The first track league of the year, held in unusually warm conditions for this time of year, with the Meadowbank black cloud moving elsewhere for the evening made this an excellent starter to the Scottish track season.
Vortex RT had three riders involved in the racing, comeback hardman Mark Colquhoun opting for the A's, then Scottish Vets champs Jeremy Greengrass & Colin Bark starting in the B's on the night. The 12 lap scratch for the A group was full of quality riders, a shock to the system as this was the first race of the season for some riders. The race was won by Martin Lonie of Dooleys RT.
The B 10 lap scratch was actually run at a faster pace than the the A race, with Bark & Nik Gowrie (Peebles CC) getting away early on, Bark then 'fluffed' a change as he thought the other riders were behind them and lost contact, Gowrie went on to win and a fast chasing Greengrass took 2nd place. This resulted in Gowrie and Greengrass being promoted to the A group for the rest of the evening.
Over to the devil take the hindmost events, first up the B's, Bark took the race from the front as riders were being eliminated, never leaving that position until 2 laps to go, then taking the win from Jonathon Cosh (Glasgow Wheelers). This Vortex rider taking his first win since 2006!
The A devil looked to be it's usual tactical self, with riders getting caught out at the back, the event was another win for Martin Lonie, on some fine early season form.
The final event our riders took part in was the 25 lap scratch, with all riders on the track, Greengrass made it to the finish with the lead group and took 5th place in the sprint.
A great evening's racing and fantastic to see Meadowbank still proving to be an excellent venue, there wasn't even much of a headwind on the back straight! Will be back next week, in greater numbers.
Full results and info here...
http://www.estpa.org.uk/mtl/index.html
Previous blog post here, plus how to get there....
http://vortex-rt.blogspot.com/2011/02/meadowbank-track-league.html
