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Report: 2010 Home International

Event: 12th June 2010, Perry Park, Birmingham | Report and Images: Andy Whitehouse

England (63pts) put on a strong display of riding to take the 2010 Cycle Speedway Home International title held at Birmingham's Perry Park. Always favorites to retain the title, the five man squad captained by Terry Norman proved far too strong for their opponents, riding Wales (48pts) into runners-up position by 15 points and leaving Ireland (34 pts) and Scotland (31pts) to battle it out for third and fourth spots. England's Mark Boaler rode superbly to earn a maximum sixteen points, showing his dominance on the dry track and was well supported by a gritty display by team mate Chris Timms. Wales' Mark Carmichael as always rode well for his 13 points and team mate Nicky Evans' 11 points probably didn't reflect his determined ride.

Heat one gave England's Chris Timms his first win of the match with a strong second place from Scotland's Mikey Hewitson, only for team mate Jakes Sleight to go one place better in the next heat with a fine win to give Scotland a two point lead over England and Wales. Mark Boaler's first win of the match came in heat four with a storming ride from the gate, leaving his opponents trailing in his wake. Heat four saw reserve Dan Chambers take England's fourth win of the day and the red and white tops didn't relinquish their lead for the remainder of the match. A great tussle in heat six between Terry Norman and Mark Carmichael saw the Welsh rider just get the better of the experienced Norman to take the heat and the four points, while a crash in the heat saw Ireland's Tom Doyle lapped by the rest of the field.

A nasty looking crash between England's Lee Smith and Wales' Mark Winwood in heat seven left the English rider lying on the track for a while and Winwood sent back to the pits for the cause of the stoppage but as usually happens in the sport the injured rider got back on his bike for the rerun and took the four points from Ireland's Wayne Clark. By the halfway point England had secured a strong lead with an eight point advantage over Wales (23pts) who in turn were just four points ahead of Scotland and with 13 points the Irish team were just starting to slip out of contention.

Mark Carmichael took heat nine with an excellent ride over Chris Timms giving the Welsh youngster his second win of the day. Birmingham's Mark Winwood had the crowd cheering the Welsh rider round the track after a strong gate which saw the local lad hold off Mark Boaler until the last bend when a brilliant pass by the England rider just took the win from the obviously frustrated Welshman. A poor show from the Scottish team in the third group of four heats coming in last in every heat allowed the Ireland team to draw level on points going into the last group of rounds.

A rerun in heat thirteen saw Chris Timms take the win and Wales' Nicky Evans rode a great race to take second just behind Timms. A great race in heat fifteen gave England's Dan Chambers his second win of the day and with Ireland's Dave Martin just holding off Mark Carmichael to take second place the day was England's and what a way to finish in the final heat with a win from Mark Boaler taking the match and the highest score of the day.

Results

ENGLAND 63: Mark Boaler 16,Chris Timms 14, Terry Norman 12, Dan Chambers 11, Lee Smith 10

WALES 48: Mark Carmichael 13, Ben Mould 13, Nicky Evans 11, Mark Winwood 7, Dave Murphy 4

IRELAND 34: Dave Martin 9, Adam Stephenson 8, Leigh Cossey 8, Tom Doyle 7, Wayne Clarke 2

SCOTLAND 31: Jake Sleight 8, Josh Colby 8, Craig Newsome 6, Nathan Groves 5, Mikey Hewitson 4