Ray Martin series

I am slowly coming out of the purduh of organising the races at Thorney. More about those another time. I shall try and catch up over the coming week.
Firstly, congratulations to Toby Neave, "Lavant's fastest cyclist" (the Lavant Leopard?) who won the Ray Martin series at Portsmouth for the first time. Toby won two out of the five race series. He faced stiff opposition from Phil Sykes (VC St Raphael) and Steve "altitude tent" Walkling (sorry he changes club so often I've forgotten).
In the last race I turned up to try and help Toby and found out how fast the racing was. Toby has been on sparkling form and deserved the win on gutsy riding alone.
We have had a number of riders riding at Portsmouth, particularly in the 3rd and 4th cat races where comeback man Andy Page finished third overall.
Rob Fields has impressed me with his ability to finish up the sharp end with very little road racing experience. Shave off that beard and he might be a force to be reckoned with.
It's tremendous to see so many riders riding for the club.

Racing round up

Toby Neave was 4th in the first Dunsfold evening race and picked up 15 prime points. Simon Pattinson made his racing debut and he and Fraser Nurse were punted off the road by another rider. Mark Warrington punctured.
Simon Pattinson had a more successful ride in the second Dunsfold and finished 26th. Mark Warrington was 48th and Shaun Smart a DNF.
Rob Fields finished 42nd in the 4th cat race at Dunsfold. That doesn't sound that impressive, but in the first sprint he was 6th, but then they were told the photo finish wasn't ready so they'd have to go round for another lap!
Andy Page was 16th in the 3rds at Dunsfold with Richard Bevan 29th. Andy was 35th at Barcombe in the 2/3 race.
Richard Bevan was 16th in the 3/4 race at Portsmouth last Wednesday (6th May) with Chris Dobson 31st. Toby Neave was 2nd in the E/1/2 race with Andy Page 14th and Mark Trevis 27th.
Mike Marchant reports on the latest youth race at Angmering "Joseph and Conrad were riding for SDV. A very windy evening and the 2 lads did very well in those conditions. In the 3 Cat E&D races Conrad got 4th, 4th and 5th. Joseph got 6th, 5th and 5th in the 3 Cat A&B races." New youth rider Declan Inglis won two of his three races at the same event. Well done Declan!!!

New member

A belated welcome to Laurence Bird from Felpham.