4th again for Neil

Maybe he was reminded of the Imperial Winter Series, but Neil seemed to overcome his distaste for crowded circuits  on Saturday at Hillingdon. With over 85 starters, he needed to.

Apparently, the commissaire at the Westerley Circuit Race started the race while Neil was helping a fellow rider get his dossard pinned on. Well, nothing like a challenge eh?

"I spent the 1st lap in the wind trying to get back into the bunch," he remembers. "And once I got there, it took me half an hour to find a way through to the front."

Knowing his 'style' of racing, that's probably no bad thing.

Anyway, having found his way through the melee, he put in the odd surge and kept himself in the running. With a 30mph headwind at the finish, it was a pretty low speed sprint but he kept pushing, found his way through and came in 4th.

Another Wass grimace as the line approaches. There is actually a pic on our Flickr page where his mouth is shut. Rare, that

He's now top of the 3rd cat rankings in central region.

Michael Skipsey put in another appearance but was caught mid-bunch when things started to hot up: "It's early days," he reflected. "There's no way I'm going to ruin a season by taking risks."

Paul Caton's recent run of bad luck continued at the Sevale LVRC Road Race in Malvern. As round one of the Percy Stallard series, it was important to get a decent result, but a puncture in the first 5 miles put paid to that. After a lengthy wheel change, Paul was left to ride the race alone. His dignity intact, he finished only a couple of minutes down on the field having done more work than anyone else in the race, we're sure.

Tony May braved some foul weather on Saturday at the Lea Valley 25 in Cambridgeshire. The normally quick E2 course was not at its best with the exposed flatlands making the wind and rain particularly challenging. Posting a 57:11, we think he was great value for just riding, with a higher-than-usual number of non-starters.

Ross and Steve Clarke picked a good weekend for a training camp.