NEWS FOR JULY 2003

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CYCLE SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPS COME TO MANCHESTER

This weekend sees the highlight of the 2003 Cycle Speedway season, with the staging of the World Championships, held for the first time in Manchester in their 45 years history. The world's top cycle speedway racers will converge on the Astley & Tyldesley and Bury venues, to provide a festival of fast and furious cycle speedway action around the 75 metre shale surfaced oval circuits, with physical contact and close racing the inevitable order of the day.

England will be defending the World Team Cup they won in Australia in 2001, and likely to face a strong challenge from the fast improving Poland team. Seven teams will contest a 35 race spectacle at the Astley & Tyldesley Miners' Welfare Club, Meanley Road, Gin Pit, Astley, Gt. Manchester, with the first race starting at 3 pm on Saturday (2nd August). The teams are: Australia, England, Holland, Ireland, Poland, Scotland, Wales.

Both Astley & Tyldesley and Bury will be staging a programme of Individual Championship Qualifying Rounds, starting at 12 noon on Friday (1st August). The action continues at both tracks on Saturday at 10 am, with Bury staging the Individual Semi-Finals starting at 10 am on Sunday (3rd August). The weekend's racing concludes with the World Individual Championship Final at the Goshen Sports Centre, Tennyson Avenue, Bury, starting at 3 pm on Sunday. Poole and England rider Dave Hemsley will be defending the World title he won in Australia in 2001, as he bids to become the first rider in cycle speedway history to win three World titles.

The Astley based Eagle School of Motoring are sponsoring the World Team Cup at Astley, with Formulated Polymer Products of Ramsbottom sponsoring the World Individual Final at Bury.

Admission and car parking at both venues is free throughout the weekend, with two live bands providing post match entertainment at Astley on Saturday evening. For further information, visit the promoting club's websites at www.astleycyclespeedway.org.uk and at www.burycsc.co.uk or British Cycling's website at www.britishcycling.org.uk

Recent racing results involving Astley & Tyldesley riders have seen excellent victories for the club's two Polish riders in recent major events at Bury. Pawel Kozlowski defeated the holder Terry Norman, of Tameside, in a tie break to win the Northern Individual Championship, after both had scored 19 points, with Heckmondwike's James Carter in third place on 17.

This Saturday saw the staging of the Ken Graham Memorial Trophy at Bury, which attracted a 23 strong field, with riders keen to get in practice on the Bury track for the forthcoming World Championships. Kozlowski again impressed, scoring 18 points from his five qualifying races, but being eliminated in his sudden death quarter final race. A & T's other Pole, Przemek Binkowski, scored a maximum 20 points in his qualifiers, and maintained his winning ways in both his quarter-final and semi-final races. In the final, he made a great start and held off a strong challenge from England captain, Lee Aris, of Wednesfield, to win the trophy, with Gt. Blakenham's Adam Peck third and Bury's Fred Rothwell fourth.

Astley & Tyldesley manager Mike Hack was the English official on the International panel of referees for the World Junior Championships in Poland. He refereed three matches, including the first ever junior international between Poland and the USA. Poland dominated the championships, beating England in the Junior Team Cup by four points, providing the top four riders in the Junior Individual Final and beating England by two points to win the Senior Pairs Championship.

Astley & Tyldesley and Tameside contested the 3rd Round of the Manchester League Grand Prix series at Stockport on Thursday, with Bury again non-starters. Tameside easily took the Junior match, with A & T easy winners of the Senior match. In the U-13 category, Tameside's Lewis Riley and A & T's Becky Heslop managed to avoid each other and therefore both raced unbeaten in their category. Tameside's Chris Eaton, Mark Wylie and Terry Norman all raced unbeaten in the U-16, U-19 and Senior categories respectively.

Manchester League Grand Prix Round 3 result

Junior Match
Tameside 73 Astley & Tyldesley Miners' Welfare / CTA Direct 29 Bury Pedalsport 0.

Tameside scorers: Chris Eaton 16, Lewis Riley 16, Mark Wylie 16, Joe Granelli 13, Danny Moss 12.

A & T scorers: Becky Heslop 16, Warren Mee 13.

Senior Match

Astley & Tyldesley Miners' Welfare / CTA Direct 49 Tameside 24 Bury Pedalsport 0.

A & T scorers: Przemek Binkowski 13, Pawel Kozlowski 13, Garry Pearce 10, Mike Hack 7, Roy Heslop 6.

Tameside scorers: Terry Norman 16, Danny White 8. Mike Hack Astley & Tyldesley Cycle Speedway Club Tel. 01942 515341 (H) or 0161-793 3537 (W)