Brighton took revenge of sorts on Don Valley for their KO Cup home defeat last week. The loss at The Elms saw the Bombers exit that competition by two on aggregate, this week at the same venue the hosts came out 47-43 winners, ending a run of nine unbeaten in the league for the defending champions. A six point lead at the top of division one has been cut to four as a result, with second placed Denaby doing their bit by beating Ramsgate on the road, 44-46, Manor too closed in, they victorious by the same margin in their clash at Dumpton. The Miracles—who lie third—raced to an impressive 12 heat victories at Dumpton Park, but needed every one of them despite their dominance, the 12th from Imants Lobanev (12) taking them to their third away victory of the campaign in the final race. In total the Estonian picked up four race wins, with three successes going the way of his fellow heat leaders Joseph Wall (11) and Callum Nash (9). For Denaby it was away victory number five of the campaign, more of a team play as they came through to their two point win at the Rams’ Channel Arena, with 18 year old reserve George Jamieson (7+2) one of five different heat winners for the visitors. A run of three heat advantages, culminating with a penultimate race 5-1 from Lesta Markoff and Jamieson secured Steve Pearce’s side their victory, which was their third in succession at the venue this season. At the other end of the table, Laceby cut the gap between themselves and safety to a point with a draw at basement side Liden, the Avenues denied a first away win of the campaign by a final race Aarno Raisanen (14) winning Rebels 4-2.

Southampton have reached the semi-finals in their first season in the Division Two Cup in 24 years. The SL2 runners-up confirmed their spot in the last four with a 53-36 victory over Altrincham, the two-times winners of the competition went on to qualify as runners-up in their section despite the loss thanks to Sankey’s win over Quantock. Next up for the Panthers is a trip to London, who had secured their place in the last four for the first time in their three attempts prior to final round of first round fixtures. Wednesfield—who, like the Jaguars, had failed to progress through the group stage in their two previous campaigns—became the fourth of this years semi-finalists thanks to a 52-38 victory over Whiteley.

A first ever win at Newquay has propelled Nottingham into the Division Three Cup semi-finals in their return season to the sport. Pete Watmough’s side dominated the crunch group meeting at the Parker Stadium, scoring three 5-1’s in the opening six races to leave the hosts with a huge task to take the victory they needed to progress. Six different visiting riders were involved in the early maximums, the partnership at three and four though— Emanuele Lodi (9+1) and Andy Rose (7+3)—would make it two maximums from three on the night in heat ten, taking the Ducks advantage into double figures as a result. A Thomas Davis (13) winning 4-2 in heat 13 secured Nottingham their victory and place in the last four. They’ll face California in the knock out stage, David Grainger’s Poppies securing their spot with a 47-42 home win over Benfleet, a meeting the Bees kept more than tight enough to go through to the semi-finals as group winners. Next up for Benfleet a last four tie with Hull, who denied Stobswood the 20 point win they needed when they paid a visit to The Brickworks this week, the home side limited to just a 48-42 success on the night.

World Championship meeting win number 21 for Valeri Lach who made it three out of three for the SL26 campaign at Quantock. Don Valley’s four-time defending World Champion secured his spot in the GP’s for the eighth successive season with a single point victory over Aarno Raisaen (11), Ormos Dorko (10) took third after a race-off win over George Farley and Zarek Jablonski. Three of last years GP riders were eliminated after failing to finish in the top eight of the tie, with Rudolf Svatek (7), Pavel Cisar (7) and Inrek Ratnikov (7) missing the cut by two points. Farley is one of four Brits’ to make it through, 24 year old Callum Osborne doing so for the first time after scoring nine at Quantock, Liam Marlow (12) returns to add to his record 53 GP appearances, while they’ll also be a debut for Jacob Brady (8), the two qualifying from the second of the ties at Krakow, won by Quantock’s Federico Castellini (12).

Wednesfield moved up to a season high second in division two after becoming the latest side to win at bottom side Dudley. A last heat Iain Johnson (11) winning 4-2 secured the Wanderers their 44-46 success, and inflicted their hosts third straight home league defeat on them. Elsewhere 18 year old Tondra Kallis scored 14 from his five rides at reserve for Quantock at Buxton, however the visitors had to settle for a draw in the fixture after conceding a last heat 5-1.