British Veteran 40+ Cycle Speedway Final

 

Horspath - 6 Sept 2008

Images: Brian Barnett

Steve Harris continued his current rich vein of form with an outstanding display on his home track, Horspath, to clinch the British 40+ Championship at his first attempt. The Horspath track staff had worked miracles to get the meeting on after thousands of gallons of water had been pumped off Friday night and Saturday morning following the recent torrential ran.

Timothy Grimes and Phil Widdas went out in the eliminators with reserves Dave Palfreyman and Martin Glover. A quality line up saw defending champ Ian Lawrence take the opening race after 4 re-runs, Mark Newey , Steve Harris and Gary Colby took the remaing first batch of races, Colby quickly made good his two insides taking heat 5, Harris heat 6, Norman Venson defeated Newey in the 7th, Andy Franks took the eight to go on to 7.

Top scorers after two rides were Colby, Harris 8, Newey, Franks 7, Venson 6. Pete Young grabbed heat 9 over Venson, Darren Kent the 10th. Rain returned during the interval Dave Murphy winning heat 11. Heat 12 had the leading 4 riders: Harris sped from gate 3 Franks passed by both Newey and Colby on the last lap.

 

Top scorers after three races were Harris 12, Newey 10, Colby 10, Venson 9, Murphy 9. Newey took heat 13 from Murphy, Venson saw off Colby, Harris dropped his first point to Gary Brown who took the Hammers rider on the third lap. Cross won heat 16.

Top scorers after 4 races were Harris 15, Newey 14, Venson 13, Colby 13, Murphy 12, Cross 12. Cross was excluded in the 17th leaving Harris to storm home and clinch the title. Newey confirmed the runners up spot with a heat 18 win. Young took 19 from Brown relegating both Colby and Murphy. Venson clinched third place with a heat 20 win.

 

All riders doing well especially considering the rain form half time throughout the second half.

 

British 40+ Veterans Championship Final

Steve Harris 19, Mark Newey 18, Norman Venson 17, Pete Young 15, Gary Colby 14, Dave Murphy 14, Ian Lawrence 12, Andre Cross 12, Paul Gibbs 11, Gary Brown 11, Darren Kent 11, Andy Franks 9, Paul Timms 9, Mark Griffiths 8, Mike Burgess 6, Les Stevens 5, Dave Palfreyman ( res) 3 Martin Glover (res) DNR. eliminated Phil Widdas, Timothy Grimes.

referee Ralph Doughty