Thursday February 13, 2014 at 10:07am
Reigning ACU British X-Country champion Carl Bunce is celebrating being the highest placed British finisher at the prestigious Le Touquet Beach Race for the second year in a row.
The Rocketman Suzuki rider, who ended last year as winner of the Weston Beach Race, began this season with a battling seventh place out of 361 classified finishers. After three hours Bunce had completed 16 laps of the eight-mile course – describe as one of the roughest in the quad race’s 18-year history – and was just one lap down on the winner and former European champion, Romain Couprie of France.
Bunce, who was fifth last year, was part of a four-man Rocketman Suzuki team at the French classic, which also included Ant and Sam Barrett and Laurence Stopps.
For Ant Barrett it was his first major outing since suffering serious hand, wrist and back injuries in a crash at Foxhills last May and at one stage he was on course for a career best finish.
However, overheating problems towards the end of the race, while in the top 25, forced him to wait by the flag for the last two laps so he could limp over the line and guarantee a finish. He did 13 laps and finished 103rd.
Stopps and Sam Barrett also finished and were just two minutes apart in 135th and 139th respectively, also on 13 laps.
The team’s focus now turns to the ACU British Quadcross Championship, which begins at Pontrilas in Herefordshire on April 20, and the NORA championship, which begins at Stratford on March 30.
Bunce was second overall in the British championship last year, including victory in the final round at Canada Heights in October.