The nineteen riders were immediately reduced to eighteen, when Jonathan Hastings discovered during practice that he had some cracks in his elbow!

The Phantoms may have finished runners-up to the host club, but there were some fabulous performances along the way. One such performance was by our smallest rider Alex Campbell in the 7/8 year-olds. I do believe he thought he was twice his normal size as he brushed aside the opposition with gusto. His reward was a fantastic 2nd.

Michael Ledlie, Nathan Hastings and Tom Drinkwater had some entertaining battles in the 9/10 year-olds, with Ledlie 3rd and Hastings 4th. Drinkwater finished 2nd in the B final.

Newcomer Connor Cuffe joined Ryan Leach in 11/12 year-olds, and both were placed in the B final. A ferocious competition saw Leach 1st and Cuffe 2nd.

James Walker, Richard Wallace and Eddie Spain were in the biggest class of the day, the 13/14 year-olds. Walker and Wallace both produced credible performances to reach the B final, which at one point had Wallace in the lead. Unfortunately his inexperience saw him drop back to 4th and Walker 7th. But it was Spain who, after hitting the gate in his first moto, stole the show with the first win of the day for the Phantoms.

Callum Cuffe, Lauren Smith and Arran Shrosbree had an eight-man grand prix in the 15/16 year-olds. The move up from novice saw Cuffe put in some good performances to finish 7th, and Smith mixed it with the boys to finish 5th. Shrosbree meanwhile dominated every moto with straight wins to give Peterborough their second win.

17+ saw Matt Allen, a stranger to Braintree, notch up a worthy 3rd before flying off to Hoppy’s wedding.

Michael Ledlie (Snr) swapped his cruiser for a 20-inch in 30+ and finished a credible 4th.

Bethany Campbell was mixed with some of the older girls, but when the ages were split she had finished a superb 3rd in the 10-12 year-old girls.

Michael Ledlie (Snr)’s cruiser was put to good use as newcomer Ryan Whitting won the 12-and-under cruiser class.

With football cancelled Mark Shrosbree turned out and looked anything but rusty in 13-16 cruiser. Like riding a bike, everything came back to him as he powered to three 2nds and a 3rd to finish 2nd overall.

Meanwhile looking extremely rusty was Chas Shrosbree in 40+ cruiser, but the rusty joints were soon loosened up when he crashed, in the first berm, in spectacular style. Never-the-less enough points were accumulated to notch up Peterborough’s fourth win of the day.

The culmination of the day was the legendary relay race. Both Phantom’s teams were in with a chance: the larger than life Alex Campbell was in awesome form until he crashed on the line, and James Walker too flexed his muscles as he tangled in the first berm. Unfortunately a crash took away his advantage, and both teams were out of the running.

Photographs by Bob Allen ©