O'Neill has a fight on his hands from James as titles races start to take shape

Last weekend's four point-to-point meetings brought the tally of fixtures for the season to 54, passing the midway point of what should be a 102-fixture campaign.

This is typically the point when those title championship battles that will generate much of the narrative late on begin to come to the fore.

Five winners on the opening weekend of the season saw Barry O'Neill set off with intent in pursuit of his sixth successive national riders' title as he continues his quest to match the record ten successive titles won by Derek O'Connor before Jamie Codd broke the cycle in 2014.