Birkenhead reach the halfway stage of the season with their title ambitions in taters after they suffered shock back-to-back defeats. Just one point adrift of leaders Swinton going into their latest set of fixtures, they end them six down on the Lions, following a first home league defeat in 18 months plus at loss at bottom of the table Dundee, who had been defeated in their previous 12 meetings in a row in all competitions! Dundee made it 13th time lucky with a 47-43 home win over the Bombers, Patrick Hillstrom (13+1) claiming his second win over visiting number one Kristian Norgaard (14) in the decider, his first had come two races earlier in a crucial home side 5-1. Norgaard (11) was to disappoint too late on when Birkenhead began the week with another 43-47 defeat, going down at home to Nottingham with the concession of maximum points to Fredrik Ericsson (13) and the unbeaten Tobias Schneider (14+1) in a last heat decider in which the home number one finished last. Norgaard had also been beaten by Schneider in heat 13 and the opening race of the night. Nottingham were never headed in the meeting as they went on to claim their third away win of the current campaign, Birkenhead’s run of successive league wins at the Merseyside Arena coming to an end at 27 meetings. Swinton ensured they’d go into the second half of the season top of the pile by beating Wednesfield 41-49 on the road, with Greenhill breathing down their neck it was a necessary one, one completed by a last heat Christopher Ellis (12)/Ryan Webb (13+1) 5-1.

Second division Rugby completed a win double over top flight Dundee to reach the quarter-finals of the KO Cup for the ninth time in 12 seasons. The Royals—whose main aim this year is promotion back to the top flight—have won six and drawn one of their seven cup meetings in SL33, having managed just one win outside the league in all of last year. Rugby take on Swinton next, the Lions will go into that looking to reach the semi-finals for a third successive season, this week they came through their all-top flight encounter against Nottingham with a single point success. Dead and buried it seemed after heat seven of their home second leg—they trailed by eight on the night, 17 on aggregate—Steve Pearce’s side fought back to claim that narrow success with three 4-2’s and three 5-1’s in the second half of the meeting, Pavel Zirnis (18)—who finished the night with a six ride maximum—the instigator of the 18 point turnaround in the scores. Greenhill meanwhile completed a wretched period for Birkenhead by beating the holders 40-50 in the second leg of their last-16 tie at the Merseyside Arena, Harry Myers (15) unbeaten in the win for the Greyhounds as they completed an impressive 24 point aggregate success in the tie which was a repeat of last years final. Next up for Bailey Fellows side is a third round double-header with Bullbridge, who beat Stepps in round two by 22 on aggregate. Liden take on Southampton while Stone Cross face Bolsover in the remaining quarter-final ties.

Jake Clarke (14) led an unprecedented Scottish 1-2 in this season’s Overseas Final at Southampton. 25 year old Clarke has averaged over nine for a struggling Dundee side since their promotion to division one for the first time at the end of SL31. He dropped just a point to claim his biggest victory of his career to date, his only previous WSO meeting win coming at the British semi-final stage last year. Clarke will race in the GP’s for the first time, Wild back in the series for the second time in his career after finishing as world number nine back in SL30. Wild beat Harry Myer’s in a race-off for second, Myers also makes a GP return after a three year absence, the England international raced in the series for four seasons between SL27 and SL30, finishing a career best second in his debut campaign. Three Brits in the GP’s, but Andy Daniel (5) will not join them, the current world number five exiting this week, ending a run of seven straight seasons in the series for the three-time world champion.

Division two leaders Whiddon lost at home for the first time in the league under their Watchmen guise. Despite the 39-51 loss to Bullbridge, they end the first half of the season in top spot, although their advantage to new second placed side Eastbourne has been cut to just a point. It was a mixed week for Bullbridge, who having dominated at Whiddon thanks in part to strong scoring from second strings Thomas Klemmensen (9+2) and Louis Forster (8+3) went on to lose at home to Eastbourne, 41-49, Hyenas’ Andrejs Vlasik (11+3) dominating at reserve in that one. Bullbridge remain in the drop zone, but are just seven points off top spot. Division three leaders Bolsover also lost at home in the league for the first time in SL33, Tom Bihl (15) scoring a maximum for visiting side Tey Grove as they came away from Castle Park with a 39-51 success.