October 17th, 2017.


While most quad racers were at Weston last weekend, Brits Sheldon Seal and Harry Miller ploughed their own furrows at the opening round of the prestigious six-round France Sand Championship, with mixed fortunes.

Former Weston winner Sheldon Seal ended the event at Berck-sur-Mer in 13th overall after his luck ebbed away over the course of the weekend. In the opening 25 minute heat on Saturday he was a strong sixth, but on Sunday a crash in race two after the rear shock failed, dropped him to 12th, then he slipped to 31st in the final race after he got stuck with another quad and had to come through from the back.

Harry Miller, who rides alongside Seal under the Team SJS banner, ended proceedings a solid 28th overall of the 125 starters after posting a consistent 23rd-33rd-28th set of results.

Victory, with a clean sweep of the three motos, went to Jeremie Warnia, ahead of two fellow Frenchmen, Florian Mangeot, and reigning series champion, Jeremy Forestier. They were followed by a quartet of Belgians - Olivier Vandendijck, Auke Theuninck, Jan Vlaeymans and Davino Bruneel.

The second round of the championship will be held at Loon-Plage near Dunkirk on the 28th of October when the series will return to a two-hour endurance format, rather than the three heats format used at Berck.

Pictured: Belgium's Tuur van Hoof, who was 14th overall, leads a busy mid-field pack. Photo: Johan Ben Azzouz