A beautiful afternoon in the Scottish Capital saw Round Seven of this year's Grand Prix series unfold on a tricky track with plenty of surface movement, but surprisingly no spills!
The rider list wasn't the only short item today, the home Club also down on support numbers due to other commitments but the skeleton crew performed admirably, and it was great to see Alan Hewitson back in the middle refereeing for us when it's pretty well known he doesn't do this any more! Great job Alan mate, thank you.
Nice also to see Glasgow's two boys Jim Alexander and Colin Gray turn out for their first dabble of the year after their 2014 debuts and getting quicker with every race, as was Falcons new boy George Mitchell who similarly kept the pedals turning all the way to the flag and even snatched a cheeky point from a quick looking Eddie Ridley who had left his legs in the pits for his last race! This round was perhaps not the greatest spectacle we've ever witnessed but the atmosphere around the track makes up for that at almost every round and did so again today, the weather no doubt helping.
The combined 50's and 60's got the match underway with their first three races, Lee Lawrence looking sharp after his great win in the British Over 50s the previous weekend even though he lost out twice in the heats being wary of the tricky surface, as were a few others. Looking even sharper in the heats was the resurgent Steve Hodgkinson, absolutely flying this year and very difficult to pass. Phil Hemming had one of his better days and just lost out on the "A" Final to Joe McLaughlin after countback, but won the "B" Final from Mick Aris while a strangely relaxed (not ramming today!) Joe came from the back in the 50s "A" Final.
Meanwhile, in the Over 40's, there was no-one to touch a flying Mark Winwood today as he simply stormed away from the starts in all of his races with supreme ease. Poor Mark rarely gets my personal "mark-up" (excuse the pun) as Man of the Match because we've become accustomed to seeing him in devastating form, and today he misses out again as my award is shared by the Referee and the mesmerising Paddy Wenn. I keep forgetting to ask Paddy what he ingests before a match these days as he's absolutely on fire, this time relegating super-reliable Martyn Hollebon to third place in the "A" Final. Marty, however, still retains a narrow lead in the 40's and could benefit should Mark slip up in the final two rounds. Once again the swashbuckling (I may have used that word before to describe Mick's style, but it's the right one) style of Mick Knowles served up plenty of entertainment. Probably the most disappointed E-V regular was Jason Keith who's form was up and down, missing out on the "A" Final but winning the consolation race and the raffle! Norman Venson was also a wee bit down on speed, even on his newly aquired, brand-spanking Trelleborgs. I think the lack of tension in his front spokes may be catching up with him.
With only four Over 60s present the finishing order matched the grid positions.
If anyone has any action photographs from today we'd appreciate the odd one for this page.
Let's see if we can get a bumper entry for the last two rounds.