Report by Gavin Smith, pictures by Dan Dunbar and Sally Page

This was – alas! – the final evening of racing at Preston Park this season. An all-up group photo of the riders for the local newspaper preceded a 1-lap parade before the race action got underway. With some podium placings in most categories still hanging in the balance, there was tight competition tonight. The good news is that the rain held off for the whole meet, enabling all scheduled races to take place. And at the end of proceedings, there was tangible disappointment that the season had already ended, but the general consensus was that it had been the best season of track-racing at Preston Park for many years. 

SENIORS

The expected battle for third place overall between Mark Burgess and Christian Yates didn’t happen after all, with Yates unable to attend this evening. League winner Felix English was also not on the start-line, so the door was open for battles between league runner-up Adam Gent, Mark Burgess, Lee Povey, Charlie Sayer, Martyn Potter, Charlie Heffernan, relative newcomer Luke Evans and several other hopefuls.

Tim Mustin was first to launch an attack in the opening 8-lapper, going away on the very first circuit. His lead was reaching promising proportions when the prime whistle incited the bunch to react, 15-year-old Charlie Heffernan overhauling Mustin and taking the £5 pocket-money one lap later. It was soon all back together, then the irrepressible Rupert Rivett tried his luck with three to go. The alert bunch were having none of it, though, as Sayer, Potter, Burgess and Gent were spotted dragging the peloton back up to the fugitive. With two-and-a-half laps remaining, Luke Evans rode away very strongly. His move seemed to take the others by complete surprise, and you could almost sense them saying to themselves “Evans above!” The bunch accelerated on the last lap, but it was too late to catch Evans, who stormed through for a great win. Only seven riders survived the frantic pace over that final lap, Adam Gent winning the sprint for second ahead of Mark Burgess, Lee Povey, Oliver Pepper and the fast-improving Daniel Clark.

There were no escapes in the B-cat 3-lap dash, Charlie Heffernan predictably winning the final sprint, followed by Pepper, Rivett, Smith, Edwards and Dean. Adam Gent and Charlie Sayer went away on the first lap of the parallel A-cat race and stayed ahead to the end, Sayer taking the win with Gent runner-up. Mark Burgess – certainly one of the most-improved riders this season – won the sprint for third, then it was Martyn Potter, Neil McClelland and Anthony Rogers.

The season concluded with a 10-lap course des primes, with £1 for the first over the line each lap and the race result decided on finish-line placings. Tim Mustin, Tim Hill and Nigel Foskett went away from the start. All three stayed ahead for the first four laps and shared the spoils between them. At mid-race, Foskett dropped back and Hill took his third prime, just as Luke Evans thundered past to take a lone lead. With two to go, Evans was joined by Adam Gent, but at the bell Lee Povey went into overdrive and secured an impressive win with a classic final lap. Gent took second place, then came Oliver Pepper, Luke Evans, Martin O’Brien and Charlie Heffernan.