On the start line for the 10-lap motorcycles race featuring No. 2 Bill Green. 0603260

THE organising club outlives the format by about six years, but sand racing at Vazon dates back very nearly 90 years.

An old taped interview with veteran campaigner and former States deputy Bill Green, paints a picture of the sport in its early days on the sands when thousands would flock to the beach to see the action.

It was probably 1921 when the first meetings were held but a decade or so later it had grounded to a halt like a misfiring engine. Before he died Green, one of the greats on two wheels, recalled the early races.

‘There was Kenny Bell and Harold Le Parmentier, I remember that well, Tim Thoumine, and that’s probably it as far as the actual riders, at that time.’

He also recalled stories of an earlier racer, Freddie Priaulx. Green was the youngest competitor when he skipped lessons at the Intermediate one Thursday afternoon in 1922 to go racing.