Newly promoted Bradford wasted no time in showing what they’re capable on their return to the top flight. They ending a 17 year / 22 meeting winless run at Belfast’s Titanic Stadium on the opening day of the campaign by beating the hosts, 43-47, with Tabor Andros (5+1) failing to win a race for the Sinks, while his number one Jan Tomanak (11) was beaten by both Jeppe Hildebrandt (14) and Ross Nicholls (10+2) in the last heat decider. It’s the first time since SL6 that Belfast have lost their opening league meeting of the season, but they never looked like taking the points in this one, they trailing throughout the clash after conceding three 4-2’s in the opening three races. 18 year old Latvian reserve Mikhail Ousov was amongst the early visiting victors, he went on to score a paid seven in his first league meeting for the club, a flattering tally considering the only riders he beat were the home reserves. One of those was 16 year old Paul Griffin (0), who was woefully out of his depth on debut, he defeated by Ousov three times by the end of heat eight. There were plenty of other success stories for Bradford, most notably in heat 13 when they went eight up thanks to a stunning Scott Read (8)/Nicholls 5-1 over the host’s World Champions’, Tomanak and Stephan Beck (8). Tomanak returned to win a heat 14 5-1, but his last place finish in heat 15 brought the curtains down on a rare home defeat. A last heat 4-2 gave Bradford a later two point win over division two champions Harringay, they top the table, the Sinks responded to their loss by taking a point for a draw at Caversham, again though concerns about their lead riders who conceded a 5-1 and a 4-2 in the last three.

League newcomers Bridgwater (29) have set their sights on becoming the first side from the third tier to win the Club Pairs Championship after a stunning opening round success. Led by SL11 and 12 World Champion Durko Karban (16)—a steal of a pre-season signing at £75,000—the Builders strolled through to round two, winning their home tie by seven clear points from top flight duo, Totton and Houston. Karban and his fellow ten pointer Sampsa Nikula (13) raced to five straight 5-1’s in the rout, their only dropped point in the contest coming in their final match-up against Shetland, when Nikula lost out to Dennis Stellemire. At least Totton and Houston qualified for next weeks ties, the two division one pairings in the Buxton meeting—Long Eaton and Harringay—didn’t, an on loan rider from the latter, Aleksandrs Ousov (12), though topped the standings there for his temporary club Dudley (23) alongside Lachlan Taylor (11), the hosts and Stourbridge took the other qualification spots. There was top flight success at Braintree and Wednesfield, with Bradford (25) and Caversham (24) topping the standings respectively on those track, Hallamshire, Stirling, Heath and Braintree complete the list of qualifiers, while both holders Belfast and last years runners-up Balham enter the competition alongside the other 12 next week.

Hallamshire teen Joshua Hay (13) began his bid for a fourth different British youth title success with victory in his BU21 semi-final at Abdy. Hay topped the standings from Jack Moss (12) to claim his fifth WSO career meeting victory, he won the BU17, 18 and 19 championships in turn over the last three seasons. Bournville’s Samuel Street (13) won the second of the semi-finals at Ernsford Grange, it’s the first time he’s finished on the podium in his nine British youth meetings.

Matt Akers will be hoping his side Hallamshire’s spell in division two will be as short and as successful as their last one. They’ve made a good start to repeating the second tier double achieved in SL13, opening up the new season with a 44-46 victory at Shetland. New home lead rider Eman Pulkrabek (11+1) was beaten in the last heat decider by his opposite number Marcin Jaworski (14), who would finish the night with four of the ten heat wins tallied by the visitors to his name. Sister club Barnsley sit second to their fellow south-Yorkshire side in the early standings after also picking up maximum points, their away two returned at Stoke, 43-47, where 5-1’s in heats nine, 13 and 15 secured the debutants at this level their victory. Stoke had led by ten in the fixture, that before the use of Uzor Rosko (15+1) and George Shields (14+1) as tactical substitutes by Akers in heats eight and nine, where they scored a win and paid win in turn.

Dudley followed up their impressive Club Pairs 1st round victory with a back-to-back away wins in their seven man fixtures. The first at Chesterfield (43-46) in the Division Three Cup, where Aleksandrs Ousov (13+1) and Lech Wysocki (14+2) secured three of the group points on offer by scoring 5-1’s in heats 11, 13 and 15. A similar tale in the league at Braintree, where the two again combined for 5-1’s in heats 13 and 15, Ousov finishing with figures of 14 from his six rides, Wysocki 10+2 from his five.