Monday April 29, 2019 at 1:26pm
As we end the opening month of the Grass track season with a quiet weekend, it seems a perfect opportunity to take stock of what has unfolded so far this season. There have been four excellent club level Grass track events and two Sand Race events held since VMCC kicked us off at the end of March. We've seen mud, dust, rain and biting cold already, so here's looking to a few warm ones in May! There are some significant changes to the way that National Gradings Lists points are being awarded in 2019. The adult classes are very straightforward. Points are allocated for the top 6, with the winner taking 6 points, irrespective of how many other competitors were present. 2nd place earns 5, third earns 4 and so on down until 6th place takes 1 point. It's an old system that has been brought back. The British Masters Qualifier, the Frittenden Pairs Summer Spectacular and the European solo class at the Midshires European Solo Semi Final are the only Grass track events that do not gain gradings list points. The youth gradings lists are quite different and are trialing a system proposed for all classes. The points are allocated depending on the number of competitors in that class. The easiest way to demonstrate this is to use some recent results from the Ledbury Leader. Youth Autos:
1st. Archie Rolph (2 points)
2nd. Oliver Bovingdon (1 point) Youth Juniors:
1st. Thomas Vining (10 points)
2nd. Corey Stainer (9 points)
3rd. Ethan Childe (8 points)
4th. Rico Joyce (7 points)
5th. AustinRiches (6 points)
6th. Max Derrick (5 points)
7th. Willim Childe (4 points)
8th. George Colvin (3 points)
9th Jack Baker (2 points)
10th. Luca Whitelam (1 point) To be classified in the result, as with adult classes, riders must have COMPLETED at least one race distance. It means that the Youth classes look very healthy at present! The next update will be at the end of May, so there is a lot of racing to be done between now and then. Next weekend, Bridgwater (South Western) host their first event of the year, as do Cheshire club in the North. The week after Mid Cornwall Premier MCC host the Boarded Bash at their unique venue in Cornwall, whilst Bewdley's Spring Grass track takes place in the Midlands. The week after that (18th and 19th May), Guernsey MCLCC run the 3rd round of their season long series on the beach at Vazon, whilst Fenland host the super-popular Jon Underwood memorial event at Woodwalton, just north of London in the South Midland Centre. The final weekend of May sees three promising events all in the one weekend. On Satuday 25th, Frittenden club hope to get the youth racing ball rolling once again in Kent by staging the Youth Battle of Britain. All Youth classes catered for. And on the Sunday, at the same venue at Sandhurst Bridge Raceway in Kent, the Battle of Britain title will be contested for, with points in the 500cc solos and 1000cc sidecars going towards the Brian Stibbs and Jim Rendall trophies respectively. On the same day, further north, the Worcester club will be running an event in memory of Noel Clark, with several top riders showing a keen interest. The event will take place at their Chaddesley Corbett venue near Kidderminster. 250cc Solo 350cc Solo 500cc Solo Uprights Pre 75cc 500cc Sidecar 1000cc Right Hand Sidecar 1000cc Left Hand Sidecar Auto Cadets Juniors Inters