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Olympic Edition
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Comment now on the latest news at the Forum KARBAN COPY Champ arrives to boost Sinks Euro bid Belfast are in the semi-finals of the European Cup for the second successive season after recording a first ever victory in Lublin. Defeats at the Polish venue saw them exit the competition in both last season and SL16, but revenge came in style for the Sinks, they ended an 11 meeting run in the European Cup on their travels without a win, to ensure a repeat of their SL17 semi-final appearance. Having scored a maximum in his final home league meeting for the club, Jan Tomanek made a top scoring contribution of 12 from second string as Belfast toppled the Poles by six on aggregate, they leading the return leg from Tomanek and Adam Carroll’s (7+2) 5-1 in heat seven onwards, with Tomanek’s second place finish in the penultimate race ultimately securing their progression into a last four tie against Caversham. Durko Karban will lead Belfast in that, the SL11 and 12 World Champion joining Paul Hunt’s side from Bridgwater in a deal which sees Tomanek move to the third tier outfit, the 26 year old Czech—eight years the junior of Karban—signing off with ten in Belfast’s later 16 point loss at Bournville, which was his 204th successive league appearance for the Northern Irish side. Caversham also enjoy success on the road in the competition this week, a maiden semi-final for the Swans secured with a 43-47 victory at Gyor—a meeting in which they twice trailed in by six—Garry Gould (15 from six) and Staffan Julian (13+2 from six) topping the scoring for the visitors. The second semi final sees SL9 and 10 winners Long Eaton—who beat Pori by 14 on aggregate—take on SL11 winners Prague, who eliminated Mansfield with a 58-32 home win this week.TODAY: Shorts Totton are set to reach the quarter-finals of the KO Cup for the fourth successive season following a second round first leg win at Mansfield. Eight down after four heats of the all top flight clash, the Tigers went on to win 43-47 on the night, with their riders racing to victories in nine of the remaining 11 heats. Lewis Atkins (17)—beaten by Eman Kalas (9+1) in heat four—won five of those 11 as the Tigers made it seven straight cup victories this season, four of which have been away from home, with now two at Mansfield’s Gandor Green. Belfast won the first leg of the other all division one affair on home shale against Caversham, 47-43, a defeat the Swans will be favourites to overcome at home in the second leg, especially given the Sinks will be without heat leader Adam Carroll (6+2) for the return, with the Brit picking up an injury in Belfast’s later league defeat at Bournville.
Bradford extended their unbeaten league run on the road to five meetings with a draw at Houston. The leaders however left The Stables disappointed having missed out on a fifth win of the campaign after conceding a last heat 5-1, Ross Nicholls (11) and Scott Read (9+1) beaten by home top scorers Hans Willemssen (15)—who scored his first full maximum in a Mustangs race-jacket—and his number one, Boris Monyak (12+1). Three of the Speedsters seven race wins were recorded by reserve Jorg Schmitt, who finished the night with season best figures of 11+1 from five. Bradford end the week three points clear of Totton—who they visit next—at the top of the division one standings.
Barnsley’s seven meeting unbeaten league run came to an end with their biggest loss since their promotion to division two. The second tier leaders went down to a 54-36 defeat at Stirling, with the host septet—led by maximum man Joseph Goldwire (15)—taking 13 of the 15 race wins. The Bears also dropped their first bonus point of the season in the process, allowing Hallamshire to cut their deficit to the pacesetters to just a point. Stirling climb out of the relegation zone as a result, after spending the last five weeks in the bottom three.
Buxton consolidated their spot in the division three promotion places with a 43-47 victory at Abdy. Their second away win of the campaign secured with a Richard Greenhouse (14 from six)/Danilo Franchini (16+1) heat 15 5-1. It was the first time the visitors had led in the fixture, one they were eight down in prior to a Greenhouse winning 4-2 in heat 11. Franchini won the next as a tactical substitute, with second string Sam Thomas (8+1) finishing as runner-up to complete the first of two late Bees 5-1’s, Franchini and Greenhouse levelled the scores in heat 13 with a 4-2.
Hans Willemssen (12) raced to his first WSO meeting win since landing the WU19 title back in SL10. The 25 year old Dane—who moved from Mansfield to Houston in pre-season—topped the standings in World Championship second round tie in Kassel by a point from Reece Hooper, world number three Durko Karban (10) took third. Sedgley’s Alex Zakreshevsky (12) won the second of this weeks ties in Kalmar ahead of Benjamin Graves (11), world number six Daniel Pesola (1) was amongst those to be eliminated.
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