"The deep irony in all of this is that it is a sport quite literally made for social media. Snackable, minute-long races, all in the view of the audience (unlike, say, Formula One, which gives its paying public a mere snapshot of the circuit), raced at high pace with noise, colour and no little incident." Former Cradley Heath supporter and media communications and marketing expert Scott Field on the current state of the sport.
AIRBORNE
"It felt like no sooner had they called the air ambulance than we saw it coming over the hills. Unfortunately, being strapped in meant I couldn't really get a good view, which was obviously going to be better than what you'd get in a normal ambulance, and they didn't want me to move, so I was watching the blades go round and round while laying down. It was still pretty cool to hear the two pilots talking at the front and the trip was much quicker. I remember taking off and no sooner had we done that than we were coming down and I was like, 'that was quick!'"
RED-HOT PICK
"I'm confident that if the CLRC was hosted at any track in Britain, the form that I'm in, I could win it anywhere. I do have that extra edge riding at Sheffield and I'm going to use that to my advantage. But I'm going into it with a level head. The goal is no different than what it was in 2024, when I won it at Redcar. I feel I'm a much better rider since then, much more consistent." There's no doubt who's favourite to win the Championship Riders' title at Sheffield this week – can Scunthorpe's Josh Pickering cement his status as the second tier's top rider?
ALSO IN THIS WEEK'S MAGAZINE
Meeting of the Week: Championship Pairs • SEC round 2 Gustrow report and pictures • Off the Beaten Track • World Longtrack: Riss takes charge • Vojens SGP preview: Frederik Jakobsen interview.
