For the third time in four years there will be no British club in the final of the European Cup after both Manor and Merseyside made their exits. Semi-finals and bust for the pair who had not gone beyond the first round prior to this season, in the Marauders case their record stood at four defeats in four ties. At least they made it through to the last four in SL25, their run of losses having been ended with a nine point aggregate win over German side Kassel in the campaign opener, SL23 winners Pori though proved too big an obstacle for Glyn Hughes side. Taking just a two point first leg lead with them to Finland, it was always going to be a tough ask, and it would take the European League leaders just three races to get their noses in front. They scored two 4-2’s in the first three to do so, with four in the first six seemingly earning them full control of the tie, home number one Pavel Cisar (15) winning two of those. The former Cradley Heath and Don Valley man though still had work to do heading into the last, with Merseyside coming back to level the scores in the tie by heat 11 with the help of tactical substitutes, Cisar and Thomas Bond (10+1) though answered the call of their manager in the decider, scoring a 5-1 to complete a 92-88 aggregate victory. Pori move on to face Oslo in the Final, the Norwegians convincing 53-37 winners over Manor on home territory this week in progressing by ten, Dirk Smith (14) and Tonda Minarik (10+1) scoring in double figures for the hosts, although it was an 8+3 from 22 year old reserve Ota Duch which made the difference, as Manor’s bottom two scored just two between them.

Denaby returned to the top of the division one after racing to a club record away league win at Quantock. Three wins apiece for both Lesta Markoff (13) and Zarek Jablonsk (12+2) helped Steve Pearce’s Devils lead from start to finish at the Rangers, who handed a debut to 39 year old Vadim Garin. The former GP star started bright enough with two points in heat four, however he failed to take a point from his remaining four races! Denaby set a new best after scoring three 5-1’s in the final five races, the 36-54 win secured despite their riders picking up seven heat wins to the combined tally of eight for the hosts! Denaby’s next away league meeting is at Merseyside, who extended their unbeaten league run to six this week thanks to their third successive away draw, the latest returned at Cradley Heath. Glyn Hughes will be disappointed that his side didn’t manage to get a victory over the line considering they’d led from heat one right until conceding a 4-2 in the last, a race won by Graham Hancock (13). Merseyside end the week fourth, but are just a point off Denaby at the top in what is proving to be an intriguingly tight title race in SL25.

First Liam Marlow (4) and then Valeri Lach (9) surpassed Wade Dunn at the top of the all time GP points scorers list when this years series got underway at Altrincham. Buxton’s Sven Roth (13) actually won the European round at the Panthers, opening the series with three straight wins before taking second place finishes to secure the meeting win ahead of Samuel Murphy (11) and Waclaw Kozlowski (10). Marlow meanwhile scored a point in his final ride to take his career tally onto 408, that seeing him go back level with three-time defending World Champion Lach, who hit that mark a race earlier. Dunn—who didn’t qualify for this years GP’s—is stuck on 406 points.

Buxton ended a run of four league meetings without a win with a 44-46 victory at Bolsover. The Braves faltering promotion push back on track as they end the week third and just two points off Brighton in top spot thanks to what was their fifth away win of the campaign. A Joseph Wall (11) retirement in heat 13 prove critical to the visitors success, with Thomas Bonne (13) and Sven Roth (10+1) going on to record their side’s second 5-1 of the meeting. Dumpton remain tight on Buxton’s coattails in fourth, the Devils maintaining their single point gap to the promotion places with a 44-46 away win of their own at Hertford. Dumpton found themselves 12 points down in the meeting after heat ten, but recovered to record their fifth win of the campaign with 5-1’s in heats 11, 13 and 14 before scoring a match clinching 4-2 in the last. Jacek Wozniak (13) picked up three wins in the four late heat advantages.

California’s promotion hopes suffered a blow as they lost their home division three clash with Benfleet, 44-46. California didn’t lead once in the fixture, with Ludoslaw Wozniak (13) bookending the meeting with race wins for the victorious Bees. Elsewhere it was a mixed week for Lye in the third tier, with John Slack scoring 11+1 at reserve for Nottingham as they took a 40-50 victory at the Tigers, who would go on to respond with an away win at Hull, where Alex Marini top scored with 14 in a 41-49 victory.