Five times defending champions Manor (81) are out of this seasons 4TT after finishing third behind Don Valley (140) and Cradley Heath (99) in their second round tie. The Miracles are the odd ones out as four of the current top five from division one made it through to what has become a hugely anticipated final, the Hammers taking the spot reserved for the highest scoring runners-up from the three ties, despite not winning any of their four meetings this week. Their scoring was consistent and strong enough throughout to earn them a place in the final for a third time in five years, but claiming a first victory looks a long shot given their 41 point deficit to Don Valley this week, the dominant Vipers winning all four legs, scoring in excess of 30 in each! Surprisingly Joseph Wall managed the only maximum over the course of the tie for the Vipers, who last lifted the trophy way back in SL9. They are the only previous winners in this years final however, Denaby’s (122) best finish was a runners-up spot in SL21, while Brighton (127) are into the decider for the first time in their history. The Bombers won three of the four legs to top their second round tie by a clear 35 points from Altrincham, 41 of their total was scored on home shale, where both Dale Bailey and David Johnson went through the card unbeaten, with Waclaw Koslowski just a point shy of claiming his maximum. Denaby bettered that score on home shale to take the lead in a tie they would hold the advantage in throughout, Shane Goodwin, Ladislav Zgonc and Callum Osborne all scoring the maximum 12 as the Devils racked up a 42 point total on their way to a 29 point aggregate victory.

Signs of cracks in Don Valley’s title defence as they dropped another home point. It’s now four league meetings without a victory for the Vipers, a run which has allowed Denaby to close within two points of the season long leaders, however third placed Manor’s challenge is in tatters as they lost at home to Laceby. A remarkable performance from the Avenues septet earned them a first away win of the campaign, 11 heat wins in total for the visitors in the 42-48 victory, with three of those going to the way of reserve Leos Stich (11+1) and four to second string, Zygmunt Jasinski (12). For Manor neither Viktor Kocjan (4+1) or Liam Hill (7+1) managed a victory on what were their debuts at heat leader for their new club. The win continues Laceby’s good form, threat of relegation a dwindling one for the club that have now lost just one of their last ten in the league. Denaby meanwhile made it six wins on the road after coming through to beat Merseyside 42-48, the Devils taking control of the meeting with Shane Goodwin (13) winning 5-1’s in heats 11 and 13. The loss sees the Marauders drop into the relegation zone for the first time in nearly three months, Dumpton having climbed above them with a fantastic 47-43 home win over Don Valley, a meeting they led in from heat two onwards. Another poor result for the leaders, who’d earlier been held to a draw on home shale by Manor after visiting second string Joel Bull (10+1) beat Joseph Wall (12) in a last heat decider. Brighton meanwhile are up to fourth following a 41-49 victory at bottom side Liden, Dale Bailey (15) scoring a maximum in a meeting in which the visitors picked up 5-1’s in both heats 14 and 15.

Laceby are on course to reach their first major final in five years after winning the opening leg of their KO Cup last-four tie at Liden. Zgymunt Jasinski again enjoyed himself in an Avenues race-jacket, the mid-season £205,000 second string signing top scoring for the visitors with 11 in the 42-48 victory.

BU21 Champion Taylor Barber (10) has made it through to this season’s WU21 Final after finishing fifth in his qualifier at Laceby. Quantock and Slovenian starlet Luka Zonta (14) dropped just a point in winning the first for the semi-finals. Success too for a Ranger in the fourth of this years GP meetings, Federico Castellini (14) winning the Swedish round after beating defending world champion Valeri Lach in a race-off. Lach now leads the overall standings by two points from previous pacesetter, Callum Osborne (9).

Second placed Nottingham won the big promotion four-pointer at Hertford to end the week four points clear of the third placed side. The division three clash went the way of the Ducks, 44-46, thanks to a last heat Thomas Davis (15) winning 4-2. Leaders Bolsover meanwhile remain two points clear of Nottingham at the top despite only managing to pick up a draw at Stobswood, although having twice trailed the bottom side by ten points, they maybe grateful for that. In division two 14+2 from Sven Roth helped Buxton overturn an eight point deficit to win at bottom of the table Dudley, the Braves out of the relegation zone as a result.