By all accounts the Premier Mountain Bike Series makes for a thoroughly decent weekend of MTB action, with good old NPS racing plus short track and the Trek 6-4-2 Enduro. The only thing that seems to be a bit lacking is competitors. We can only assume that people get put off by the whole “National Series” thing and think that they have to be a bit keen to compete. It looks like the third round at Thetford may change all that, though – we’re told that pre-entries are looking very healthy.

The organisers have put together a seven mile course for the NPS racing on Saturday, and a generously-besingletracked 12-miler for the Trek 6-4-2. All 6-4-2 entrants will get a Trek goodie bag and there’ll be £2,000-worth of prizes. Plus series winners in the 4hour category will win a Club La Santa holiday. We’re not sure how long the course for the What Mountain Bike Short Track on Saturday evening is, but we’d hazard a guess at “short”.

Series organiser Martyn Salt tells us, “Thetford promises close racing in the Elite category and Oli Beckingsale will be looking to extend his amazing start to the season and collect a hat-trick of NPS wins. The Women’s category is less clear cut and with 15 Elite Women entered there are probably 5 possible winners. Alex Atkins and Andrew McCullough jointly lead the Junior Series and Geoff Beetham, Michelle Bergstrand, David Fletcher, Michael Butler and Paula Moseley all remain unbeaten in their chosen categories.”

There’ll also be free kid’s races, the 2005 Trek demo fleet will be available for test rides and the expo area will include Trek, Giant, Torq, Walker’s Cycling Services, JT Cycles, Specialized, Saracen, Raliegh/ERV and Magura. Camping is free, but note that there’s no water on site so remember to bring plenty.

If you get your skates on you can still enter online at www.xcracer.com today, or entry will be available on the day up to 30minutes before the start of whatever it is you’re entering.