Cycle Speedway News Roundup

Week ending 7th June 2009

All the results and reports from another hot week of Speedway action.

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2009 South West Rose Bowl

Event: 31st May 2009, Hellingly, East Sussex

Report: Gilbert Davis

With the sun beating down on a well prepared Hellingly circuit and under the watchful eye of top referee Mike Legg, the 2009 South West Rose Bowl Final, featuring clubs who don't race in the Premier League, took place. With the late withdrawal of British Club Vet champions Filton, due to rider shortage, the other five teams - Exeter (who won the event in 2008), East Newport, Hellingly, Swindon and Southampton got on with the task to become 2009 Rose Bowl Team Champions. Also at stake was a place for the top four teams to race against seeded teams, Horspath and Poole, in this year's Gold Cup Final in July.

At the half way stage Southampton were leading with 25pts, followed by Hellingly on 23, East Newport with 18, Swindon on 17 and Exeter bringing up the rear with 16.

With Exeter and East Newport battling it out to finish in the all important Gold Cup place of fourth and Swindon in a comfortable third place, it was down to the host club and Southampton to determine who would be crowned Rose Bowl team champions, with Southampton on 34 points, 12 adrift of Hellingly and with two races left, they banged in two 7-3s to run out winners on 48 points.

Southampton 48: Colin Wheeler 14, Gavin Wheeler 14, Tom Collins 12, Rich Hayes 8

Hellingly 46: Neil Hollebon 15, Martin Hollebon 14, Eddie Ridley 11, Andy Long 4, John Durham 1

Swindon 41: Danny Harper 13, Rob Hunt 12, Mark Janes 10, James Bailey 7, Martin Glover dnr

East Newport 32: Aaron Hughes 12, Neil Power 8, Rob Absalom 7, Ryan Lewis 3, Nigel Clark 2

Exeter 30: Craig Nethercott 12, Dave Dart 8, Sam Dart 5, Aaron Herbert 5

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British Team Championship 1st Round - Hull vs Stoke
7th June 2009, Hessle
Hull 81 - Stoke 92
Report by Rich Pawson

Hull entertained Stoke at the Hessle Raceway on a dry sunny afternoon, and possibly the only meeting not to suffer from the rain over the weekend. It was expected to be a close encounter and so it turned out to be for the most part. Both teams were at full strength with Stoke opting to have two strong riders in Lewis Bates and Gary Pearce at reserve which they used to good effect during the meeting.

The meeting opened with a shared heat but in the following heat Corey Graham fell and lost a chain which led to him been lapped. Hull then followed this with a 7-3 and 6-4 heat win to open up a 5 point gap after four races. Stoke then hit back with a 7-3 win to reduce the deficit. A drawn heat followed and then Matt Beharrell suffered the first of his two gate exclusions, which handed Stoke a 6-3 heat win and a two point advantage. Hull hit back immediately with a 6-3 win following the exclusion of Richard Harrision and then Stoke raced to a 6-4 win in heat 9 to give them a one point advantage at the interval. Things couldn't have been much closer.

After the interval Hull re-took the lead with a 6-4 win followed by a drawn heat and then disaster struck. First Matt Beharrell and then Andy Angel were excluded for moving at the tapes to present Stoke with a 7-0 heat win which they then followed up with a 7-3 to open what proved to be a winning 10 point lead. As earlier the remaining heats proved pretty even with Stoke managing to gain only a further point advantage to run out winners by 11 points.

The match scorers were:

Hull: Andy Angell 10, Matt Beharrell 9+1, Adam Stephenson 17+1, Corey Graham 10, Simon Plows 15+1, Darren Spencer 12+1, Andy Norrie 4, Lewis Aylmer 4

Stoke: Mike Holdcroft 1, Richard Harrison 12+2, Errol Thaw 17, Adam Ellis 9+2, Simon Munden 12+1, Leighton Bates 11, Lewis Bates 18, Gary Pearce 12+1

Referee: Mr. Mike Hack

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Norfolk Grand Prix Series Round 3

Event: 3rd June 2009, Hethersett, Norfolk

A Final results

U13/Novice

1 Robert Warminger NOR

2 Danielle Riley NOR

3 Oliver Riley NOR

4 Ashley Brunori NOR

U16

1 James Wakefield NOR

2 Harley Hamill HET

3 Dan Chambers HET

4 Kieran Parr NOR

U19/SEN/VET

1 Lee Grange NOR

2 Leigh Cossey NOR

3 Phil Adams HET

4 Dave Martin HET (ns)

23 riders
Referees - Ian Grange / Dave Martin

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British Youth and Juniors Regional League - Round 4

6th June 2009, Leicester

Overall Result: IPSWICH 350, KESGRAVE 324, GT.BLAKENHAM 187, HETHERSETT 106, COLCHESTER 97, NORWICH 12

A Final Results

U8

1 Harrison Bacon KES

2 Tyler Brinkhoff GTB

3 Lewis Brinkhoff GTB

4 Jody Howard KES

U10

1 Pierce Bacon KES

2 Oliver Knight KES

3 Colby Hack GTB

4 Kane Grimmer GTB

U12

1 Philip Day GTB

2 Adam Overett IPS

3 Daniel Knights IP 4

Richard Fellgett IPS

U14

1 Ashley Hill IPS

2 Nathan Hunting KES

3 Harry Swallow KES

4 Scott Grimes HET

U16

1 Dan Chambers HET

2 George Solomon NOR 3

Jordan Stant IPS

4 Harley Hamill HET

U18

1 Dan Osborne GTB

2 Philip Adams HET

3 Ben Collins HET

4 Andy Turnbull KES

GIRLS

1 Laura Dale IPS

2 Carly Grimes HET

3 Paige Knight IPS 4

Tiffany Collins HET (fell,exc)

106 riders
Referees - Keith Brooks, Tony Stant, Steve Copping

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British Team Championship Round 1 - Sheffield vs. Heathersett

7th June 2009, Sheffield

SHEFFIELD 79: Ryan Hoyland 18 Jamie Brown 17 Leon Wild 16+1

HETHERSETT 101: Philip Adams 15+2 Dave Martin 16 Ben Collins 13+3 David Adams 11+5

Referee - Pete Ward

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British Team Championships - Birmingham vs. Wednesfield

7th June 2009, Birmingham

Report: John Heard

Birmingham 82 - Wednesfield 95

At 12.30 this match looked to be off... The rain, which hadn't stopped for 2 days was pouring down and the track was flooded. However, thanks to the sterling work of several Birmingham members, plus a break in the rain, a very good race meeting took place at which, undeniably, the best team won.

Birmingham started brightly with Nathan Groves passing Chris Jewkes in heat 1 and with Marcus "am I retired am I not?" Wadhams grabbing 3rd, putting Birmingham into an early lead.

Lee Aris fell under pressure from Mark Winwood in heat 2 but with Mark Griffiths racing away for his first of 3 wins the heat result was 5-5. Chris Timms then handed the only defeat of the afternoon to Terry Norman and with Carl Winwood in third Birmingham were now 4 points up and looking good.

Then disaster struck for Birmingham. Wadhams got outfoxed by Chris Jewkes who managed to get his partner Scott Docherty in front for the afternooon's first 7-3 and suddenly the match was all square. Chris Timms moved at the start in heat 6 leaving Carl Winwood isolated. However he rode a really good race to split Aris and Bentley to limit the damage. Heats were then shared and at the interval, at which point Wednesfield led 45 points to 43.

The second half saw the Wednesfield team consolidate its position with some really good tactical riding - halving races off the outs and gaining three 6-4s off their ins. Even on the two occassions when Scott Docherty was excluded for 'use of the leg', his partner Lee Aris limited the damage by winning the races.

There were several reasons Wednesfield won this match - their top 3 of Jewkes, Norman and Aris were supported magnificently by Mark Griffiths and between them they provided 11 race wins. They looked fit and determined and didn't let the conditions get to them. They also won 12 races to Birminghams 6.

Birmingham however never really got going - Paul Heard top scored with 17 and his only disappointment would be getting caught by Terry Norman on the line in heat 18. Nathan Groves started really brightly but faded after being fetched off by Docherty and Chris Timms recoved well from his 2nd ride exclusion.

Mark Winwood, Andy James and Paul Timms struggled with the conditions (quote Paul T "it's like riding across a mattress with the brakes on!") and Marcus Wadhams just wasn't 'at the races' and is clearly lacking in race fitness.

In conclusion the best team on the day did win and on this form will take some stopping as they bid to retain their title. The referee John Whiting had a good match and both sides will be happy with his performance.

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British Team Championships - Sandwell Lions vs. Gt Blakenham

7th June 2009, Sandwell, West Bromwich

Report: Roger Beaman

Sandwell 86 - Gt Blakenham 90

So Close but Lions Miss Out...Great Blakenham came to Sandwell Lions Tividale track has red hot favourites to win this British Team Championship match on Sunday afternoon (7 June), and found they had a real fight on their hands before they won the by just four points 90 to 86.

At the half way stage Sandwell were three points in front at 46-43. Sandwell's young Lion Lee Smith showed yet again why he is one of the best youngsters in the country, with some fighting performances, backed up all the way by Jamie Ball, plus older heads like Ivan Darby and Phil Hemming. Lee's brother Matt Smith won two races and it would have been three, if his chain had not broken when he was leading in the first heat.

Heat thirteen and Sandwell were still three points in front at 65 to 62, but in the last five heats Great Blakenham pulled off a 7-3 heat win to go into the last heat two points up at 84-82, and made sure of victory with 6-4 in the heat.

For Blakenham, Lewis Osborne won two heats and came second in his other three, James Studd also won two heats and came second in two others.

In all it was a very tight match, and all the riders did their bit, with some very close racing, and all deserve a pat on the back for putting some great racing on a very wet track (after nearly two days of rain), but no one conplained about the conditions and just got on with the racing.

Sandwell 86: Lee Smith 18, Jamie Ball 16, Russ Evans 12, Matt Smith 11, Phil Hemming 10, Ivan Darby 9, David Ball 5, Scott Millward 5

Great Blakenham: Lewis Osborne 17, James Studd 16, Jason Ashford 12, Chris Osborne 11, Adam Peck 11, Josh Brookes 8, Leon Mower 8, Dan Osborne 7

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British Team Champs Quarter Final Draw

Following a weekend's Team Champs action, we have our eight teams for the Quarter Finals, which take place on the 5th July. Here's a roundup of the results from this weekend's heats plus details of the draw below:

Results

Birmingham 82 Wednesfield 95
Hull 81 Stoke 92
Sandwell 86 Great Blakenham 92
Sheffield 79 Hethersett 101

The quarter final draw took place after the Sheffield v Hethersett match and was conducted and witnessed by Mel Perkins (Hethersett), Pat Cain and Ian Brown (Sheffield) along with Competition Manager Pete Ward.

British Team Championship Draw:

Great Blakenham vs. Horspath
Norwich vs. Wednesfield
Poole vs. Leicester
Stoke vs. Hethersett

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