With up to 200mm of rain in Tamworth causing serious flooding on Saturday, the planned interclub meeting had to be cancelled.

Despite the bad news, a small group of riders showed up at the track and had an excellent day of racng, with juniors and seniors competing together for a number of events.

One of the best performances came from Kyle O’Hara, who joined the sub 2 club with a time trial lap of 1:58. Still in year 6 Kyle is the youngest rider this year to break the 2 minute mark, and is showing a great deal of potential.

At the other end of the age spectrum Ray Phillips (1:58) also went under 2 minutes for the first time (although Wilko won’t give him a shirt until he breaks 1:40).

Other times included 2:16 for Will Allom and Sam Jenner, 2:10 for Karlee McMillan, 1:51 for Angus Swan, 1:48 for Peter Creagan, 1:47 for Andrew Swan, 1:46 for Nick Myhill, and 1:43 for both Pat McMillan and Reece O’Hara.

A four lap handicap criterium produced an exciting finish with Kyle O’Hara winning from Sam Jenner and Karlee Macmillan, with these three finishing just ahead of a fast finishing group including Reece O’Hara, Pat McMillan, Nick Myhill and Angus Swan.

Next up was a two lap wheel race, won by Will Allom from Reece O’Hara with Nick Myhill sneaking in for third.

With little time for recovery for the now struggling seniors, riders split up into two teams of six for an Italian pursuit, won convincingly by Will Allom’s team ahead of Sam Jenner’s team.

There was a brief respite from racing while the juniors practiced their cornering skills through the S-bends with the aid of the seniors. Geoff Straub showed just how fast it can be done when you get the lines right.

Several riders were then keen to improve on their time trials with Karlee McMillan (2:08) taking 2 seconds off her previous time. Big Dave Jenner (1:44) and Lachie McPhie (1:45) also put in very impressive performances (even for a couple of A graders).

Geoff Straub then rode an amazing lap of 1:31(!), and could probably have gone faster if the timer hadn’t pressed the stop button too late(!!) and he didn’t have to slow down to avoid Dave Jenner who was on his cool down lap and didn’t realise Straub was coming(!!!)

The last race of the day was another handicap criterium of 15 minutes + 2 laps. The scratch riders Reece O’Hara and Geoff Straub overhauled the next group of Andrew Swan, Lachie McPhie and Dave Jenner after less than 5 minutes. With Lachie and Dave still feeling the effects of their time trial and Andrew Swan showing his usual lack of speed, they rode straight past them and set out for the leading bunch of Angus Swan, Ray Phillips and Bruce Buxton. Catching them at two thirds race distance, only Angus was able to stay with the two fast men, if only for a couple of laps.

Reece and Geoff went on to win the race easily leaving Angus to ride solo into third place, having to work hard to hold off a fast finishing group lead by Dave Jenner. It was an exciting finish on a fun day of racing, and it was great to see riders of all levels and ages competing together.