Birmingham Monarchs took the victory at Ashmore Park in the Wednesfield Aces Jubilee meeting.
A warm sunny afternoon greeted Wednesfield, Birmingham, East Park, Swindon and Coventry to the Wednesfield track to help celebrate the host's fifty years in the sport. An early season lung buster saw an afternoon of fine racing from all five sides with notable rides from Paul Heard (Birmingham) taking five wins from five outings, teammate Chris Timms only dropping one point and East Park's Matt Smith returning a solid seventeen points.
The afternoon got off to a shaky start for Birmingham with Nathan Groves getting anexclusion in heat 1 for moving at the tapes, Wednesfield's Chris Jewkes made sure of the heat win. Birmingham took the following two heats with wins from Timms and Heard. Excellent racing in heat five saw Matt Smith hold off Wednesfield's Mark Griffiths from the gate to take a well deserved four points and keep East Park only one point off the leaders Wednesfield.
Not to be out done, brother Lee took the advantage in the following heat when Swindon's Shaun Redman was excluded at the tapes bringing the scores level. Heat 7 saw a strong win from Wednesfield's Scott Doherty, back from a twelve month suspension - the local rider showed why he is probably one of the best riders in the country. A storming three heats from Birmingham tipped the match upside-down taking 12 points from 12 to overhaul East Park and to bring them within one point of Wednesfield. A close heat 11 saw Swindon's Rudman hold off Timms to take all the points and his first of two wins of the day. A win from Heard in heat 12 saw the Monarchs go into the break two points clear of Wednesfield
The second half saw Birmingham continue their winning ways with a win from Marcus Wadhams, second spot was took by Matt Smith after a four lap bar to bar tussle with Chris Jewkes, the East park rider taking the points on the line. Scott Doherty took a fine win in the following heat, holding his nerve the Wednesfield number four held off Coventry's Dominic Rycharski whose tyres were getting the better of him on the Ashmore track.
Heat 17 saw a crowd pleasing win from East Park's Jamie Ball, replacing brother David the ex Sandwell rider took the four points from Marcus Wadhams to keep his team on level points with Wednesfield.
Heat 20 one saw the match stopped when a totally innocent looking three rider crash saw two riders hospitalised. Making his match debut and replacing Nathan Groves, Birmingham's Mark Winwood came off initially worse when East park's Jamie Ball fell coming out of the fourth bend, with Chris Jewkes taking off after hitting the fallen rider, Winwood following, both riders hitting the concrete and Winwood hitting the perimeter fence. Badly bruised ribs and torn shoulder muscles for Winwood and a broken scalpoid for Jewkes saw both riders retire from the meeting, Ball was excluded for causing the stoppage.
A win from replacement rider Luke Draisey saw Wednesfield edge the lead by one point and to set up an intriguing final four heats. Birmingham regrouped to ensure a match win and with Timms taking a win in the following heat and Doherty slipping it was left for Wadhams in heat twenty four to ensure he rode into second place behind Wednesfield's Lee Aris to ensure the match win.
Result
Birmingham 62 points, Wenesfield 60 points, East Park 52 points, Swindon 37 points, Coventry 33 points
