Cycle Speedway Round-Up

Week-ending 27 Sept 2009

Midland League Birmingham v Leicester

Report: John Heard

Birmingham maintained their 100% record in this year Midland League with a solid victory over a strong Leicester line-up. Heat 1 was shared with Marcus Wadhams racing away from Lucasz Nowacki whilst Nicky Whitehead rode a tactical race to keep Nathan Groves at the back. The second race saw Craig Marchant go clear from gate one whilst this time Paul Heard and Tom Sensicall did the tactical 'stuff' relegating Norman Venson to the back. Heat 3 is where it started to spice up.

Chris Timms and Mark Winwood raced from the start into a 7-3 position only for Robbie to make a great pass on Mark on the 2nd lap - one lap later Mark attempted to pass Robbie on the outside and they both came down in a heavy fall - Robbie appearing to catch his ribs on the inside kerb. Referee Al Bentley excluded Mark for excessive force and a fortunate Robbie was able to take his place in the re-run which Chris won but Leicester went one point up.

The next drama was in heat 5 when Nathan Groves and Lucasz had a real tussle which despite Lucasz' best efforts he could not find a way past - heat 6 was also a real 'blinder'! Once again Craig Marchant shot from the gate keping Chris Timms behind him for 2 laps - on the 3rd lap however Chris rode hard up the inside of Craig forcing him off the white line - Stumpz could see what was happening so very carefully took the 'bounce' of Chris straight over to block Mark Winwood letting his partner Norman Venson through for a brilliant drawn heat. Heat 7 saw the first 7 pointer of the match with Kev Burns excluded for moving at the start and Robbie Venson marooned off grid 4 in the re-run - running score 37-31.

A number of drawn heats followed until the same Birmingham pairing of Groves and Wadhams saw off the pairing of Venson and Marchant for another 7-3 although it is fair to say that Leicester were not happy with the first turn that saw Craig struggling to find his pedals after a Birmingham 'sandwich' - the debate continued after the race with Norman Venson receiving a yellow card for refusing to return to the pits. The lead was extended to 10 points when Chris Timms became the third Birmingham rider to beat Lucasz and Mark Winwood got the better of Nicky Whitehead, however the joy was shortlived as Tom Sensicall became the next rider to incur Al Bentleys wroth for forcing an opponent off the track and Leicester gained a 7-2 to reduce the lead to 5.

The match was won however with a Birmingham 7-2 in heat 16 from Nathan Groves & Chris Timms over Marchant and Whitehead. In an almost identical move to heat 6 Craig was clear but trying to slow the race down to help his partner - again Chris Timms stalked him before making the pass up the inside on the home straight - this time however Craig failed to find anyone to bounce onto ending up on the floor - at the same time Nicky Whitehead ran into a Birmingham back wheel to also hit the deck - Nicky remounted but the match was over. Paul Heard completed a great day for the Birmingham top 4 by also beating Lucasz in heat 18 - final score 94-81.

Birmingham 94 (Chris Timms 19+1, Marcus Wadhams 18+2, Paul Heard 18, Nathan Groves 17, Paul Timms 7+1, Mark Winwood 6+1, Tom Sensicall 5+1, Andy James 4)
Leicester 81 (Lucasz Nowacki 16, Robbie Venson 12+2, Craig Marchant 12, Norman Venson 11+1, Kev Burns 10+3, Carl Jarvis 10+1, Nicky Whitehead 9+2, Matt Hartshorn 1)

The Combination match caught Birmingham out somewhat with the early 1 o'clock start making one or two riders unavailable meaning both Paul Heard & Mark Winwood stepped up and Mark Fletcher virtually rode in his pyjamas!! For Leicester Micky Skinner was very good and it was great to see Tim Jarvis taking 3 rides and seming to thoroughly enjoy himself. As always the young Winwoods, Reece & Ryan gave it their all and Birmingham would like to thank Leicester for alowing these young lads to get their points despite being lapped on the odd occassion. The match was won by a Leicester 7-3 in heat 13 as Lian Doughty and Tim 'raced away' from Reece & Ryan.

Combination:
Birmingham 62 (Mark Winwood 15, Paul Heard 14+2, Phil Widdas 13, Mark Fletcher 8, Reece Winwood 6 Ryan Winwood 6)
Leicester Lions 66 (Micky Skinner 12+2, Sam Hartshorn & Liam Doughty both 11+1, Steph Whitehead 11, Lucy Whitehead 9+2, Matt Hartshorn 7 Tim Jarvis 6+2)

The 2nd combination match saw racing debuts for Leicesters Chloe Whitehead and Charlie McMorran for Birmingham - in Charlies case he hadn't seen a cycle speedway race until about heat 8 of the main fixture but really did very well to get on a bike for the first time and ride in 5 races!

Aaron Deery and Phil Widdas were never really troubled and Mark Fletcher (having woken up from the first match) suffered his only defeat to a fast starting Lucy Whitehead in heat 4. Leicester picked up the points against the little ones and kept the match close, although their 7 points in the last heat did make it look a closer match than it perhaps appeared on track.

However as always in combination cycle speedway the real winners were the youngsters who raced with smiles on their faces enjoying every second of their time on track.

Birmingham Monarchs 66 (Aaron Deery & Phil Widdas both 16, Mark Fletcher15, Ryan Winwood & Charlie McMorran both 7 Reece Winwood 5)
Leicester Monarchs 64 (Luke Hartshorn 13+3, Lucy Whitehead 13, Liam Doughty 11+4, Sam Hartshorn 11+1, Chloe Whitehead 4).

Link: More on this event, including images - Full report

IPSWICH 282 KESGRAVE 198 HORSPATH 178 EXETER 160 SHEFFIELD 159 WEDNESFIELD 71

Final positions
IPSWICH 24 1121
KESGRAVE 20 907
EXETER 18 694
HORSPATH 18 663
SHEFFIELD 6 429
WEDNESFIELD 6 428

Grand Prix A Finals

U8 1 Jack Chaplin IPS 2 Sean Bennett ENE 3 Harrison Bacon KES 4 Dan Price BRE
U10 1 James Robinson EXE 2 Will Tidball EXE 3 Ethan Lewis ENE 4 Oliver Knight KES
U12 1 Matt Haddock WED 2 Adam Phillips AST 3 Richard Hudson SHE 4 Richard Fellgett IPS
U14 1 Aaron Morgan POO 2 Alistair Lam SPT 3 Will Hanson BRE 4 Scott Grimes HET
U16 1 Matthew Smith SAN 2 Jordan Stant IPS 3 Matt Beharrell HUL 4 Ben Mould POO
U18 1 Paul Heard BIR 2 Daniel Osborne GTB 3 Philip Adams HET 4 Jamie Brown SHE
GIRLS 12-17 1 Amy Crouch LEI 2 Laura Dale IPS 3 Rachel Edge HOR 4 Charlie-Jane Herbert EXE

Final Grand Prix Positions
U8
1 Sean Bennett ENE 195
2 Dan Price BRE 165
3 Adam Turnbull AST 163
U10
1 James Robinson EXE 200
2 Will Tidball EXE 160 after race-off
3 Oliver Knight KES 160
U12
1 Adam Phillips AST 174
2 Matt Haddock WED 173
3 Richard Hudson SHE 145
U14
1 Aaron Morgan POO 200
2 Ashley Hill IPS 147
3 Jack Lush SPT 145
U16
1 Ben Mould POO 177 after race-off
2 Matthew Smith SAN 177
3 Matt Beharrell HUL 173
U18
1 Thomas Reed EXE 188
2 Paul Heard BIR 163
3 Lee Smith SAN 142
GIRLS 12-17
1 Rachel Edge HOR 181
2 Laura Dale IPS 174
3 Amy Crouch LEI 165

158 Riders
Referees Alan Taylor Rob Mawhood Lee Smith Pete Dalley

27/9 South-East League Division 1
HETHERSETT 80 Ben Collins 15 Dave Martin 12+1 Dan Chambers 12+1
NORWICH 91 Craig Norton 20 Lee Grange 16+1 Laigh Cossey 14+1 Ian Grange 13+2
Referee Stan Allinson

27/9 South-East Youth League
HETHERSETT U16 65 Dan Chambers 23+1 Harley Hamill 20 Carly Grimes 10+1
NORWICH U16 76 Kieran Parr 20 James Wakefield 17+1 Josh Colby 14+2
Referee David Martin