10 Special. Both cars were designed and built for this form of motor sport.

Richard Davies who recently upset quite a few competitors with his amazing drive in an Escort 1600 rally car on the Rally Sprint held on Weston airfield at Easter, turned out in a standard road-going Nissan Almera and won class A2 easily.

Local Weston MC member Tony Miller, took third in this class. Then Gareth Wilcox, also from Haverfordwest, achieved a similar performance in Class A1 for standard production cars in a 1.6 litre Honda Civic.

Both Richard and Gareth are members of Weston MC, but the more local members were not disgraced with a stirring drive by Chris Butler in his modified Austin Maestro to win Class D and in Class A2. The Knott brothers, Andy and Richard shared a 2.5 litre Mondeo, Duncan Holder, more often seen in his orange Metro 6R4, had a two litre Mondeo and to complete the Mondeo battle, Dave Harris joined in with his 1.8 litre version.

Not to be outdone, local hairdresser Glenn Alexander and Andrew Booker shared a 1.8 litre Golf and Rob Lovell and Jon Pembro shared a BMW 325i.

The event finished at just after 3pm after what was probably one of the windiest Sandocross events that can be remembered. Special mention should go to the hardworking marshals who stayed out on the course for six hours.

Without these marshals, events such as Sandocross could not happen, they are the unsung heroes of motor sport.

The club’s next event is the running of the Kewstoke Toll Road special stage on the morning of June 18. This stage is part of the National Tour Britannia Rally and the club have been asked to organise the stage and the toll road is to be closed by kind permission of North Somerset Council for seven hours.

The cars featured will be classics from the 60s, 70s and 80s, including some Ferraris, E-type Jaguars and AC Cobras.

More information can be found on www.tourbritannia.com