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Cycle Speedway Round Up - Easter Weekend 2011

Reports: Glenn Grange | Images: Brian Barnett

European Veteran Grand Prix Series Round 2

On Saturday at Harford Park, Norwich, the second round of the European Veteran Grand Prix Series was held, but with only 13 riders present, it was a big disappointment. Nevertheless, those riders that were present served up some good racing on what was a difficult surface to go full pelt on. In the Over 60's ‘A' Final, Colin Wheeler of Southampton took the chequered flag and 25 G.P.Points ahead of Les Stevens of East London (23 Pts) and Fred Rothwell of Pedalsport / Bury (22 Pts).

In the Over 50's 'A' Final, this time it was Dennis Hubble from East London who went on to win from Colin Wheeler, Les Stevens and Steve Woof roof (East London). In the Over 40's ‘A' Final, Dennis Hubble took advantage of Jason Ashford's (Leicester) slip as he entered the final lap, and went on to win to take the 25 G.P. Points. A sore Jason (23 G.P.Pts) just managed to finish in second place ahead of Gary Brown (Kesgrave) 22 Pts and Mark Griffiths of Wednesfield 21 Pts.

Ipswich v Norwich (SE League)

It was the clash of the big guns in the South-East League Division 1 on Sunday when the unbeaten sides in the Division, Ipswich and Norwich met at the Whitton Sports Centre in Ipswich, and on a superbly sunny afternoon, and on a well prepared track, two teams went head to head to see which team would still be unbeaten after 18 tough heats of Cycle Speedway writes Glenn Grange.

Ipswich drew first blood in Heat 1 when the two home riders took advantage of a heavy fall to Richard Hunt of Norwich, and also saw off the challenge from visiting rider Leigh Cossey to record the first 7 - 3 heat win of the match. Determined not to fall further behind in the next couple of heats, Norwich rode their hearts out, and the visiting Norfolk side even managed to close the gap to 3 points in Heat 4 (21 - 18).

With the run of big heat scores stopped, Norwich chipped away for the rest of the first half, but had to play second fiddle to The Eagles in Heats 8 & 9 as Ipswich went on to record two 6 - 4 heat wins to close the first half's racing with the score at Ipswich 48, Norwich 40.

With the racing becoming even more tougher and competitive, the second half served up some thrilling racing, with Norwich scoring their first 7 - 3 heat win of the match in Heat 12, to make the score Ipswich 62 Norwich 56. Heats 13 and 15 were the heats where Ipswich drew further ahead (78 - 68), and with the finishing line in view, it was Norwich who finished the stronger, but it was not to be good enough as Ipswich held on to take the win and the two League points by 93 - 85.

IPSWICH EAGLES 93 (Jordan Stant 6, Leon Mower 12+1, Jamie Chittock 15+1, Leon Yelland 13+1, George Solomon 6, Dan Pike 14+2, Josh Brookes 14+1, Ashley Hill 13)

NORWICH ‘STARS' 85 (Leigh Cossey 10, Richard Hunt 1, Ian Grange 5, Lukas Pisczczek 20, Lee Grange 17, Joshua Colby 8+2, Alan Parkins 9+1, Jason Barker 6+1 - Supplementary reserve: Gary Colby 9)

In the Division 2 match that followed, a very young Norwich side were no match for an impressive Ipswich side who completely dominated the match, recording no fewer that 11 maximum heat wins in the match. Ipswich were more determined to see off their local cross border rivals, going on to win in the end by 103 - 56. For Ipswich, Ashley Hill top scored with 19+1 and he was well supported by Lauren Jacobs who scored 19. Norwich on the other hand tracked a very young side, most of whom are in the Under 16 age group and were led by Jason Barker 14 and Danni Riley 8+1.