So, here we go then - the first get-together of the New Year, Saturday 7th January 2012 at Cramlington Sporting Club. A year which either sees NCSC hit the road or hit the fan.

Those present for our first proper, programmed match:

• Keith Oldham
• Fred Mitchell
• Jimmy Smith
• Gavin Parr
• Keith Dyer
• Ashie Patterson
• Jimmy Graham
• Michael Parr
• Norman Carson
• Terry Kirkup

Keith Dyer managed to dig out a nice two-team five-man formula and I think we all rose to the occasion. At least Jimmy Smith's hat did!

The score stayed close to produce a last heat decider with Gavin's Five beating Mick's Five in a thriller! Best race was when these two met and shared out the shoulder charges but Gav's overall fitness looks like giving him a slight edge, although Mick made him fight all the way until that tiny little gap appeared underneath him, and in his defence he was on 2 1/2 under, maybe a bit early in the year on our 72 metre track today.

We all had at least one decent race (3 laps only as a gradual introduction) and nobody has forgotten how to team ride, Jim Graham especially recalling all his old sculduggery in at least one race! Keith O and Fred showed definite glimpses of past top rate performances and we all enjoyed it. Norman gained a bit of confidence by wearing an MTB leg shield on his polluted knee and once again looked like the old Vikings skipper of yesteryear.

Plenty of grins as the day progressed in absolutely perfect weather, some of the best coming from Ashie and Keith D's coming together and fall in the very first heat, Ashie's missing valve core defying science and Terry's fork straightening exercise producing what sure feels like broken ribs, a condition he's only too familiar with. KD was also in some discomfort from his right wrist on the trip home and Michael banged his good knee when he fell in his first ride. Oh heck, we've started!

 

 

Some of today's action:

 

 

 

 

 

Those present for programmed match #2:

• Paul Dickinson
• Neil Magee
• Andy Dickinson
• Fred Mitchell
• Jimmy Smith
• Gavin Parr
• Keith Dyer
• Ashie Patterson
• Jimmy Graham
• Michael Parr
• Norman Carson
• Terry Kirkup

Keith D again provided a two-team five-man programme although the pairings got skewed a little today, but it didn't matter, still another enjoyable session with a few spills and plenty of laughs. Jimmy Smith's hat is still rigid!

We couldn't have asked for better weather - clear, sunny, dry, no wind. The track had a few millimetres of soft wet topping but was rock hard and much grippier than we expected. Jim Smith can testify just how hard it was although he wasn't the only one to hit the deck - unusual, not!

Once again Gavin was supreme and Mick just a whisker behind. Our three new boys just stormed it - still very decent starters after a 20 year absence, and although they tired were all going well enough to demonstrate they've still got what it takes.

Anyone see Paul on his PINK bike here? Surely not pink.

Young Paul (37!) was probably the longer lasting of the trio today but although we only ran a 72 metre track and most races were three laps, there's no doubt they will be very decent riders again as their fitness and stamina pick up.

Who's wearing the best headgear? (Ash gets my vote - sporting the Friar's Frisbee).

Keith took a ride in the Nominated Race with our three newcomers but unfortunately for Mick's team, Andy tipped it and the Enemy capitalised with a 7-2 to give Gavin his second team win in two matches. Bah, humbug!

Touch of nostalgia (yes, another one!) when we gathered back at the cars after play and Neil produced our very last Team Shirt - the genuine 1992 No 8 as worn by the Great Lumley man himself, and so much sought after by eBayers the World over! Here's our lovely model parading it for Cramlington's open-mouthed residents:

Those present for programmed match #3: Paul Dickinson Neil Magee Keith Oldham Fred Mitchell Jimmy Smith Gavin Parr Keith Dyer Ashie Patterson Jimmy Graham Michael Parr Norman Carson John Wilson Terry Kirkup A somewhat better six-man formula was used for this one which got rid of a couple of anomalies from the previous 5-man bodge jobs! Keith picked the sides and refereed. The last three Nominated heats were for lowest scorers, middle and top, Well, yet again, and against all the odds, we were presented with a stunning afternoon's weather, if a little draughty, but you only felt the howling wind standing in the pits. Somehow all this wire mesh fencing and cricket netting seems to calm the worst of the wind that sweep over the open fields behind our track area. The track surface had again been graded nicely by our resident Track manager and his tractor and grip levels were very high on a drying surface. Track size today was set at about 72 metres and yes, we only did three laps again, shame on us. Plenty of time to go full steam ahead though. Any away teams reading this, just let us go for the first three laps then pass us with ease. Nice to see John returning and promising to get back into the swing. He's on the lookout for a bike, as is Neil. Unfortunately Paul's brother Andy had to work today but including him and the mysteriously missing but super-keen Jason Keith, this will be the basic squad for whatever comes our way in 2012. That means Paul is the "baby" of the Club but I'm sure he'll use that to full advantage against the rest of us! While he was justifiably knackered at the end of this one, Neil was the other way and feeling good after being the opposite last Saturday! We really missed Norman's presence on-track last Saturday as he was tied up with something along the road, but he was back today. Not only that but he once again showed inspirational flashes of form, and again everyone had their moment of glory. With Gavin's scorching speed and supreme scoring quickly accepted as normal, I'd say it was Paul who would have picked up the Barclay's Man of the Match award today, but sadly Barclays Cramlington was closed. Keith Oldham and Neil also had their few seconds of stardom as the pressure built up between the two sides. The racing seems to get better as we go along. We're probably a bit biased and wouldn't want to see it any other way, but that seems to be the majority opinion just now. Mick and Ash both provided excellent opportunities for their partners to take advantage of passing opportunities with some ultra clean team riding, while Jimmy Smith chose to use foul tactics with the old leg-wrap routine. No use protesting pal, we have video evidence! Famously, Keith Dyer was always fond of keeping tabs on our scoring, and he's at it again now, so without further ado: Keith's NCSC Averages Chart #1 for those who like that kind of thing. 21 st January 2012
Current averages
Rider	M	R	P	BP	Tot	CMA
Gavin	3	12	48	0	48	16.00
Terry	3	11	33	5	38	13.82
Mick	3	12	36	2	38	12.67
Paul	2	8	21	3	24	12.00
John	1	4	11	0	11	11.00
Keith O	2	7	17	2	19	10.86
Fred	3	10	23	2	25	10.00
Jim G	3	10	25	0	25	10.00
Neil	2	8	18	2	20	10.00
Ashie	3	10	23	0	23	9.20
Norman	2	7	14	1	15	8.58
Andy	1	4	7	1	8	8.00
Jim S	3	10	13	1	14	5.60
Keith D	2	3	4	0	4	5.33

The match was again a nail biter with every dropped point crucial, Today it was Fred's turn to take an uncommon tumble which cost him and his team at the finish. He ended up squashed between the Terrible Twins, the Jim-Jims, in heat 10. Don't go there! A finish which somehow seemed to give Gavin his third team victory on the trot. Boo! Here's the Maestro at the gate preparing to claim another 4 points:

However, a late protest by Ashie resulted in a mood swing by the Ref (KD) who claimed he'd "misread" the results of one race, so the scales were tipped back in Mick's favour and at last the young upstart (40 in a few months) had tasted defeat. As long as we keep enjoying it like this we'll keep it boiling!

Here's Fred again demonstrating his bravery splitting John and Jim G:

At the post mortem in the car park the date was set for our AGM where it is hoped we'll get the nitty gritty of what we're going to do in 2012 sorted out, and any money we need collected and sent off to British Cycling. Date for that is Saturday 4th February in the Sporting Club Cafe after the match. Unfortunately Gavin and Mick were in a hurry and escaped before they learned about this.

I stuck a Helmet Warning on our Facebook pages a few days after this as we all need to get one and get used to the idea of wearing the things again. There's only the Sixties mob who seem to be having trouble grasping the concept, but ultimately they have no choice!

 

Those present for programmed match #4:

• Jason Keith (not racing)
• Neil Magee
• Fred Mitchell
• Jimmy Smith
• Gavin Parr
• Keith Dyer
• Ashie Patterson
• Jimmy Graham
• Michael Parr
• Norman Carson
• Terry Kirkup

The top of the track surface was wet with the weak sun on the previous night's frost, but yet again grip levels were extremely high today under another super, bright and almost windless winter sky.

Keith knocked the programme together again and once more two extremely well-matched sides took to the CycloDrome Roller Derby circuit. There was only one faller that I can recall today, Neil being the victim this time as he leaned slightly the wrong way while nudging the back wheel ahead of him and got flipped high side for his trouble! He's as dry as a stick, remaining very philosophical about his progress although the rest of us think he's been great so far!

Norman's right knee held up well behind it's protective 661 armour shield, but now Jim Smith has an old war wound in the same knee. Although he wasn't up to racing today he got on with it and again, like everyone else, displayed flashes of his old form (allowing for that insignificant 40-odd year gap factor).

Jimmy Graham was never very noisy, and when I think back he's the only rider I've never heard moaning about anything at all! And the wily old fox was at it again today, creeping around that inside line like a limpet in stealth mode. So much so, in fact, that our tricky final bend, with it's huge radius today, turned him inside the line coming into the straight with both wheels, under no pressure! Cheeky Ref put him out but he was re-instated when the yells of derision from his Team leader (Gavin) became too loud.

Terry had proposed we try a bullet bend today, just for a change and to create some more passing opportunities. The track length was the same as last week's at about 72 metres, but we're still not ready as a squad to move up to four laps!

Plenty of cracking racing and FINALLY we all wore helmets today, and some dashing designs amongst them!

One or two surprise results, thanks mainly to Mick and John both having an off-day together, while Gavin was his usual immaculate self. Mick's promised to stop the banging coming from his crank hitting the frame every rev, so that should give him the peace of mind he needs to concentrate fully again and keep the Noise Abatement Society off our backs..

Ashie was in sparkling form for Mick's side, even a pair of trotters in heats 5 & 6, then another ride in heat 8 not slowing him much, and Jim Graham turned in a similar show for Gav's. Plenty of friendly needle going on with an uncanny amount of great passing and proper old-school team riding, nothing OTT. Fred  had a great meeting with only one bad ride, staying quietly in the background but scoring heavily, while Neil's tumble cost him but he also had a couple of great rides.

Fred, Mick, Jimmy Graham and Norman were involved in perhaps the race of the season so far in heat 9, when Mick did his usual immaculate shepherding job to allow Fred to come around the outside and join him 2nd bend 3rd lap, but somehow both Norm and Jimmy found a burst of speed that carried them up inside Fred to pip him out of the final turn. Great stuff, shame somebody had to lose.

John made his mind up to splash out on a full new Archie Wilkinson bike, and I'm guessing that Neil and spectator Jason will be following suit pretty soon. If they do, it'll be the best-equipped NCSC I've ever been part of, though maybe a little late!

Neil reminded me after the event - some old geezer managed to complete a five ride bonus maximum today, completely out of the blue, never to be repeated, and about 30 years after the previous one! evidence here

 

Those present for programmed match #5:

• Neil Magee
• Jimmy Smith
• Keith Dyer
• Ashie Patterson
• Jimmy Graham
• Michael Parr
• Norman Carson
• John Wilson
• Terry Kirkup

They came, they saw and they concked out! Or conceded defeat - to the weather, that is. Yet another beautiful Saturday afternoon awaited us at Cramlington CycloDrome for the fifth match in our Winter League, sponsored by the unbandaged Peter Brady (deceased). Unfortunately, a few turns of the pedals around the track area immediately convinced us of the real danger of trying to race on this surface. It was literally rock hard, and though our wonderful Track Manager had done his stuff on the tractor to even out last Saturdays' light grooves and the thing was as flat as a witches ti..., we considered it too dangerous to fall on.

A few of us did some steady laps though, and an experimental action video snippet or two were attempted to try and give a different angle on the Sport. Main issue for Terry, however, was how his new creation would perform. Yes, another pioneering breakthrough from the home of the NCSC Vets made its debut and was passed around those willing to risk it for their opinions.

This latest version of Frankenstein's Monster started life some years ago as a Specialized Rockhopper hardtail mountain bike. It was destined for a recycling plant somewhere on Tyneside until rescued by the Fool two weeks ago, and has been transformed into a "Bicycle Adapted for Racing on Ovals", or Baro for short. OK then, a wheelie baro. Whatever.

barcam1

Anyway, with the seat propped up a bit on a long post, the heights of the important bits equate roughly to those of a CS bike, with the front fork angle only marginally slacker than a proper racer, so there's not a lot in it overall. It wasn't until TK had it on his 5th or 6th lap that the inside pedal grabbed the floor and almost downed him, so that showed up the immediate area of attention required to get the thing right.

all was fine until this happened: barcam2

After Mick, Jim G and John had ridden it we all concluded that it was indeed a flying machine but shorter pedals would make a difference, and the owner hadn't realised how much smaller Archie Wilkinson's CS pedals were compared to the ancient "Phillips Juniors" he had on the Spesh today. First up then, a pair of the proper articles. But enough of this drivel - I'll save the rest for the Machinery page some time.

Historic AGM Time

(*this is the "Unofficial Hour" rather than the Official Minutes!)

We were pretty cool after the first ten minutes or so and the weather was about to change for the worse, with hard, wet pellets hammering down from the sky in the strong breeze, so we finally agreed that it was just too dodgy to proceed. We packed up and made our way into the luxurious warmth of the Sporting Club Cafe to hold our inaugural AGM - could be a one-off or the first of many, who knows?

We dug ourselves into a cosy corner and Keith opened the proceedings with his State of the Nation Address.

He'd finally sorted the cost of our First Year operation, for which British Cycling have been reasonably generous. We all chipped in to pay the Club Affiliation and Insurance fees, so that's the biggest problem taken care of. Then it was time to discuss who wanted to do what this coming season.

Those who had brought their BC membership application forms completed them and handed them to Keith.

Ashie noted that we had sixteen riders so far who'd ridden at one time or another since November, so there seems to be plenty of bodies for some commitment on a decent scale. In fact, we decided we probably have the biggest Vets club in the Country at this time! Of the Northern teams Keith had been in touch with, none could match our numbers in order to provide even one full 8-man team match! Several clubs hadn't yet responded to his requests, however.

Keith asked who was up for British Championship events. Mick said he wasn't, and wishes to ride Challenge matches only in preference. Terry followed suit, with the later proviso that he might be interested if it was an 8-man team or a pair of Club riders in each heat, rather than the normal one-man-per-race Fours formula, as he would rather race with his team mates. Jim Smith and Keith were also happy to ride Challenge matches.

Ashie pointed out that it was indeed the Fours formula that would be used. Ash himself, Neil, Jim Graham, John and the absent Gavin Parr and Jason Keith were all ready to do Championship battle, with the possible addition of Keith Oldham and Fred Mitchell. Neil thought Andy Dickinson wouldn't want to do this and Paul is still too young to qualify, as the only ex-NCSC rider still in his thirties by season start!

We discussed the various options provided by the Veteran's Championship Weekend and it's 40s, 50s and 60s rider age categories, to be staged by three Midlands tracks early this year. There was a suggestion that maybe British Cycling could stretch the rules and allow us to enter two four-man teams in the competition, which would allow us to make it more of a "Club" weekend. Doubt was expressed over this proposal.

Keith will continue to contact other clubs anywhere north of the Midlands where we are drawing the line for travelling, and try for an early meeting against our old Scottish buddies in Edinburgh.

After a little nostalgic chin wagging, the meeting was closed at about 2:30pm and we trotted off home.

Those present for programmed match #5:

• Keith Thompson
• Neil Magee
• Jimmy Graham
• Keith Dyer
• Ashie Patterson
• Fred Mitchell
• Jason Keith
• Gavin Parr
• Norman Carson
• John Wilson
• Terry Kirkup

Guest watchers today - ex-'60s and '70s Seafield/Scottish Rangers (Edinburgh) and Uxbridge rider Alan Douglas and ex-Newcastle Junior of the '80s Shane Gray. Alan had spotted us on the internet and thought he'd mosy along to see what was going on as he lives in our patch these days. He's a good mate of old Scottish Test Team riders Ian Archibald ( I remember seeing his debut for Scotland when they crushed England at Whinhill, Edinburgh) and our old pal Johnny Murphy (Senior) who's still riding and doing it like a 20 year old! (John is actually an Ireland international rider!).

Shane, by some quirk of fate, is now related to Fred and it was the latter who planted the seed for Shane to take a looksee today. Small world indeed. Let's see if we can get him on a bike again, after he became the last in a fairly long line to turn up to watch us and say "never again...".

Disaster!

While Gavin set to work spreading out the discs to mark the track, Norman went to collect his starting gate from the pile of tractor spares. Gone! Yes indeed, his wonderfully hand-crafted work of art had been "borrowed" by person or persons unknown, and removed from the area, probably for good! Between us though, resourceful as ever, we managed to donate enough knicker elastic to remanufacture a starting gate, and in fact ended up with a truly ecological electric hybrid mechanism - possibly the first one ever in Cycle Speedway as NCSC continues to set new trends - elastic wrapped around an old car battery.
RIP Gavin's Anchor!

The previous Saturday we'd had to abandon due to the weather but Keith T and Jason had both turned up expecting action. Terry had decided he'd better nip up to Crammy to check and there they both were. Typical really, especially when Jason has found it hard to get here with his work commitments. Today, however, he was back again. But back with a surprise! What did he lift out of his van in the car park but a gleaming new Archie Wilkinson CS racer, resplendent in Canary Yellow and deep rimmed black wheels. No, you read that correctly. Anyone who saw his last bike will understand his passion for the, er, unusual. That only leaves our John fighting with his conscience after being given the go-ahead to get one by wife Angie a fortnight ago - how many of us could resist after that?

There was one more new bike on show today - Terry's highly experimental Specialized Rockhopper mountain bike making it's debut as a cycle speedway machine. It is, however, very much modified from its standard form with its tiny front triangle emphasising its uniqueness. And it's aluminium, which together with a pair of fairly expensive ex-MTB Mavic Crossmax ST wheels and lightweight tubeless tyres make it possibly the lightest CS bike around, certainly up here. It felt pretty good in Heat One but was immediately replaced by the standard bike after it failed to carry the old fruit past Gavin (forgot to fit the engine, that's why). Here it is about to be blitzed by Gavin, I'll put proper shots on the machinery page later.

Once again Keith got us sorted out with a six man programme, one team being a member short but who cares. Not me, it wasn't my team! The first heat was pronounced "too hard" by Terry after he'd finished so he declared another three lap match from heat two onwards, claiming it was the wind coming into the third bend doing the damage. I wouldn't mind betting it was the possibility of being lapped by the flying Gavin that really persuaded him. Sooner or later we'll have to move up though, I suppose!

Heat Two saw a good win by John and Neil after Jason and Jimmy had twatted each other at the first bend. As if that wasn't enough, they proceeded to do exactly the same in two of their other three heats together, and I claim that's why we lost this one! On the other hand it could simply have been the superior performance of Gavin's team, with a geet big score from John at last and great backing, as our youngest inspired them once more. Not just by leading from the front, literally, but from the back aswell much to Jason's surprise in one of the best races of the day. Jimmy also had an uneasy feeling that there was a geometry issue with his bike today, which we couldn't pin down on investigation. probably due to repeatedly bouncing it off Jason's legs.

Heat Three saw Keith v Keith in a re-enactment of the South Shields v Newcastle Test battles of 45 years previous - a truly memorable event and indeed it had been that length of time since Keith T had sat on a cycle speedway bike. Nostalgic or what? Keith T seemed to enjoy his unexpected return to racing, even getting Terry's bike to slide around the bends! And of course his previous bike had four foot cowhorns, right-angled front forks and no chance of his toes clipping the front wheel, so he did very well.

Heat Four had John and Neil doing what Jimmy and Jason had done, and getting in each others way enough to let Terry escape, while Norman had bike problems that brought him to a standstill.

I think Gavin collected his first bonus point of the series in heat 5 shepherding Fred home after the latter had made a brilliant swoop inside Ashie, and indeed Fred had a cracking meeting scoring big today.

Neil, like Fred, chose today to rack up a nice fat score with a couple of great rides and overtaking manouevres. Ashie started with a good win in his first race before the old legs caught up with him, or couldn't, although he was always snapping away at that inside line. John and Terry renewed their somewhat vigorous rivalry from the previous match in a couple of good scraps while Jason showed it was just a question of time, and Gav was his usual invincible self and a bit happier with the feel of his ex-Andy Moody (Hull) Archie Wilkinson, fitting better than the geometry of his Ace Ultra. All in all I think we're getting there.

This was the biggest winning margin out of the five matches so far. Michael Parr's absence today was probably the major cause of that, so we'll probably be back to normal nailbiting finishes next weekend.

Before we left for home we couldn't help but notice Johnny measuring Jay's new mount in the car park...

 

Those present for programmed match #6:

• Keith Oldham
• Michael Parr
• Keith Thompson
• Jimmy Graham
• Keith Dyer
• Ashie Patterson
• Fred Mitchell
• Jason Keith
• Gavin Parr
• Norman Carson
• John Wilson
• Terry Kirkup

Guest watchers today - Alan Douglas again - he must be mad! (Oh, he's a Cycle Speedway rider, so he IS mad!) and a guest who rang up a few weeks ago turned up to see what it's all about after hearing about us via Speedway on the Web. So a huge crowd for this one.

Great turnout, well done everyone for persisting in less than ideal conditions with that evil wind howling through the track area again today - otherwise beautiful weather with a freshly graded track yet again - what a system, Thank You Track Manager!

With Bossman Keith Dyer unavailable today, Gavin stepped in to select a couple of sides and made a great job of it. Another very close match followed with some outstanding moments Our old South Shields colleague Keith Thompson seems to have been smitten like the rest of us and turned out to race today, well done indeed Keith.

Track conditions were as tricky as we became used to at our last Fawdon track in the 1980s. Yellow Dolomite can be a wee bit slippery when it's loose on top, and although our brilliant Track Manager had graded the whole area with his tractor again, the top was peppered with beads of Dolly and we were all sliding a little when pressing on.

Falls were the main talking point today with many more than we've had in any match so far. And dare I say they weren't all accidental, with racing stepping up in seriousness by a degree or two. And I can't hold back - Jimmy Smith and Jason Keith are a pair of dirty bu@@ers!

Ashie Patterson evades arrest!

Here's a good one - no, it ain't the Mounted Police chasing Ashie, but sure looks like it as Keith O gives it rice trying to catch him! (nice bike Keith)

Perhaps I should explain. It started in heat 2 when Terry was the meat in a Smith/Gavin Parr sarnie, and bit the dust pretty hard entering the first turn. Ouch. Not particularly unusual in a competitive match, but this one was brought about by an incredible gate by Smithy from grid four. By the time TK on three realised what was happening and speeded up a bit, it was too late and the door was firmly slammed in his face by the opposition. It's an awful long time since Jimmy raced seriously (about 1970!) and he had no right to produce such a pearl of a start like this, taking his oppo completely by surprise. Not just the start though - he simply didn't back off all the way to the bend. Fabulous stuff.

Next aggro came in heat 6 with John inside Jason, Ashie and Jim Graham. John and Jason tangled coming out of turn two at the first attempt with John tasting Dolomite. There was movement at the start in the rerun, so it took three goes to get this one away. And when it finally did, it only got as far as the start of lap two when a sturdy "Andy Angell" challenge by Jason saw John take his second tumble inside a few minutes. Video and photographic evidence and live witness statements laid the blame firmly at Mr Keith's feet, his action in cutting the first turn by almost a metre from the starting gate giving him no hiding place from his accusers. Guilty as charged. Filthy young upstart.

The Start:

The Finish (for John):

With the scent of sweet revenge pervading the air, Johnny had to wait until the "Big Four" met in the Nominated 13th heat for his. This one took FOUR attempts to get going, such was the tension! Entering the first bend, John off grid two had Jason beat from the line but as Jay attempted to pull it in tight for the turn the nature of the surface and the very close company of John on his outside caused him to lose his front wheel as it slid away, dumping Jay on the floor and seeing justice done for his previous misdemeanour. Gavin slipped around the outside from grid three for yet another comfy win and maximum, retaining his unbeaten run in every meeting so far after managing to bring Jason around brother Mick in heat 4, slowing it down well and still winning.

Between the final race and the first there were again some great performances, with Ashie once more ramping it up to top score for "The Oldies" in the main event and leap up from 11th to 7th in the averages! And amongst the lower scorers there was nothing to choose between them on both sides with everyone making a useful contribution. Great match.

Watching a few of the videos it has come to my attention that John didn't finish heat 6 so I have to deduct the point he didn't score, fair's fair. Had a feeling team scores would square up again with Michael back.

I may pop a bit of video on here shortly...

Those present for programmed match #6:

• Keith Oldham
• Neil Magee
• Michael Parr
• Jimmy Graham
• Keith Dyer
• Jimmy Smith
• Ashie Patterson
• Fred Mitchell
• Jason Keith
• Gavin Parr
• Norman Carson
• Terry Kirkup

And today's crowd: John Wilson!

Poor Johnny. His new Archie Wilkinson bike arrived on Friday but very sadly, that spectacular fall you can see on our Facebook page from last Saturday's match delivered a couple of cracked ribs to our super-keen old pal. Bummer. John kindly agreed to referee today. A great chance to take some revenge on Jason for downing him, but he was too honest today.

This afternooon's match was devised by Ashie who provided everyone with a printed programme before the off. Our first Individual since our rebirth - who would take the honours and wear the CycloDrome Crown for the very first time?

We didn't suffer the swirling gusts we've had lately but there was a small problem - a bone dry track! Beautifully prepared again by our Track Staff but our first job was to sweep a lot of the surface beads off the insides of our 72 metre bends before heat one. We found out last Saturday exactly how slippery this is, bringing back more memories of our glorious little track at Fawdon, about this size and just as tricky with the same surface material.

Mick was a cosy victor in the first race although a rejuvenated Ashie kept him in very close range all the way. The next was a whole lot tighter until Terry eventually took the win. Surprise packet Gavin won the next when we fully expected the Gaffer Keith Dyer to have him cold after we heard about his secret training scheme. Jason gave Gav a decent workout first two laps.

Mick continued his winning ways in heat four with a mammoth scrap between Neil, Keith O and full-of-life Norman going on behind him all the way to the flag. It was Gavin again taking the win next with Fred determined but just losing out to TK. Heat 6 saw a brilliant win for the flying Ashie with Jason pressing hard but unable to make the tuck or wide swoop around him.

Gavin's third ride in five heats didn't affect his performance though he was making tired noises afterwards, but the race was marred by a very bad fall for Mick, who'd already slid off on lap two but snapped a chain while catching up, right at the flat out entry to the third bend. We all felt that landing which left him on his back with big leg damage, forcing his withdrawal. Fred seized the opportunity to shrug off Norman's challenge and keep his rostrum hopes alive.

Jason followed up his opening two second places with the first of two wins in heat 8, which also saw Neil rebuff Terry's persistent challenges all the way home. Heat 9 looked like Ashie's easiest ride if he kept his current form, but Keith O made him fight for it and he maybe used up too much gas in this one - would his unexpected challenge now fade as second top scorer so far?

Terry suffered in heat 10 when by the quirks of this British Cycling race formula he had to meet Gavin a second time, and as expected the youngster cruised calmly through to a 16 point maximum. Jason got himself onto 14 points with a heat 11 win over a hard charging Norman who drained the last ounce of go out of Ashie's legs. However, that still left Ash on 13 and with Fred not able to score more than 4 by winning the final heat, that gave the Fawdon Flyer a brilliant third place overall, and Fred just missing out with 12 points.

Out of the remaining finishers, Norman looked best with some fast charges, while Neil was beaten to the best spare bike by Keith O twice, holding him back visibly. The two Jimmys and Keith D were happy enough to fill the minor placings on a decidedly skittish track surface although they shared in some exciting coming-togethers.

So Gavin Parr wins the inaugural Cramlington Crown and with it a copy of today's programme which I'm sure he'll treasure. Well done Gavin, get well soon Michael and John!

As well as Ashie knocking out some more historically important NCSC literature, Neil had been hard at it since last weekend, producing an outline fixture list for us which he'd also copied for us all today:

There's a prize for spotting Neil's slight error!

And here are Ashie's latest averages using the post-war method of Match Average calculation (CMA) as opposed to wor Keith D's pre-war one (which war?):

Today we did four laps, we all wore helmets, but weren't quite compliant with Rule Three! But we'll learn, we're young (!).

Those present for programmed match #7:

• Keith Oldham = a wee bit late!
• Keith Thompson
• Neil Magee
• Michael Parr
• Jimmy Graham
• Keith Dyer
• Jimmy Smith
• Ashie Patterson
• Fred Mitchell
• Gavin Parr
• Norman Carson
• Terry Kirkup

Somehow, the bright new face of Facebook managed to screw up Terry's calendar entry for today and change the start and finish times from 1330/1500 to 1500.1800! Luckily it only caught one of us out, but I still can't help feeling sorry for keith who arrived at the CycloDrome with only three heats remaining! Please note (everyone, not just KO!) that we start at 1:30pm, whatever stupid FB says, although I'll keep a very watchful eye on it from now on.

The racing seems to be getting easier while getting harder. Easier because we've all managed to move up to four laps without suffering as we thought we might, and harder for the same reason!

Today's menu served up another real feast with plenty close racing and it seemed, more close finishes. One day, young wippersnapper Mr Gavin Parr will be beaten. This we know because we have a plan to sabbotage his bike, but I won't say how or when. Let's keep it to ourselves, eh?

Anyway we got half way there today by beating his team, although it was yet another nailbiting last heat that decided the spoils. He'll be feeling low tonight, annoyed that he couldn't be in every heat twice, and eventually he'll sink into a manic depressive state and we'll be ready to pounce.

The fingers above belong to The Boss, Keith D, and he did another fine job picking today's sides which kept things very even again. Good to see Michael Parr back after that nasty fall last Saturday when his chain snapped. It'll take him a match or three to get it right again but the signs were there already today, and his bike's a little more reliable, I hope. He was visibly easing back in his last two rides but still pulled in 12 valuable points for his side.

Let's take a look at one of our typical Veteran's races of 2012:

Isn't that sweet? Not much more to be said about our current fashion sense. And yes, we take the horse and carriage home afterwards.

Both teams were solid and once again there were a couple of great individual performances. Gavin led the way with another maximum but a couple of heats saw him tussling for the lead before drawing clear. He was feeling a bit more tired than normal due to his fairly long morning swim. Jamaica to Barbados, likely.

Apart from Keith O turning up and WINNING his solitary race, there were a few more outstanding examples - Ashie was on fire again and so unlucky to drop 3 points in his final race. Fred was rampant and even had the audacity to give Gavin a hard time in heat eight, and Jimmy Graham seemed a bit happier with his bike today taking an unbeaten 7 plus 1 in his last two rides.

Not to be outdone, Jimmy Smith picked up his biggest score yet with 8 plus 3. But for an unfortunate fall in heat nine, Neil would have finished with 14 as he was bursting through between Jim G and Terry in heat 9 for the lead. Someone "turned right" in front of him and clipped his front wheel, causing the flip off. Tut, tut.

Good to see Norman flying again and like Smithy having to get used to a few substantial changes on their shared bike, including a lower gear today. That left Keith T and Keith D to share what was left, not much but every point counts, as we all know only too well. Mr Thompson will take a while to get use to these strange machines which more resemble an aeroplane than a South Shields CS bike from 1966! And as for the Boss, Keith Dyer, well those flailing helmet straps don't help his slipstreaming, do they?