Poynder hits remarkable 140mph in wind and rain

WET conditions were unable to put the brakes on Saturday’s Vazon Sprint as competitors hit speeds of 140mph. The sprint was dominated by the motorbikes with the highlight of the day being a fantastic ride from Anthony Poynder, who recorded a 10.39sec., the fastest time of the day.

He managed to tame the 250 HP bike and beat his closest competition by half a second.

Afterwards, he said that the conditions had affected the way he had to ride.

‘It’s slippery out on the road. I can ride this bike only to about 50% of its full potential, mainly because it has about double the power of other bikes in this category. It’s my first sprint on this bike but I’ve been competing since 2004,’ said Poynder.

The Turx Custom Workshop sponsored rider managed to achieve speeds of 140 mph on the Hayabusa that is owned by Ian Brown, who finished in fourth position with a time of 11.65.

The second-fastest came from Paul Price who said the weather had not affected the race as much as people would think.

‘It’s greasy out there but you just have to ride to the conditions. It’s very frustrating because some people have come to try new things but the rain has not allowed it,’ said the experienced rider.

Another biker, Louis Norman, was able to win his category with ease. The record holder recorded a fastest time of 11.43, which was enough to beat his competition by over two seconds. It also preserved his record of never losing at this event, but the weather meant he was still a second behind his 2005 record.

Although the speeds of the motorbikes were putting the car times in the shade, Tim Torode was able to step into the limelight with an 11.78.

For Torode it was a first time out in his new Mallock car, after 10 years in a saloon.

‘I’m chuffed to bits with first place. I would be pretty annoyed if I crashed in my new car but there have been no accidents today despite the wet conditions,’ said Torode.

The next big event this season will be the National Hill climb on 21 July.

Article posted on 2nd July, 2007 - 12.00am