As Matt Bougourd took Bank Holiday Monday’s outright honours in 27.72sec. for a near-miss with his personal best from earlier this month, edging Nick Saunders by 0.13sec., the in-form Le Messurier twin went third-quickest overall in another new class record.
He backed up his breaking the 29sec. barrier last time out with a PB of 28.86, which also lowered the Guernsey Motorcycle and Car Club’s record in the Sports Libre up to 1,600 class.
This came on the fifth of six timed runs and he needed it, or brother Paul’s 29.06 in their shared-drive Lemtech would have left them in a dead heat. Both were under Tim Torode’s existing mark of 29.27.
‘I’ve been trying to get below 29 and it’s been a goal for a few seasons,’ Ian said.
‘It has been good to finally do that.’
Unsurprisingly, both he and his brother want to beat each other, but he added: ‘We are more into making the car go quick, whoever is in it.’
Ian has partly credited work on the car and new tyres for getting into the 28sec. range, but he is not giving the technology all the credit.
‘After years of changing the set-up of the car to try and make it handle better, we finally did get it sorted.
‘Split times from the last couple of seasons had shown that it was possible to do a 28sec. run and with a new set of tyres to give the car a bit more grip, I finally managed to achieve my goal.
‘But with competition in the class being so close, it could have been any one of us to have broken through the 29sec. barrier.’
Competitors had been greeted by welcoming, sunny conditions, albeit preceded by rainfall and without the same scorching heat as the particularly successful July ‘National’ and early August hill climbs.
In the duel for fastest time of the day, Saunders had come from behind to lead and raise the bar to 27.85, but Bougourd managed a 27.72 and then 27.84 after his rival had stopped competing.
Declan Brehaut went fifth-quickest with 29.18, with no other driver cracking the 30sec. barrier.
In that sense, Jackie Le Cheminant was unable to recapture the magic that had her breaking 30sec. for the first time just the previous month, but she came tantalisingly close with a 30.06 and dominated the women’s leaderboard in record-holder Emma Rayson’s absence.
Jersey’s Darryl Morris came out with his own record towards the end of the day, dropping a 33.67 in his Skodia Fabia R5 to smash Andy Carre’s mark from May in the Sports Libre Saloons Rally 4WD unlimited.
Although no record fell in the class, the Modified Limited Production Cars 1,401 to 2,000s retained its status as one of the groups to watch as Adam and Jamie Le Page – who are not closely related – both continued their push for a sub-34sec. run.
Adam got the upper hand with a PB of 34.01 in a flying finale, beating out Jamie by 0.42sec., with the latter’s dad Gary taking third in class on 35.44.
The outcome is that Adam has sealed the GMCCC’s fastest time trophy for the season and Jamie the GK&MC equivalent with his 34.04 from earlier this month.
The other record took place on two wheels, with young Luke Saunders managing a 34.76 to slice 0.09sec. off Owen Poynder’s Motorcycles 251 up to 350 mark from five years ago.
The overall motorcycles charge had been led by veteran Colin de Jersey, who narrowly held off emerging threat Jamie Bacon.
De Jersey produced three sub-34sec. times, peaking not far outside his PB with a 33.69 on the fourth run, as Bacon settled for second at 33.87.
Fellow youngster Casey Mackrell took third with 34.36, going 0.01sec. quicker than de Jersey’s smaller bike in the 126 to 250 class, and Reece Hicks was also in the mix with his 34.49.
Although several accidents were recorded, none resulted in serious injury.
