MOTO-CROSS: Woodbridge and District Motorcycle Club held its first moto-cross meeting of the year at their Blaxhall circuit. The circuit was in ideal racing conditions and club members had to water the circuit the previous day to combat possible dust problems.

WOODBRIDGE and District Motorcycle Club held its first moto-cross meeting of the year at their Blaxhall circuit.

The circuit was in ideal racing conditions and club members had to water the circuit the previous day to combat possible dust problems.

A good crowd witnessed some excellent racing in the 12-race programme, in dry, but chilly conditions.

In the three-heat Expert-graded riders' races, Eastern Centre champion, Aston Bird, won all three, although he had to fight for it. Bird was due to race in the European Championships in France, but had to withdraw through injury.

Leg one saw King's Lynn youngster, Sean Hodgson, leading, from Matt Watling, with Bird trailing in fifth place. He moved up to second place after two laps and set about closing the gap on Hodgson, who fell at the halfway stage, leaving Bird to race to victory.

Hodgson had to settle for second, ahead of Watling.

Leg two saw Hodgson storming to the front again on his big 450cc Honda and Bird, riding his 125cc KTM, started in ninth place. Quickly fighting up to second, it took Bird most of the race to catch Hodgson, to record his second win.

Tim Warnes had a good ride to finish in third place, ahead of Paul Bennett and Paul Aldridge. Hodgson took the lead in the final race, but had problems on the first lap and retired.

Bird took over at the front, and built up a huge lead over Watling and Warnes, but had problems with just two laps left, when his radiator cap came off.

Bird slowed dramatically, riding with one hand over the radiator to avoid losing water. With just half a lap remaining, a marshall handed the cap to Bird, who stopped, replaced it and took victory for the third time.

Schoolboy star Nathan Norman, demonstrated that he will be a threat when he moves into the adult ranks next season. He won both junior races by clear margins in a great display of smooth riding.

Earlier though, he almost failed to qualify, when leading his heat by a country mile.

He stalled his machine just before the finish of the race and by the time he had restarted the bike, qualified in 17th place. Mildenhall's Ashley Hyde twice finished as runner-up.

The meeting also included round two of the NGR Over-25 series, and arch rivals, Paul Hubbard and Lee Keyton, continued their battle for supremacy.

Hubbard won all of his three races, although Keyton challenged all day.

There was also some spirited racing for the minor places, between Paul Cocksedge, Darcy Robarts and Rob Cazey.