BCTG Elite League – Birmingham v Ipswich
Location: Birmingham Cycle Speedway
Event: 28th October 2012
The match was held in dreadful conditions which got worse and worse as the afternoon went on –great credit must go to both sets of riders and the referee Mike Legge for making it so entertaining.
Birmingham, for the first time in many weeks, were able to call on both Scott Millward and Jack Harrold and this gave the much needed support that Chris Timms and Paul Heard have been lacking – as a result they could cover the less experienced riders and provide the number of race winners required to win a match.
The Monarchs opened with a 7-3 from the afore-mentioned Harrold and Millward against Knight and Roberts although it did take three attempts, as Roberts seemed unable to stay upright on the first turn during the first stagings. Seven drawn heats followed with Birmingham taking the flag in all of them but also placing last. They also provided the winner of heat 9 in Scott Millward in a race that was awarded by referee Legge as he excluded Jordy Stant for forcing his opponent Millward onto the centre green - 6-3 to Birmingham with a half time score of 48-41.
The Monarchs stretched the lead in heat 10 as Timms and Millward grabbed a 7-3 over the impressive Rumbold, shared the next two heats (again providing the race winners on both occasions) before more excellent team work from Timms in getting his partner Steve Hodgkinson in front and then fending off all Ipswich could throw at him – Lewis Roberts once again hitting the deck.
Heat 14 saw Ipswich provide their face winner as Leon Mower took the flag but there was to be no heat advantage as Paul Timms proved that he could team ride as well as his son by expertly shepherding home young Ewan Hancox for the 5-5. Heat 15 looked for all intent and purpose a 7-3 to the Monarchs as Millward and Heard sped away from Richard Fellgete, however, as the conditions got worse, Scott’s legs began to go and Paul was having to work incredibly hard to keep the flying Fellgete behind. All looked good as they went into the last bend however Scott eased off, running straight across Paul’s line and Fellgete pounced to split the Monarchs. It was a great ride by Fellgete who was the pick of the visitors today with his tremendous speed around the track and determination.
Heat 16 saw a heat advantage to the Eagles as Hodginkson moved at the tapes leaving Phil Widdas as the lone Monarch and Rumbold and Knight made no mistake. Harrold completed his maximum in heat 17 and the two Birmingham big guns Timms and Heard did what they have done many times this year and finished the match and season with another 7-3 – final score 97 – 81.
In the Match Race Championship, Richard Fellgete took on holder Heard and won the toss to take the inside gate. They were pretty level going into the first turn but Heard got a big push on his younger opponent which gave him a lead of about five bike lengths. Many would have given in at that point but great credit to Richard for closing the gap right up again and it was Paul who had to ride Richard around for two laps. It is fair to say it was the British and European number two that was the happier to see the chequered flag.
Results:
Birmingham 97: Jack Harrold 20, Scott Millward 19+1, Paul Heard 18, Chris Timms 17+3, Steve Hodgkinson 8, Paul Timms 6+1, Phil Widdas 5, Ewan Hancox 4
Ipswich 81: Charlie Rumbold 15, Richard Fellgete 14+1, Leon Mower 13+2, Daniel Knight 11+3, Lewis Roberts 9, Jordy Stant 8+4, Will Clarke 7, Lauren Jacobs 4+1.
BCTG Elite League - Leicester v Poole
Location: Leicester Cycle Speedway
Event: 28 October 2012
Poole certainly looked like a tough nut to crack but the lowly Monarchs gave them a much tougher match then many would have expected.
The Slater Street outfit opened up with a 7-2 after Sam Hearn got his marching orders and held onto their lead until the interval. However the Dorset side got their noses in front with two successive maximums immediately after the break and Leicester could never find the firepower to eat into their lead.
Maciei Ganczarek scorched to a superb maximum for Poole but it was tactical reserve Tom Reed who probably made the difference, both of his replacement rides netting maximum points over the opposition. Leicester battled hard and contributed to an excellent match but in the final analysis just five race winners isn’t likely to win many matches, but the home riders can hold their heads high for the way they went about their business against such strong opposition.
The meeting was held in deteriorating conditions and the riders can all be complimented for producing such fine racing on a very slippery surface. Referee Bob Prince also deserves a pat on the back, his decisions were all consistent a fact acknowledged by both sides.
Results:
Leicester 84: L Nowacki 16+2, P Howells 15+1, A Stephenson 12+1, K Burns 12, J Ashford 9+2, C Marchant 9+2, N Whitehead 6, D Frith 5
Poole 95: M Ganczarek 20, T Reed 17+2, G Gluchowski 16, M Nowak 14+2, M Szymanski 14+2, L Glover 9+1, S Hearn 3, A Smith 2
Combination Result:
Leicester 76 (Liam Wood 13+2, Liam Davies 12+1)
Poole 66 (A Smith 20, O Sidwick 16, L Glover 15)
BCTG Elite League - Ipswich v Leicester
Location: Ipswich Cycle Speedway
Event: 27 October 2012
Leicester were the visitors to Ipswich in their last home fixture this season in a bottom of the table clash ,the home team having already being dealt a blow with the loss of Josh Brooke due to an accident cutting his season short. With senior riders missing once again due to work commitments and non-availability, they once again looked to promote from within with three combinations riders stepping in to bolster the squad, in fact the Ipswich team had seven riders aged twenty and under with three being under sixteen .
The Leicester team, on the other hand, bolstered a world champion and several ex-british champions as well as plenty of experience ,right from the off Leicester started as they meant business and after an unlucky exclusion to Chittock from the re-run they saw off Mower to claim a 7-2. This was not the start the Suffolk side had dreamt of but to their credit, secured a fine 6-4 in the next heat with Roberts/Cossey getting the better of Howells /Pike partnership. Heat three saw Marchant /Burns brush aside Clark /Stant 7-3 to open up a seven point lead. The early signs looked ominous but Ipswich came back and managed to share the very next two heats, Leicester then took control of the match with 7-3s in heats six and seven. Suddenly there was daylight between the two teams, a shared heat in eight before some more joy for the Suffolk side in nine when youngsters Clark and Hill secured a 6-4 over Howells /Whitehead leaving the home team trailing at the break by thirteen.
After the break, Ipswich got off to a great start when Fellgett collected his third of four heat wins for the afternoon. Ipswich's luck wasn't with them in the next heat when Cossey ended up in the fence and was unable to continue in the re-run which enabled Marchant/Burns to collect a comfortable 6-4 over Roberts/Hill as the replacement rider. The rest of the half, Leicester were able to pick of the spirited challenge of this plucky Suffolk squad but in the end in truth the Midlanders had just a little too much experience for their opponents on the day .
Result:
Ipswich 78 : Richard Fellgett 18 , Lewis Roberts 16 , Jordan Stant 9 ,
Jamie Chittock 7,Leon Mower 7, Leigh Cossey 7 ,Will Clark 7, Matt Hill 7 .
Leicester 101 : Craig Marchant 17, Jason Ashford 16 ,Lukasz Nowacki 16 ,
Phil Howells 14, Dan Pike 14 , Kev Burns 14 ,Nicky Whitehead 5 , Ashley Doughty 5 .
Elite Combination
Both teams had to give away penalty points before the start of this combination fixture and this made for an interesting encounter with both teams riding well. Ipswich were looking to close out their season to remain unbeaten this season at home and at one stage it wasn't going to plan and at the half way stage Leicester held a slender lead on the day by three points ,but like in many cases this season the home team seem to be able to rally in the second half and in the remaining six heats went on to claim five heat advantages, finally overcoming their visitors by twelve points 70 -58 ,with the penalties points added making the final score 90 - 73 .
Result:
Ipswich (70+20) 90 : Matt Hill 16 , Will Clark 13, Daniel Knights 12 ,
Terry Gilbert-Rolfe 11, Lauren Jacobs 8, Fraser Harris 7, Jack Chaplin 3 .
Leicester (58+15) 73 : Liam Wood 13 , Dan Pike 11 , Lauren Davies 9 ,
Liam Doughty 8,Ashley Doughty 8, Liam Davies 7 .
BCTG Elite League - Birmingham v Wednesfield
Location: Birmingham Cycle Speedway
Event: 27 October 2012
Wednesfield opened with two comfortable 7-3s and in heat 3 Aris and Griffiths lined up against the Heard and Timms pairing – disaster for the home team as Heard moved at the start – dropping his first Elite points in four matches. In the three man re-run, Timms tried a pass on Griffiths which resulted in him sitting on the centre green – he decided to stay there and the Wednesfield boys bagged a 7-0 against the Monarchs top two.
Two further 7-3s for Wednesfield followed as the Aces had 5 consecutive 7 pointers from 5 heats – 35 points. Heard and Timms were out again in heat 6 and this time it was Timms turn to move at the tapes leaving Heard off grid 4 – The Aces gated, but in the best race of the afternoon Heard reeled in Wheeler before blasting round the outside of him before repeating the feat on Jewkes on lap 3 – it was still a Wednesfield heat advantage but they hadn’t managed another 7 pointer and Birmingham had scored more than 3 in a race. Normal service was resumed in heat 8 7-3 Wednesfield before Heard beat Jewkes and the very impressive Troy Allen in heat 9 to make the half time score 27 to Birmingham and 59 to Wednesfield.
Chris Timms won his only race of the afternoon in heat 10 beating Wheeler and the equally impressive Matt Haddock, Aris & Griffiths gained another 7 point haul in heat 11 and then Paul Timms got the better of Troy Allen in heat 12 to become only the third Birmingham rider to take points off an Ace. Paul Heard won heats 13 & 16 against great friend and rival Ben Mould but Birminghams only other success was in heat 18 when Chris Timms rode Ricki Johnson round at the back to grab a 5-5 with Steve Hodgkinson getting second place behind Aris.
Results:
Birmingham 64 : Paul Heard 16, Steve Hodginson 11, Paul Timms 10, Chris Timms 8+1, Phil Widdas 7, Richard Stevenson 6, Reece Winwood and Dylan Hexley both 3.
Wednesfield 112: Ben Mould 16+2, Matt Haddock 16+3, Troy Allen 16+1, Mark Griffiths 14+2, Chris Jewkes 13+1, Lee Aris 13+3, Ricki Johnson 12+2, Gavin Wheeler 12+1
The combination match was a little more eventful than the first. The visitors dominated without dropping a single heat. All parings for the Aces worked superbly. Unfortunately the home side incurred a 30 point penalty.
Results:
Birmingham 43: D Dempsey 9, P Stevenson 8, S Hodgkinson 7, D Hexley 7, R Winwood 5, P Widdass 5, R Winwood 4
Wednesfield 87: C Dyke 16+4, H Rowley 16+1, T Bewick 16, H Everiss 14+2, D Meanley 13+3, C Ellitts 12
