I wonder if you might use Value([YourField]) to return the first numeric
value, then sort on that field?

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP

Put the function below in a standard module.
Create a Calculated field in your query that calls the function passing the
field you want to check to the function.  It will return the first character
in the field that is a number.

In the query:

TheNumber: FirstNumber([MyFieldName])

The function:

Public Function FirstNumber(strString As String) As Integer
Dim lngCtr As Long
Dim strTheChar As String

   For lngCtr = 1 To Len(strString)
       strTheChar = (Mid(strString, lngCtr, 1))
       If IsNumeric(strTheChar) Then
           FirstNumber = Cint(strTheChar)
           Exit For
       End If
   Next lngCtr
End Function