Round 3 was at Crediton and presented a few challenges for the riders. The circuit was well prepared and initial practise saw Mark achieving the 4th quickest lap time in the group- giving him a nice boost prior to the race start. Unfortunately the start of race 1 was not quite so succesful- with a stall during passing dropping him down to 12th place. He quickly regained composure and began making up ground on the riders in front but was unable to progress much as the red flags came out and the race was stopped due to an incident on the track. 
Race 2 was much more promising (despite a large thunder storm and rain which soaked the track, turning it to mud) and Mark spent a large part of the race in 3rd, before dropping one place to finish 4th overall. This race alone dragged him up from 6th place in the Championship to 4th- just a few points from 3rd!Round 4 (at Plymouth) was where the magic happened. Despite the hot conditions being in stark contrast to the previous week, Mark managed to gain both a 7th and a 5th placing- earning him 5th place overall and his first trophy- a massive achievement!
A large crash at the end of the second block meant that only 2 races were run on the day. We wish all involved a speedy recovery; although we understand that no-one was very seriously injured in the incident.
Mark really has done phenomenally well in the last couple of weeks- thunder and lightning, stark heat, mud and accidents have done nothing to put him off and his recent successes have placed him squarely in 3rd place overall in the championship at the time of writing. Long may it last!
