PTW

Your man in the circular field reporting….

Tense times at Maindy stadium on Friday night. The series result was to be decided tonight and the top 3 looked like this:

Gareth Sheppard (Jif) 21 points
Disco 16 points
Andrew Davies (Ajax) 15 points.

Some tactical riding and a dose of good luck could see Disco take the overall, where as a little bit of bad riding and not a lot of bad luck could see Disco slip to 3rd.

The Squadra of Hefin, Curtis and Tank were fully briefed and despite being against the odds were going to try and win it. The Jif were fielding a good squad again with anxious eyes on Disco to keep their man Sheppard safe.

The race started and a rejuvenated Tank set the race alight with repeated attacks, covering moves and generally being a thorn in the side of the Jif. Again and again the boy was on the move, and together with Hefin and Curtis kept the Jif on their toes. Ian Jeremiah was doing his best to keep Disco out of proceedings, using every trick in the book to take him up the track, out of the line and generally ruin his race. However this was to no avail, and on more than one occasion Disco was able to chip off the front in promising looking moves. Indeed one such move came at halfway in when Tank took to the front and drove the bunch into the ground, distancing Sheppard. Relentlessly pounding the pedals he dragged a few strong boys with him (Disco included) but the group never really got organised and could not escape an alert bunch.

So it was that we came into the final 10 laps. Curtis had jumped off the front with a few others and whilst his breakaway companions had died Curtis kept plowing on up front. However, with 3 laps to go the Jif were about to swamp the PTWCC and Disco gave Tank the nod to hit the front and drive it. It was a big ask for the big man to smash it for 3 laps but he performed admirably. With Disco on his wheel he stayed on the front until the back straight when he was jumped by Charles Rees and Mike Webb. Disco was caught on the inside and had to swing down off the track to get past some opportunist sprinters which killed his speed and he could not get back on terms with Webb and Rees, who finished in that order, Disco getting 3rd and sealing his place 2nd overall.

Some great riding by the Squadra, and commiserations for Curtis who was reeled in by his own team-mates after a cracking break that looked like being a solo victory.

So, 2nd overall for the PTWCC, a great start to the season and very promising riding for the rest of the year.

Til next time…