ACTION-PACKED SPRINT WEEKEND
19th & 20th October, 2024
Last weekend saw a double-header of sprint action and on day one the sun shone down as the Jersey Motorcycle & Light Car Club ran their third sprint event of 2024 along the Five Mile Road on Saturday 19th October.
The competitors were treated to great conditions as the road surface dried seemingly just in time for the morning's practice runs. A smoothly run event, only pausing for the occasional bus, meant that racers had eight official timed runs to push their vehicles to the limits. Experienced and newcomers alike were part of a varied field of entrants comprising classic cars to modern day superbikes which also saw a handful of Guernsey competitors visiting to join in on the weekends action.
Image - Daniel Drakes
Matt Bewers, one of the club's regular marshals and timekeepers at JMC&LCC events, thoroughly enjoyed his first time as a competitor onboard his Suzuki GSR 600.
Three records were broken during the meeting, the first record of the day claimed by Alex Salmon in the Road Going Specialist Production 1401-2000cc class. In only his second run he lowered his previous record and would go on to further improve, ending the day on a time of 12.05 seconds.
Len Amy driving his Mallock Mk32 beat his own record from back in April 2011 with a new time of 10.85 seconds.
On two wheels, the 751-1000cc motorcycle record was beaten by Stephan Ward onboard his Kawasaki, his previous record earlier in the year improved by 0.03s resulting in a new time of 9.82 seconds in his final attempt of the day. Stephan’s time was also the overall fastest time of the day.
The following day saw the racing action move to Jardin de la Mer carpark in St Helier for the sole Twisty Sprint of the year, a far departure from the flowing bends of the Five Mile Road, a temporary course was set up early morning with cones and crash barriers to provide a tight and technical challenge for all entrants on two wheels.
With motorcycle dealership The Mansell Collection sponsoring the event, there were prizes and trophies up for grabs for top five overall fastest times of the day with vouchers of up to £250 for the winner.
Despite a very wet forecast, only a few short rain showers provided constantly changing levels of grip as large parts of the track dried throughout the day when given the chance. With some riders opting for wet weather tyres, others choosing slicks or even a combination of both, the top five positions were switching throughout the day as competitors got a feel for the conditions.
Early on it was Sam Touzel and Matthew Le Brun fighting for the top spot with Jamie Howarth not far behind in 3rd position. But as the tarmac gradually dried and the rain continued to hold off, the riders on dry weather tyres were picking up the pace and soon Greg Mansell and Jake Holland were joining the battle for top positions.
As the day progressed it began to seem like slick tyres would be the optimum choice but with only a few runs left of the event, a rain shower once again caused disruption to tyre strategies.
The event ended with the top five times spread over three different classes of motorcycle, Matt Le Brun claiming victory over Sam Touzel in 2nd place and Jake Holland in 3rd. Picking up 4th was Jamie Howarth and in 5th was Greg Mansell. Fastest Guernseyman was Steve Collins who placed 6th.
