Round 3 of the Manchester League Grand Prix series was staged at Bury on Wednesday evening. A & T benefited from having a good turnout of riders, which meant that the same few didn't have to keep racing against each other, thereby taking team points off each other, as happened to Stockport at U-19 level.

This was clearly demonstrated in the U-10 match, with Max Evans winning all his four races and Tom Whitwam and Matt Snell both unbeaten until they raced each other in their last race. Tom made the start in heat 10, but Matt pulled off a perfect drop from grid 4 to pass Tom on the inside of the exit of the first bend to pull away and take the win and his first ever maximum score, with Tom second in the race. Newcomers Jack and Ben Robinson both rode well in their first match, with Daniel Smith-Makin taking valuable points from the opposition.

Daniel Burns put in a steady performance in the U-13 match to score 10 points, as did Reece Pollitt in the U-16 match. Joel Partington was also in action in the U-16 match and his terrific last lap pass on Bury's Ryan Livesey in the last race, heat 8, proved vital for A & T. The extra point gained put A & T level with Stockport in the match, to take a joint win on the night with Stockport, with Bury four points adrift. This means that at the halfway stage of the series, A & T are top of the table, one point ahead of Stockport, with Bury third. Let's keep up the good turnouts for the last three rounds to see if we can take the Division 2 title for the first time since 2009. This competition is being very tightly contested, so every rider's contribution is vital towards the team's overall performance.

Manchester League Division 2 match result (top 5 points scorers only count to team totals)