The weather forecasters certainly got it right for once last weekend.

Having been used to competing in mud and deep ruts earlier this year, the motocross scene moved to the Route 44 track at Haverigg last weekend, where local motocross riders were out in force for the first round of the Cumbria MX club’s 2019 championships.

In what was a nice little touch from the organisers, every competitor received an Easter egg on arrival.

Gavin Southward from Askam started the ball rolling after digging out his 15-year-old machine and putting it to really good use on the Friday. He gained third, second and first placings to win his class overall amongst more modern machinery.

Talking of more modern machinery, Barrow`s Jamie Leake showed a big improvement on his performance on the Preston Docks track a week earlier, where he netted a sixth place.

With some hard riding in the B1 class events, he stepped up onto the rostrum on both Friday and Saturday with third place finishes on both days.

Barrow’s Deejay Walker got amongst the silverware too. Not having had too good a start to the season competing with larger capacity bikes on his 250, he seems to be getting to grips with the new Yamaha and could be seen in his usual place at the front of the pack. A third place on Friday boosted his confidence and on the following day he finished joint first to give him second overall.

Further east across the country, Askam schoolboy Finley Pickering was contesting the 2019 World Minibike Championship on the Keirdan Park track near Scunthorpe with his 65cc KTM.

Near neighbour Jamie Keith actually won his world title there not too long ago on his KTM. After qualifying second, he shot off the line in the big race of the day taking the chequered flag in second place.

Runner-up in a world championship event doesn`t get much better than that, except of course one more step up, maybe in 2020, Finley ?

Well done .. He’d like to thank Mr T’s Garage and B and D Motors Motors here in Barrow and his other sponsors for all their help and support.

In a couple of weeks’ time on May 11 and 12, Furness duo Greg fisher and Dee Jay Walker will be heading south to Wroxton near Banbury post code OX15 6EU for the second round of the Bridgestone Masters series, in which Greg is currently leading. Admission charge is a mere £10 and that includes free camping for the weekend.

*Ulverston drag bike racer Dave ‘Rocket’ Peters literally set the Santa Pod dragstrip near Northampton alight last weekend.

Dave, who won the ACU Funny Bike championship there in 2016, was contesting the 2019 championship on his awesome 16ft-long 1373cc nitrous oxide-fuelled, 600BHP turbo-charged Suzuki.

All seemed to be going well after his first competitive run on the quarter-mile strip recorded a 7.4-second run with a terminal speed of 175 mph.

A second run recorded 7.5 seconds at 171mph. At the start of his next run, the engine suffered an unexpected ‘flame out’ to make things uncomfortable to say the least for the Ulverston man.

Undaunted, he lined up the following day only to be knocked out in the semi final.

However, the team are happy with the overall result, they now lie third in the championship with more rounds to go.

*Many of our older readers will remember the old racing circuit on Silloth Airfield in the sixties and seventies that regularly attracted crowds of over 10,000 spectators, and riders from all over the country.

Former rider and Silloth resident Jim Snaith opened his Motorcycle Museum dedicated to the circuit in the town centre last Friday.

I took a run up and was pleased to see multiple sidecar TT winner Rob Fisher from Workington carrying out the opening ceremony to the delight of a huge crowd.

The museum, although small, houses a few of Jim’s racing machines alongside other classics.

The walls are adorned with photos and memorabilia of the many motorcycle stars who cut their teeth on the bumpy Silloth track.

Admission is free but donations are obviously welcome. He’s open every day throughout the summer from 10am until 5pm.