A warm and busy night at Maindy stadium saw 50 riders lining up for the 3 of the Maindy Lungopener series. In that field were an impressive looking Squadra of Disco, Tank, Hefin, Curtis and Mark Stacey. Hefin and Disco were unsure of their form having just come back from the Ras Mumhan and were looking to use the event to get back into the swing of things. Curtis and Tank were raring to go however and things looked good for a strong PTWCC performance.
The flag went down and as is standard practice, a load of chippers decided to throw themselves on the floor and into each other within a few laps. There were some written off bikes, some blood and a few expletives but after a few minutes to clear the track the race was underway again.
Danger man George Rose (Abergavenny) was back in action tonight and I was concerned that he was marked. Hefin and Curtis worked well, covering moves left right and centre, with Mark chipping off and looking strong. Tank got in a couple of moves but it was clear from the off that he was on a bad night, preferring to sit at the back for most of the race. My legs were suffering for the first half of the race but warmed up towards the end.
When 10 laps to go came up the race was still together and Disco found himself at the head of affairs and no Squadra for help. From then on it was a case of ducking and diving, watching wheels and trying to keep a cool head. With 2 laps to go Richie Harris (Cwmcarn) kindly offered an isolated Disco a lead out and dragged me round but he blew to bits with ¾ of a lap remaining. I was forced to open up my sprint far too early and coming out of the banking Mike Webb (Agisokviner) came round me to take the win.
Deeply disappointed with that result, I had tasted victory tonight…
I now sit 2nd overall in the series, 5 points behind Gareth Sheppard (Jif). Some good riding next week could make all the difference.
Til next time…
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The Force is strong in this one...
The Force is strong in this one...