Report: Cycle Speedway Weekly Roundup
Week Ending 9th August 2009
Full roundup of the week's cycle speedway match reports.
Under-19 Individual Championships
Andy Whitehouse was at Wednesfield's track to report on the Under-19 Individual Championships. For his report and lots of superb images, see his separate report
South East Fours League Round 4
Photographer Brian Barnett was at the South East Fours League Round 4 on Sunday 9 August and sent us a fine selection of images from the day. Here's just one example, with all the rest linked from the Gallery link at the top of the page.
Gt. Blakenham v Poole, 9th August 2009
Images: Graham Sutton (More images linked at top of page)
Gt. Blakenham 83: C Osborne 15, L Mower 9+1, A Peck 14, D Osborne 12+1, W Page 7+1, L Osborne 17, J Day 4, M Szyszlyk 5
Poole 96: D Murphey 13+2, G Wheeler 15+1, J Williams 8+2, A Poproboski 13+1, B Mold 14+1, T Reed 13+2, T Collins 14, S Hern 6+1
Combination
Gt. Blakenham 73 (59 +14): D. Osborne 13+1, B. Brooke 5, M Szyszlyk 9, J Day 9, W. Page 17, T Ashford 6+1
Poole 98 (70+28): I. Glover 11, A Morgan 12+2, J Williams 13+2, M Elston 12, L Armes 9+1, S Hern 13+1
Birmingham v Norwich
Both teams went into this match missing key riders. Birmingham had Dominic Rychardski on holiday and Lewis Bates was forced to sit out on the day due to a sore knee - Norwich were still missing their two poles and were unable to track Phil Howells, Nick Myhill, Lee Cossey, Jazz Abbott and Craig Norton.
The first half of the match saw Birmingham register three 7-3s and six 6-4s to open up a 25 point lead, although this did not do justice to the Norwich effort with both Grange brothers, Gary Colby, Rich Williamson and Dave Solomon being involved in some really close races - Dave being the only exclusion in the first 9 heats when he chopped across Rich Harrison in heat 5.
However the second half started very differently when Errol Thaw got excluded in heat 10 for 'blocking' and this left Rich Harrison marooned on the outside grid and Dave Solomon and Lee Grange rode the perfect first bend to ensure the first Norwich heat victory. In the following race team manager Phil Widdas decided to rest Garry Pearce and replaced him with Leighton Bates but despite all of his efforts he could not recover from being left on the first bend and the match had its first drawn heat.
Heat 12 saw Birmingham's next exclusion with Russ Evans being the man disciplined for 'legging' Lee Grange - again in the re-run the lone Monarch was off grid 4, but whereas Rich Harrison was ridden out on the first corner Paul Heard just put in a monster start off the outside to hit the bend 2 bike lengths up on the two visitors to limit the damage to 4-5.
Dave Solomon claimed his and Norwich's second race win in heat 14 but Birmingham closed the match out with two more 6-4s and a 7-3 - the only heat loss was in the penultimate race when Garry Pearce became the third Birmingham rider to be excluded, this time at the tapes. Once again Paul Heard was the man left on his own and once again he was left on grid 4 - once again however he jetted from the start to complete his maximum - a feat also accomplished by Chris Timms and Marcus Wadhams.
Overall it was a good match with some quality cycle speedway refereed well by Pete Ward.
Birmingham 101: Paul Heard 19+1, Chris Timms 18+2, Marcus Wadhams 16, Russ Evans & Errol Thaw 12, Garry Pearce 9, Rich Harrison 8+1, Leighton Bates 7+1
Norwich 75: Lee Grange 13+2, Dave Solomon 12, Ian Grange 11+2, Rich Williamson 10+1, Gary Colby, Barry Copping & Ben Collins 9, Peter Williamson 2.
The combination match was a top of the table affair, with both Clubs putting out separate line ups to the Premier match, ensuring they both received the bonus point. Birmingham went for experience whilst Norwich relied on youth supported by the legendary Andy 'Bonecrusher' Barrett.
George Solomon won heat one after Mark Winwood was excluded for moving at the start, however first Tom Sensical and Paul Timms and then Andy James and Nathan Groves raced to 7-3 wins to put Birmingham clear. George repeated his heat one success in heat 4 but again Birmingham hit straight back with two more 7-3s to open up a 14 point lead. Again George 'stopped the rot' with a fine last bend pass on Paul Timms but with Mark Fletcher in third the lead remained intact.
Heat 8 saw some vintage speedway from Andy James - having been drifted out on the first turn he cleverly rounded the one Norwich rider before diving inside the other in the same move to rapturous applause from the pits. Heat 9 had Carl Winwwod - recently recovered from swine flu - off grid one, and in true brotherly spirit he too picked up a gate exclusion leaving Tom Sensical to race alone, but he had too much for the Norwich pair and raced from the tapes for victory.
Still on a high from his fine ride two races earlier Andy James came to the tapes with Nathan Groves and the previously unbeaten George Solomon in heat 10, and whilst Nathan made a fine pass on George to go on and complete his maximum, Andy stalked him for 4 laps before just clipping his back wheel exiting the 4th turn and came down with an almighty crash skinning his one knee completely - in fairness he got back up and limped to the line for his point to great applause - similar to the clapping that greeted Andy Barrett's third place for Norwich!
Two more 7-3s for Birmingham completed the match and they no must be regarded as favourites for this combination league title. Special thanks must go to East Park's Al Bentley for stepping in and refereeing this fixture.
Birmingham 77: Nathan Groves 16, Mark Winwood 12, Paul Timms 10+1, Bob Prince & Tom Sensical 9+2, Andy James 7+2, Carl Winwood & Mark Fletcher 7+1.
Norwich 50: George Solomon 18, Robert Warminger 7+1, James Wakefield, Liam Parker & Josh Colby all 6, Lewis Connor 4, Andy Barrett 3+1
Horspath v Leicester
Report: Geoff Gamage
A good crowd witnessed a superb BPL match at The Village, with both teams doing their best to lose the match! No less than eight exclusions kept match referee Mike Legge busy. However none were too controversial.
Heat 1 saw a great ride from Mike Morgans to pass Lukasz Nowacki and then get team mate Dave Carmichael round for an opening 7-3. In the next race Hammers grabbed a 6-3 following a Craig Marchant tape exclusion courtesy of Steve Harris / Mark Carmichael. Those who thought this was going to be the regular Sunday Roast for the home team were soon to see this was no ordinary meat and two veg, as Leicester notched a Dan Pike / Mark Newey 7-0 following a heavy fall from Mark Boaler and an exclusion for excessive force for Danny Harper.
Scores were level, but not for long, Dave Carmichael / Rafal Dulinski taking advantage of a Nicky Whitehead gate exclusion for a 7-2. Monarchs hit back with a Nowacki / Mark Whitehead 6-3 following a Morgans gate exclusion, a great dash to the line from Matty Szymczak splitting the pair. Another 6-3 following a Boaler gate exclusion for Marchant / Leon Yelland put the visitors in front by a point.
Nowacki / Adam Stephenson then grabbed a 6-4 but Dulinski / Danny Harper replied with the same the interval score had Leicester leading 42-41 and the home crowd searching for the beta blockers - this was going to be a close one!
A win for Boaler and Pike started the half with two drawn heats, another gate exclusion for Marchant resulted in a 7-2 from Dave Carmichael / Morgans. Nowacki now in full flow took a drawn 13. Horspath stretched their lead with a Dulinski / Mark Carmichael 6-4. Dan Pike wrapped up his 4th win in the drawn 15th. The Hammers really locked up the match with a Dulinski / Morgans 7-3 in the next race. They put out two unbeaten riders in the penultimate heat, but neither won: Mark Whitehead took a drawn heat.
Fortunately for Hammers they were ten up going into the much restarted last race: eventually both Boaler ( excessive force into the first bend ) and Harris ( exceeding the time limit for the final restart ) were excluded giving Nowacki / Newey a 7-0 but Horspath were already safely home and finished with a deceptively close 3 point win.
The decision to utilize secondary rider Rafal Dulinski in the spot originally for Marcin Skowronek, has proved vital in the last two home encounters. Dave Carmichael was great too, with Mike Morgans inspirational. Lukasz Nowacki unbeaten after the first race and Daniel Pike led a spirited and rejuvenated Monarchs who, had they been able to field this team all seaso,n would have certainly been up there challenging. Great match everyone including the referee.
Premier League
HORSPATH 86 ( Dave Carmichael 16+2, Mike Morgans 12+4, Steve Harris 13, Mark Carmichael 7+1, Danny Harper 8, Mark Boaler 6+1, Rafal Dulinski 18+1, Matuesz Szymczak 6+1. )
LEICESTER 83 ( Adam Stephenson 8, Lukasz Nowacki 18, Leon Yelland 8, Craig Marchant 7+1, Mark Newey 11+2, Daniel Pike 17, Nicky Whitehead 4, Mark Whitehead 10.)
referee Mike Legge (Dorset)
Premier Combination
HORSPATH 58 ( Wayne Clarke 8+1, Matt Coulter 7, Wayne Hutt 15+1, Zac Payne 3, Lee Clarke 9, Jack Smith 3, Jordan Richardson 4+2, Ben Carter 9. )
LEICESTER 71 ( Matt Hartison 9+2, Sam Hartison 12, Steph Whitehead 8+1, Lucy Whitehead 16, Robbie Venson 13+2, Michelle Whitehead 11+1, Luke Hartison 2.)
referee Mike Legge ( Dorset )
More Results & Reports
Sheffield v Wednesfield
Sheffield 99: Dariusz Pilas 17, Lee Smith 15+1, Andy Angell 13+1, Remi Burchardt 13, Pawel Kozlowski 11+1, Ryan Hoyland 11+1, Piotr Jamroscyk 10+2, Jamie Brown 9
Wednesfield 79: Mark Griffiths 15, Terry Norman 14+1, Lee Aris 13+1, Chris Jewkes 12+1, Roger Cox 10, Dayle Peace 9, Matt Turley 4, Mick Aris 2
Combination
Sheffield 72: Leon Wild 20, Ricky Wild 18+1 Chris Turner 15, Kyle Brough 5, Josh Owen 4, Jordan Gabbitas 3+1, Chris Bingham 3+1
Wednesfield 59: Jordan Rich 12+1, Liam Johnson 12, Charlie Ellitts 10+1, Rianna Bridley 9+3, Wayne Aris 8+2, Matt Turley 8
Astley & Tyldesley Report
Report: Mike Hack - Thursday 6 August
The Manchester League are proudly celebrating 60 years of organised cycle speedway racing in Greater Manchester this year. Fittingly the three current tracks in the area are each staging League Individual Finals across five categories this month. Astley & Tyldesley hosted the U-10 and U-16 Individual Finals at Gin Pit on Wednesday evening. In front of a good sized crowd, an entertaining night's racing took place in a well presented meeting on a well prepared track.
The host A & T club supplied all six riders who contested the U-10 event. U-10 Grand Prix series winner Adam Watson carried on where he left off and won all his four races to win the U-10 Final, with a 16 points maximum. His nearest challenger, Stefan Whitelegg, dropped just one point in heat 7, to finish runner-up. First year rider Colin Farn continued his progress, scoring 14 and taking the 3rd place trophy. The awards were presented by the Astley & Tyldesley Club Chairman, Bill Phillips.
Manchester League U-10 Individual Final result
Adam Watson (A & T) 16, Stefan Whitelegg (A & T) 15, Colin Farn (A & T) 14, Max Evans (A & T) 13, Kian Crane (A & T) 12, Tyler Koch (A & T) 11.
Referee - Gary Nuttall.
Astley & Tyldesley riders were presented with the Manchester League Division 2 winners' cup and riders' trophies during the interval.
The floodlights came on for the U-16 event and some excellent racing took place. Ben Higham fell in heat 1 as he tried to pass Jon-Luc Miladinovic on the first lap, but with only those two in the race, remounted for 2nd place. Miladinovic won his next race, before losing to Ali Lam in heat 9. Higham hit back with three race wins, as Miladinovic won his last two to finish on 19 points. Higham won heat 20 to equal the Bury rider's total and force a run-off for 1st place. Miladinovic won the toss and took gate 1. In the run-off, Higham pulled off a superb gate and was in front at the first turn, leading all the way to take the chequered flag and the trophy. Jack Lush impressed with some fine passing to score 18 points and take 3rd place overall, just ahead of Ali Lam and Mat Lush. The awards were presented by the Manchester League Competition Secretary, Alan Taylor.
Manchester League U-16 Individual Final result
Ben Higham (Stockport) 19, Jon-Luc Miladinovic (Bury) 19, Jack Lush (Stockport) 18, Ali Lam (Stockport) 17, Mat Lush (Stockport) 17, Jake Read (Stockport) 15, Liam Webster (Sheffield) 14, Kyle Brough (Sheffield) 13, Joe Pickford (Stockport) 12, Laura Watson (A & T) 11.
Referee - Bill Phillips.
5/8 Norfolk Grand Prix Series Round 6 at Spixworth
A Final results
U13/Novice
1 Robert Warminger NOR 2 Oliver Riley NOR 3 Gabrielle Riley NOR 4 Katie Adams HET
U16
1 Carly Grimes HET 2 Dan Chambers HET
U19/Senior/Vets
1 Philip Adams HET 2 Leigh Cossey NOR 3 Ben Collins HET 4 Mel Perkins HET
12 riders
Referee - Ian Grange
