Witham Wheeler juvenile Karl Baillie returned to the boards for the final round of the Manchester Friday night track league last weekend.
Karl missed the previous week’s competition due to an Olympic Development and Talent team training camp, and was keen to put into practice what he had learnt as he took to the track in Group Four races.
In the four-lap scratch race, he found himself boxed in and finished down the order. But in the points race, he finished second in the first sprint, and first in the third and fifth, to amass a total of 13 points to take the overall win by five clear points.
Karl rode near the front for the whole of the elimination race and finished as runner-up. He broke away with five laps to go in the 20-lap course des primes and pulled out almost half a lap on the field to take a comfortable victory.
He also rode well in the final event of the night, the 50-lap scratch race, and finished a respectable fourth.