SALMON LOWERS HIS RECORD
1st April, 2024
Easter Monday saw the Jersey Motorcycle & Light Car Club's return to Bouley Bay for 2024 with the first hill climb of the year. With a warm and sunny start to the day, the 70+ competitors were raring to put themselves to the test once again. A varied entry list as always saw a wide range of motorcycles and cars from road-going vehicles through to purpose built race machines.
One record was broken as spectators watched Alex Salmon in his Westfield SEi lower his own record from August 2023 by more than a tenth of a second to a time of 45.63. With the vehicle running on a different type of petrol he had this to say, "The fuel supplied by Rubis, is created by a company in the UK and is a 80% sustainable ethanol-free biofuel that meets the exact specification of the current super-unleaded you can find at the pumps. The fuel is created using bi-products of the agriculture industry that would otherwise go to waste. This leads to a 65% saving in greenhouse gas emissions. The plan is for this fuel to be tested throughout the beginning of the year in a few different vehicles with the hope that we can begin to transition the island's motorsports onto sustainable fuels, allowing us to continue racing long into the future."
Image - Shay Araujo
A welcome return, and making the trip from the UK, were a handful of Ferraris including Rob Samuels in a 458 Speciale and Pauline Goodwin driving her Ferrari 328. Elsewhere on 4 wheels the fastest time of the day was claimed by Michael Salmon with a time of 42.24 seconds in his OMS CF04 racing car.
The largest class of the day, the 351-500cc Motorcycle class saw 16 riders battling for the top spot. Dominated by 450cc supermotos due to their low weight and agility, perfect for the tight turns of Bouley Bay, it was Matthew Le Brun taking top honours with a time of 43.88 seconds, with Adam Vibert 2nd and Rory Hidrio in 3rd.
A short rain shower dried out quickly in the afternoon but a more substantial downpour towards the end of the day gave the crowd who stuck around some thrilling action as many of the cars dropped outright pace for entertainment, sliding and drifting in the wet conditions.
(words by Ryan Hidrio)
