Jonathan Pearson
JP joins 700 riders at Britain’s biggest beach race for another tough test of KTM’S 250 fuel injected two-stroke…
This month: The Weston Beach Race is one of UK motorcycling’s toughest events. JP didn’t just survive the ordeal, and the ridiculous 700-bike start, he finished a fantastic 11th in the over-40s class on his KTM 250 TPI.
IHAVE A NEW ENTRY straight into my top five maddest moments on a bike and it’s the 2017 Weston Beach Race. Alongside the Romaniacs, French hillclimbs and R6 Cup racing, Weston is as life affirming as it gets. The annual beach race happens in October and attracts 70,000 spectators and almost 1000 riders over two days of racing. The KTM 250 EXC TPI and I are among the 700 riders tackling the Sunday solo race. Yes, 700. In one race. Imagine 700 of anything doing anything. Then imagine 700 dirt bikes all trying to race each other, in sand… The start of a Weston beach race is a charge of barging and snaking bikes all fighting for balance, boots and handlebars interlocked and roost flying. We are all heading towards the same 180° degree turn over the first of a thousand dunes. And it’s mayhem… Seconds later I’m throttle pinned down the mile-long straight dodging bikes, peering in genuine blind faith through salty, sandy spray and hoping the engine is warm. I geared the 250 TPI up a tooth at the front sprocket (14T) and though not the fastest (some are busting 100mph), I’m threading through people at motorway speeds sitting right back on the rear fender, arms stretched to the bars. It helps keep the front skimming the surface and the back wheel in charge, but doesn’t stop the weaving. For three hours this madness continues: start straight blast followed by threading my way back through loopy dunes, endless ruts and face-fulls of sand. The madness stops twice when I pit for fresh goggles, a protein bar and about seven litres of fuel each time – the thrifty TPI motor is sipping fuel, unlike most of the other bikes around me. The salty water and the footrest-deep ruts, plus the roost from other bikes, is why bike preparation is so important in beach racing. I’m new to it but instinctively spend a week leading up to the race coating everything in PTFE oil and grease. Other than a new plug, sand guards over the radiators and air filter (mesh covers on the rads and filter act as first defence) I do little else. Steel tooth sprockets and a heavy duty chain are vital though as those sometimes bottomless ruts and sand act like grinding paste turned up to 11. The standard ally sprocket simply
can’t hack it. The TPI takes it all in its stride. Boiling radiator fluid pops out the thermostat a couple of times towards the end, but mechanically the TPI 250 soaked up this test like it has every test I’ve selfishly asked of it. I continue to be genuinely impressed. At a rough guess, I reckon I overtook around 600 riders to get inside the top 100 (95th and 11th over-40s). Not that I had a clue at the time. You don’t. But then that’s the whole point of the Weston Beach Race.