Cohu looking to enjoy home sand advantage

SIMON COHU gets to celebrate his 24th birthday on Saturday doing what he likes best, racing bikes. Cohu will be one of nine local sliders tackling 14 top riders from the UK and Australia in the Guernsey Motorcycle & Car Club's speedway meeting for the Condor Ferries Sand Race Championship Trophy and prize money approaching four figures.

Cohu, son of GMC & CC stalwart Bill who also races on Saturday, has been riding competitively since his primary school days.

He's been racing sliders for three years on the UK grasstrack scene and is looking forward to tackling some quality riders on his home beach and on a surface and longer track which offer higher speeds.

'It's totally different,' said Cohu junior.

'It's a bit easier on the beach: it's got more grip and is a lot faster.'

Cohu is confident of doing well.

'I've ridden against most of them, but a few of them will be quicker, people like Mitch Godden, Daniel Winterton and Dean Garrod.'

Anthony Bougourd, one of three Guernseymen to have won a national round of the British Sand Racing Championship, the others being John Whalley and Mike Clark, is also looking forward to mixing it with quality riders in an event which he, more than anyone, has pushed hard to get off the ground.

'I'd like to establish it as an annual event and I hope it's the start of better things to come,' said Bougourd, who is also keen to see from close quarters the racing skills of a top Aussie.

'Rodney Macdonald is supposed to be quick and has only been in the UK a couple of weeks,' said Bougourd, hopeful of making the main final and challenging for the prize money.

'Everybody gets five rides in three heats of eight.

'The top eight go into the A final and the next-best eight into the B final.

'There's a total of £815 for the A final including £250 for the winner,' said the local hope.

Veteran Bill has long been a fan of grass-tracking and the thrills of racing on powerful bikes with no brakes.

His son's semi-automatic two-speed Jawa 500 slider is built for long-track racing or, as Bill refers to it, 'big speedway in plain language'.

'On the beach it will go up to 80mph. On long track, though, they can run at well over 100.

'Once in top speed, the only way of slowing is to close the throttle.

'If something gets in your way and you need to stop, the idea is to lay it down.'

Cohu senior enthuses about the

amazing acceleration.

'The nought to 60 is basically instant.'

The elder statesman of local sand racing says competing at Vazon is much closer to long-track racing on the Continent where circuits are generally set at 1,000m.

Vazon will be approximately 800m in length, while a big grass track is only half that length.

Saturday's meeting will be done and dusted in just three hours, starting at 11am.

'It makes it very tight for time,' said Bougourd.

Then it's a big clean up.

While the rising tide naturally repairs the beach, the sliders will need a thorough clean to prevent them going rusty.

Bougourd, who is very grateful to main sponsor Condor Ferries, has put together a whole team of cleaners who will use pressure washers to remove every last bit of sand.

'If Condor hadn't done a deal for us, the meeting wouldn't have happened.'