Rowlinson nicks the 'FTD'

JOHN ROWLINSON showed the younger boys the way to do it with a superb FTD performance at the opening sprint of the year.

Twice the 57-year-old clocked a slick 10.37sec. to nick a two-hundredths victory from his biggest rival in a competitive big bikes (over 750cc) class, Adam Girard.

'I'm pleased to still be able to do it at my age - still mixing it,' he said at the end of a competitive opening afternoon to the sprint season, when five new class records were set.

Rowlinson still has some way to go to beat Kent Gavey's 2004 time of 9.75sec. but he is slowly getting there and, considering that he is racing a virtually standard motorcycle with no significant add-ons, it really is a marvellous effort by this stalwart of the motorsport scene.

'It's what I expected to get out of it,' he said.