Besides Todd Kellett’s record sixth solo win at the 40th Anniversary Weston Beach Race, there was another slice of history in Saturday’s Quad & Sidecar race. Steve Atkins took the chequered flag as the first Quad across the line, on a 4-Wheel-Drive Can-Am monster. It was a crazy day on the beach for the biggest monsters of them all, one that as the race commentator I will quite simply never forget!
Words: Ben Rumbold. Podium Images: RHL Activities/Steve Milner MX
The big boys fired down the start straight in the sort of spectacle that only Weston can deliver. Then, from the commentary tower, there was silence! We couldn’t see a soul from our end of the beach and we had to wait a colossal fifteen minutes to see the first quad hove into view! Fifteen minutes of wondering what absolute chaos must be going on as the biggest machines of the weekend hit the soft virginal sand at the far end. Our roving reporter Paul Winrow broke in occasionally with the patchy signal and told of a single tramline running the length of the third row of ditch-and-mini-dunes as the circuit meandered its way down the beach. 4×4 legend Steve Atkins told us later that “everyone seemed to wait for me to clear a path!” as the veteran of over a dozen Westons slung his mighty Can-Am into the job at hand. Some trackside helpers got into the dunes and kicked the sand down to try and make another line as no-one was going to risk taking them on. In one of the driest Westons for years, they weren’t going to wash away and needed that extra path, especially on the first lap.
Atkins emerged out in front, with a massive gap of over two and a half minutes! Race-quads Jack Naylor and Zak Orchard, racing for Young Lives Vs Cancer, gave chase early on. Stuart Marley was well up on his farm-quad, but it was the Keith Morgan Mowers Honda of Jamie Morgan, winner in 2019 & ’21, who had blistering pace and set after Atkins. Clocking over a minute faster on lap three as Steve hit trouble, Jamie finally led by lap 8, over an hour in, but lost out with a pit stop and started to look a bit steamy! She finally cried enough on the 12th lap and Morgan’s race was over.
Reigning sidecar champions, David Williams & William Green, emerged from the first lap melee in a creditable 19th place overall, and simply never had a sidecar in front of them on the way to a clear win – you can never say easy! They were just about to get lapped by the overall leader as they crossed the line, but saw the chequered flag too late and did an extra lap! 8th overall in the race is pretty awesome for a sidecar, and they won by two laps from Dan Lawry & Sam Wilkinson, with Gavin Zembrzuski & Adam Lewis a solid 3rd.
The 2-Man Quad class was won by Lloyd Gove & Jack Hunter, finishing a good 9th overall, with 2nd-placed Graham Guy & Simon David just over a minute behind them, then Kevin Jones & Craig McCormick brought their Can-Am home in 3rd.
The demise of Morgan left the inevitable to happen, that had never been done before – a 4×4 Quad took the chequered flag as the outright winner, with Atkins 8 and a half minutes ahead of Lathan Pritchard in 2nd, also on a 4×4. Lathan rode steadily forward from 9th at the end of the first lap. Third in the class and 5th across the line was Adam Twine.
The Quad Solo class winner, as in the first sports-quad home, was Oliver Sansom, just over a lap down on Atkins. He stated on the podium that “the farm quads had such an advantage at the start, it’s so unlike the normal Motocross we do.” Dwayne Barnes and Jonny McKnight took 2nd & 3rd in class, but the final say has to go to Atkins, who was imperious in coming home first. “I’ve been trying for years to win this, and to do it on a 4-Wheel-Drive is brilliant. I made the way at the start and wondered when they would catch me. Only one did and he broke down!”
Results
Adult Quad and Sidecar - Race Result
Results by Class
Adult Quad and Sidecar - Race Result by class
