December 13th, 2017.


Britain's Harry Miller produced his best-ever ride in the highly competitive French Sand Championship at Hossegor last weekend when he finished an impressive 13th from 176 starters.

Despite being given the 123rd gate pick, Miller put in a storming first lap to get in touch with the leading group, from where he rode a sensible, solid race picking up places consistently to eventually finish just one lap down on the winner, and series leader, Jeremy Forestier, from France.

With just four laps of the two-hour race to go, it was Sheldon Seal, Miller's Team SJS Yamaha teammate, who looked set to take the victory, as he led by a comfortable margin.

"Everything felt easy and was going perfectly then the fan broke, the quad overheated and eventually the motor seized on the straight," explained Sheldon.

Forestier eventually won by 1m 15s from Dutchman, Mike van Grinsven, with French star Antoine Cheurlin in third place. Forestier now leads the series by 52 points from van Grinsven, with France's Benoit Beroudiaux sneaking into third after a string of consistent results.

The series now breaks until after Christmas, with the penultimate round on the 6th of January at Grayan-et-L'Hopital on the south-west coast, before the traditional series-ending classic at Le Touquet on the 27th of January.


Caption: Sheldon Seal leads at Hossegor before disaster struck.