While Furness Moto X riders were picking up major awards at tracks all over the country last weekend, two novice road racers from Barrow were doing likewise on Three Sisters Circuit near Wigan.

Contesting the final round of the Preston and District motorcycle club`s Championship were Barrow novice racers John Garratt and Jimmy Millington.

Their normal 10 round series was cut to five due to the coronavirus situation. Saturday's racing had to be curtailed after only a few races due to torrential rain flooding parts of the circuit, but while many competitors opted to leave, John and Jimmy made the decision to return to see what Sunday brought.

Thankfully their decision was the right one. The surface dried out by mid morning enabling the club to run most of their planned programme.

John, a BAE employee, contested three of the Formula 400 races in a much depleted field on his 250cc ETZ MZ single cylinder bike and netted two second places and a third.

Due to an admin mix up with the online entry system Jimmy, who also works for BAE, should have been in the same races but found himself allocated a position in the Forgotten Era class instead.

Not being one to complain, he duly lined up in his place on the grid and promptly won both his races also armed with a single cylinder MZ 250.

Both riders were familiar with the circuit layout having done their basic road racing courses there a couple of years ago.

The Barrow duo have been gaining experience with the British Motorcycle Racing Club on the Cadwell Park circuit in Lincolnshire, where they run a series exclusively for MZ machines.

And they recently competed in an Endurance race on the Whilton Mill track near Daventry. At the end of this month they are both competing in another endurance event on the much quicker Mallory Park circuit near Leicester.

I`m sure there`ll be more silverware to come in 2021.