Weston Beach Race: off-road motorcycling’s annual sandstorm

Absolute chaos. I’ve never seen anything like it.” That’s ace photographer Jayson Fong’s verdict after we sent him west for a special commission: to capture the madcap Weston Beach Race.

First run in 1983, the event in Weston-super-Mare is an annual highlight of the UK’s motorcycle off-road calendar and attracts hundreds of riders of all ages and experience, plus thousands of spectators. The races are held on a six-mile circuit made up of a flat-out blast along the beach, before riders turn back across a tough course pock-marked by man-made dunes.

Run on the first weekend of October, Storm Amy played havoc this year and caused the Saturday races to be cancelled. But after rebuilding the course overnight, organiser RHL Activities was relieved to find Sunday dawning under clear blue skies. The schedule was compressed for all classes to squeeze in their races, with the main Solo event cut in half from three hours to a still gruelling hour and a half.

“It’s Wild West stuff – just bonkers,” says our man Fong. “The sheer number of people and bikes in one space… You’ll have some at the bottom of a dune waiting to go, then you’ll have some pro who just doesn’t stop and keeps going up the dune at full speed.

“People often get stuck on the dunes. It’s such a physical race, different to anything I’ve seen. Bikes were getting stuck in the sand, people were falling off and then having to lift them back up.

“It’s one of the best things I’ve ever photographed. So much action, wherever on the circuit you are and you don’t have to follow who’s winning. Plus the spectator fencing is at the edge of the track. As a punter you’d get the same pictures as me.”

Never been before? A dead cert for your 2026 schedule, surely.