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Round 4 at Coventry
The Coventry track started out almost bone dry after morning rain for this fourth round Grand Prix of 2015, but it didn’t take long for the storm clouds to gather and do a little light sprinkling. There was another storm brewing at ground level, but more of that in a second…
I know the preference is for five rides per rider especially when most riders have travelled a good old distance to take part, but personally I prefer to see four riders in a race if possible and we have a small array of race formulae freely available which allow for less than 16 riders and look better on track with a full turnout, at least in most heats. It’s never good to see 2-man races in a full individual event. That tentative query aside, once again the racing was keen, to say the least.
Another change made today from Head Honcho (but missing today) Fred Rothwell’s normal and preferred methods was to intertwine all the races, so heat one of the Over 40s was followed by heat one of the 50s&60s, de da de da. At least one Over 60 competitor wasn’t enthralled about this system after having to rerun a completed three lapper! I’m sure the overall preference is for races to be well spread out, four Over 40s then four Over 50s etc. especially for the older leg carriers amongst the travelling circus. Could have been a tactical decision, who knows? Surely not in this Gentlemen’s branch of Short Track Racing!
Off we go!
2014 Runner-Up Martyn Hollebon attempted to go around fast starting Norman Venson in the Over 40s opener but Norman held him off for a great win with the all-action Mick Knowles and Eddie Ridley battling for third spot.
Time for the Over 50s & 60s to get underway and it did in a very eventful manner, not normally witnessed in the older category. Home hero Joe McLaughlin led away from the second bend with Kevin Greaves, Phil Hemming and Terry Kirkup fighting for second place and after three laps worth of repeated attempts by Phil to get underneath Kevin he finally got alongside with Terry doing the same to him.
Crash, bang, wallop
What for a moment looked like a very exciting finish and anybody’s guess with three riders abreast was brought to a violent halt with a very abrupt left turn by Kevin from mid-track on the unsuspecting other two. Phil was battered into Terry and ultimately came down very hard going into turn three, while the Northumbrian on the inside was heaved onto the rain-lubed inner kerb and just managed to stay upright on the sodden grass! There was a hushed expectation of an exclusion but Referee Bobby McMillan saw nothing wrong with the move and allowed the finishing order to stand.
Fortunately Phil recovered from that nasty spill which proved to be the only real downside to this round, the weather not great but hark back to Glasgow last year or Northumbria this year and it seems pretty good by comparison.
Dave Frith and Paddy Wenn scorched away to lead Over 40s hotshots Dave Meanley and Jason Keith in heat two while in the 5060 set Steve Hodgkinson continued his brilliant home form to head teammate Bob Prince with Martin Glover and Jim Graham trailing.
40s heat three could have been a scorcher had not Craig Marchant moved at the tapes, leaving Champion Mark Winwood to fend off a very quick looking Pete Chant before Mick Aris capitalised on Paul Timm’s leg injury which is really hampering his starting this season. However, this was only after a re-run had been called at the end of lap three with Paul and Ray Pike clashing. Mick was understandably upset at having to do it all again with his next race not far away!
Everyone had now had a ride and in the Over 40s the ultimate three top scorers had shown their intentions with a win each. Craig won his next three races before doughnutting in his fourth on the last bend lap three and missing the finish, while a flying Paddy Wenn and Jason Keith added a couple of wins each. While this was all going on, EV traveller supreme Martyn Hollebon didn’t look his normal self, especially from the tapes but with some stiff competition added to this round he wasn’t alone finding points hard to come by with Dave Frith, Craig and Paddy looking well up for honours.
Back to the Fifties and Sixties and Bob Prince soon asserted his authority on the field and again justifying all that hard training, He dropped just that opener to Steve while there was a right old scrabble going on behind him for places in the “A” Finals. In the 50s it was led by home favourite Joe McLaughlin but while he nailed 16 points to his tally, it was matched by Mick, Steve and Terry so something had to give. And it looks like that something may have been a Geordie! (editor crosses fingers here).
Shock, Horror!
This is the original match programme, and you can see a Geordie’s name crossed out of the “A” Final list in position two.
Now see this:
That’s four riders on 16 points.
Each rider got two wins
Each rider got two seconds
Each rider got one third
Which THREE do YOU reckon go into the “A” Final with Bob Prince? Answers on a tenner.
(didn’t notice this until doing the report on Sunday night at 9 o’clock – hope I’m right!) {and if I am someone else has my trophy! - which incidentally were very nice Joe}.
But I digress.
So the Over 60s “A” Final was first, and Bob used the perfect tactics to keep Terry behind him with Mick and Jim Graham following in formation. Not much else to say.
We had to run the Over 40s “B” Final next to be fair on TK as he was in the scheduled 50s “B”, and in this one Pete completed his great afternoon by easing to the win with plenty of passing going on behind, Jason getting the verdict over Martyn and Dave at the flag after a whole wedge of place swapping. Got to say Coventry’s track does generate some great line opportunities.
Wheelspin cost Terry his chance off grid one in the 50s “B” Final, Paul taking full advantage to lead home Kevin and Phil. (just as well as I shouldn’t have been in it!). In the “A” Final Bob proved supreme once more to win easily while behind him there was plenty of action after Steve had miscalculated his outside run allowing Kevin and Mick to hold him off to the end.
Time for the Grand Finale, the Over 40s “A” Final. Who could stop Mark taking another win? No-one. Our series leader made no mistake off grid one with a super start, leaving a very rapid Dave to shake off the attentions of both Norman and Paddy, another very entertaining final to cap a great day’s racing.
Thanks are due to Joe and his team of helpers, especially to the lady and her offspring who erected the gazebo for the pits cover, it sure came in handy when the waters broke!
E & O E
Round 3 at Northumbria
Although the sun shone sporadically enough to burn faces throughout the day it was the storm force wind that almost overshadowed the on-track action at Cramlington as the Euro-Vets circus moved north for Round Three of the 2015 GP series. First to arrive at Cramlington very early were Paul Matthews and World Veterans Champion Steve Harris. Paul had travelled up from his Swindon home to Durham the day before while Steve was in the North and Scotland on business and hopped across from Carlisle for the meeting. He'd also practiced at Cramlington with Gavin Parr and Jason Keith on a very dusty surface on Thursday evening. The dust would still be a problem today as even with plenty of water laid down the combination of sun and gale saw rapid evaporation but the track was still very race-able and the racing itself as keen as ever, especially in the Over 40s category.
Special thanks to these two - Paul helping out with the wind deflector fence and providing some much-needed zip ties to anchor it down, while later Steve kindly took over track watering duties during his races in the Over 40s event.
Over 40s Competition
Once again the front runners were regular top performers Martin Hollebon, Jason Keith, Mark Winwood and Gavin Parr but this time, unsurprisingly, joined by the Champ Steve Harris. It soon became apparent that maybe six riders were heading for the "A" Final as each one started piling up the points. Heading the scorers and unbeaten after two races each were Paddy Wenn who quickly grasped the best way around the AstroDrome, Steve and Gavin. Just behind were Mark on 7 and a flying Eddie Ridley on 6, like Paddy easily adapting to the long straights and tight bends, the latter a feature of his home Hellingly circuit. It's noticeable how much faster Eddie is this year with more racing under his belt. Ganging up behind these lads was an amazing gaggle of five riders on 5 so no-one was escaping yet in the points chase with plenty of entertainment served up by the swashbuckling Mick Knowles, as ever.
The second set of two rides each proved a bit more decisive in deciding the finalists with Mark, Steve, Jason, Martin and Gavin hardly dropping a point between them but after their fifth rides local rider Jason found himself tied with Martin on 16, but having finished second to the Hellingly racer when they met in heat 18 had to settle for a place in the "B" Final on countback.
With Mark Winwood needing a quick departure from the North East there was a re-arrangement of the finals to allow the Blue Riband event to run first, the line-up being the unbeaten Gavin Parr, Steve Harris on 19, Mark Winwood on 19 and Martin Hollebon. After a bumpy first attempt, Gavin just managed to edge out Steve entering the first bend to romp away for a twenty four point maximum score and the top prize, while behind him all hell was being let loose with Steve and Mark doing most of the buffeting! Throughout the race there were multiple inside and outside challenges until Mark's final push eased both himself and Steve out wide enough for Martin to seize the advantage and squeeze through for second place, Mark's momentum just being enough to remain ahead of the Champion for third place. A really exciting finale to a great set of races.
Local star Michael Parr finished the heats tied on 13 points with Pete Chant and Norman Venson, but like his Vikings team-mate Jason suffered on countback, just missing out of the "B" Final.That was won by Jason from grid one while late on in the race Norman took advantage of a slip by Paddy to steal second place with Pete unable to improve on fourth.
Over 50s and 60s Combined
Old Vikings Captain Norman Carson stepped into the breach to take the place of the missing current Over 50's Champion, Birmingham's Paul Timms to make the number up to nine riders for the combined Over 50/Over 60 programme, the format having three riders per race, four rides each over twelve heats.
Reigning Over 60 Champion Terry Kirkup took advantage of the inside gate to win heat one from Coventry's Joe McLaughlin and Brummie Steve Hodgkinson to set himself up for another two wins courtesy of some pedal-slipping from Wednesfield Ace Mick Aris and a fluke gate from the outside. Meanwhile current Grand Veteran series leader Bob Prince succumbed similarly with a slip to a great ride from his Monarchs team-mate Steve Hodgkinson from the outside but redeemed himself and got elevated to the top of the pile by defeating Terry when they met for their final ride in heat ten with some typical outside kerb "easing", giving himself grid one for the "A" Final.
A rapid Steve and Joe amassed 14 points each while behind these two Fred suffered out of the starts but took four second places. Mick was a little subdued, those slippages not helping and leaving him 3 points adrift of the top four as well as giving him a squeaky cough, his mid-race "crossbar crusher" raising a huge gasp from the pits and perimeter! However the lead-in to the finish had plenty of good racing, just that single heat between Bob and Terry looking like it had taken place in a team match with only the outer metre of the track used on two consecutive bends. EV regular Jim Graham looked a lot sharper today having suffered a nagging flu-like episode since November and returning clubmate Norman Carson rode his heart out but suffered from a lack of racing, still mixing it where and while he could in his clashes with Paul and Jimmy.
The Over 50's "A" Final saw, from the inside, Bob, Terry, Joe and Steve. A clean first bend saw Bob ahead followed by Terry and it stayed that way for the first three laps with the other two snapping away at their heels. However, with the relaxed pace and mid-track position of the leader a forced over-tight line coming out of the second bend saw TK this time losing his pedals, Steve and Joe both instantly seizing their opportunity to pass and it finished like that.
The Over 50s "B" Final saw Fred, Mick, Paul and Jim lining up but I'm afraid I will have to wait for the official outcome of that one before reporting it here.
Revenge came sweetly in the Over 60's "A" Final with the lead Viking romping away to an easy win off grid two to arrest the Birmingham star's unbeaten 2015 run, Bob finishing second, Mick third and Fred fourth. In the "B" Final Jim and Norman had another good scrap with regular competitor Jimmy coming out on top.
Here's the Happy Gang ready with their plates for the buffet (smile, it won't kill you!).
The raffle at the afters buffet seemed to go on forever but raised a tidy sum for our Orchid charity, so thanks to everyone who responded with give-aways. Mr Hodgkinson and Mr Graham seemed to be hogging most of the prizes but there were plenty to go around. Once again Fred Rothwell did a great job of sorting out the slightly lower than expected entry into suitable programme formats and the whole day went off smoothly, apart from that devastating wind which strangely enough didn't affect the riders on-track and even helped clear a lot of loose shale, although the tarmac tennis court now resembles a clay one!
The after-match track inspection revealed something missing from the centre green. This surveillance shot was captured by our security system - do you know who the light-fingered party may be?
NEWS: VETERAN MONARCHS REIGN SUPREME
The Birmingham Monarchs Cycle Speedway club hosted the 2nd round of the Eurovets Grand Prix series at their Perry Hall Playing Fields headquarters last Saturday afternoon.
Over 20 of the top veteran riders in the sport from all over the UK descended upon the Monarchs raceway, which was surprisingly dry and dusty after heavy rainfall in the days leading up to the event.
Mark Winwood made it two A final wins out of two with another unbeaten performance in his six races in the over 40s series. He now moves into the series lead, with a maximum score of 50 GP points after two rounds.
Club coach Steve Hodgkinson, who does often unsung and unheralded work volunteering for the club, scored maximum points in the 50’s final to become a very popular winner amongst his fellow competitors and onlookers alike.
Bob Prince made it a hat-trick of Monarchs wins on the day. He stormed to victory in the over 60’s final to make it two wins on the bounce. He is also challenging hard in the over 50s category.
Paul Timms continued his recovery from injury with a hard fought 16 points and just missed out on making the A final in the over 50s. However, Timms will miss the next round at Newcastle due to another engagement.
Monarchs are next in team action this Tuesday evening (2nd June) in the Coventry Junior League, round 4, at the Hearsall Common track in the Godiva city.
Birmingham riders and officials will be present at the “Tennis Courts” pub, Walsall Road, from 3pm Saturday 30th May with a display of bikes and leaflets for anyone who wants to find out more about the sport. Feel free to come along and say hello!
The Birmingham club continue their new “come and try it” evenings every Thursday throughout the summer at Perry Hall, from 6pm. Youngsters can just turn-up and have a free go at the fast and exciting sport of Cycle Speedway, supervised by expert coach Bob Prince.
For more information on Birmingham Monarchs Cycle Speedway, including how to get involved, you can visit: www.birminghammonarchs.wordpress.com or by ringing: 07825 585828.
***once again Terry Kirkup proffers his sincere apologies for the non-attendance of the four prospective Northumbria representatives after their car breakdown on the A1 just beyond Sheffield.
Round One at Swindon
2015 kicked off with the opener staged at Swindon's Oasis Leisure Centre track on what looked like a windy, wet day but turned out to be a windy, sunny one!
Not a bad gathering although perhaps more riders may have been expected given the town's southerly but central position. It looks as though the local council is planning to clear the site which would be a great shame, see 3318 News and Swindon CSC on Facebook for more info and to lend your support.
This was a cracking day for Midland clubs with most of the top slots in each of the three age groups occupied by UK-centrics!