A red hot afternoon at Eaton Park saw a low turnout of Over 40s in particular cause a lengthy delay in getting the matches underway. As a consequence Fred Rothwell and Geoff Gamage were forced to go with a mix of all age categories spread over two matches. As in two of this year's previous rounds, the presence of women and junior riders brought about their inclusion as "Non-Categorised" so far as Grand Prix point scoring is concerned, and this may well be further extended as time goes on, especially appertaining to the UK's women racers who get very little competitive track time otherwise. Welcome back to Birmingham's Andy James after a 6 year absence from the Sport.
A quick Thank You to Kev Burns who pointed out a discrepancy in the selection method for the Over 40 finalists which was then corrected by the aforementioned Management!
The track was bone dry, as was expected in the current drought, the hosepipe sessions barely lasting one race as the sun baked it straight into steam, but it didn't cause any dramas for the riders.
Congratulations to all the riders for a very entertaining meeting, the principal highlights coming in the various Finals but with plenty of close action in the body of each match. The parade laps started badly for poor local Steve Copping who bit the dust going into turn one and needed a few miniutes to recover but was still raring to go afterwards. And Norwich superstar Paddy Wenn took a nasty tumble in his second ride that could have seen him withdraw, but our World Champ is made of sterner stuff!