League heartbreak once again for St Ives after Houston snagged the division one title for the third successive season! It’s the runners-up spot for a fifth time in eight years for the Pirates, who are still looking for their first league championship despite leading the way in the standings heading into the final two rounds of racing. Admittedly it was tight prior to their penultimate round crunch clash at Houston, with the top four at the time separated by just three points. That spread was two come the end of the campaign, with the Mustangs taking the silverware by a single point from St Ives and Blackpool, Coventry finished a point further back in fourth. George Seymour’s side had been in the top half of the table all season, but didn’t hit top spot until that meeting against the then leaders, a meeting they dominated with ten heat wins. Two points for the 14 point victory, but just as important was the bonus, which went their way 92-88 following Branimir Klepp’s (13) third race success of the clash in heat 15. In winning at Nottingham at the same time, Blackpool threw their hat into the ring, but Houston were now firmly in control of the destination of the title. A victory at Fort William would do it for them, and a victory they got. The two Scottish sides traded 5-1’s in heats two and three and then again in heats seven and eight, but the Mustangs would have far the better of the second half of the clash to claim their fourth away win of the campaign, with the lead given to them by a third successive maximum from the Richard Coward (10+2)/Mikael Huhta (12+1) partnership in heat ten. That advantage had grown to six points by the end of the night, as Houston rounded off another successful campaign with a run of seven straight heat victories! Champions, again, they the first club ever to take the league title three years in row!

Consolation for St Ives came in the form of the KO Cup. Nick Ward’s side winning the competition for a second time following a 53-37 home second leg win over York in this years final, a last heat 5-1 from Nalek Walczak (14) and the unbeaten Nalek Piotrowski (14+1) securing the hosts an eight point aggregate victory. It’s the second trophy success of SL35 for the Pirates, who beat Coventry in the Division One Cup final. York will race in Europe—alongside the leagues top three finishers—for the first time in five years next season, Coventry miss out on European Cup action for only the sixth time in 32 years after finishing fourth in division one.

A third Grand Prix win of the season secured John Hawke (12) a maiden World Championship title in what is his ninth season in the series. The veteran of 51 GP’s and now winner of six took the Polish round victory by two points from Daniel Bauer, who missed the shot of taking the Coventry man into a race-off after finishing third in heat 19. Hawke had already been celebrating his World title however, which was confirmed prior to the start of his own final race of the series when Yuri Duskin (9) failed to win heat 17. Duskin would end the year as world number two on count-back ahead of Vladilen Bunin (9), who finished third in the final standings for the third successive year.

As Beverley beat Brighton in the top of the table clash to secure the division two title, Warley were riding to a vital draw at East Goscote. The penultimate round results didn’t read so well for Sandwell, who began the week third but missed out on the bonus in their 47-43 win over Timperley. Worse was to come as they didn’t gain any points in a defeat at Pelham on the final day, again the bonus dropped for the Sabres as Warley picked up two more league points to move level thanks to a 47-43 win over the new champions at this level, Beverley. A last heat 5-1 took Ade Heathcote’s side to victory and back into the top flight at the first attempt, Sandwell missing out on back-to-back promotions on points difference. A final day 52-38 win over Midland did though earn Glenn Martin’s Brighton side a second promotion in as many years, a top flight debut in SL36 their reward. Sneyd Green drew at Sawley on the final day to take the remaining promotion spot in division three behind Kelvedon and Buxton, the former having secured the title when gaining a bonus point in their penultimate round defeat at Liden.

Pelham’s Waclaw Borkowski has become only the second rider after Russell Bulman—who achieved the feat 16 years ago—to win both the WU19 and 21 titles in the same season. The 18 year old Czech starlet following up his success in the more junior of the events in style this week at York, where he scored a maximum to land the WU21 title by two points from Kevin Fierstein (2nd) and Johan Lang (3rd). It was the first time in the competition’s 35 year history that the final did not feature any British rider.