With just two wins in their previous ten meetings in all competitions newcomers Liden would have gone into their KO Cup debut full of trepidation. Last years semi finalists Monkston were the visitors to the Lagoon Arena as they made their competition bow, and promoter Craig Dickson would have taken any margin of win against the top flight side. To grab their biggest ever was far beyond what anyone expected, but in recording a 53-36 success they did just that, progression into round two against a side two divisions higher than them now more probable, than possible. The undoubted stars were Daniel Nordin (15) and George King (14+1) who picked up their first maximums in Liden race jackets outside of the Division Three Cup, their last heat 5-1 over Benjamin Murray (10+1) and Antony Cahill (10+1) topping a great night for the pair. In contrast Monkeys’ number one Murray finished winless in six. In fact Liden limited their top flight visitors to just three race wins all meeting, and their margin of victory would have been greater but for a 5-0 reversal in heat seven when both Zoltan Herczeg (8+1) and Darren Begum failed to finish. Herzceg himself was unbeaten other than that, the Hungarian following up wins in heats four and 11 over Murray and Cahill in turn with a crucial second place finish behind King in heat 13. The loss capped another poor week for the Monkeys, one which opened with a third home league defeat since their promotion back to the top flight, again heat wins hard to come by with just four in total for the hosts as they went down 38-52 to Doncaster. New £105,000 signing Krisztian Sebok wasn’t amongst those heat winners.

Title holder Harry Sloan (14) finished second best to his main rival for the WU21 title Nelek Walczak (15) in the semi-final at St Barts this week. The two were head and shoulders above the rest of the field, with a tight victory for the St Ives teenager over Sloan in heat 16 proving to be decisive. The second of the semi-finals was won St Barts heat leader Venedict Smolin (13), the Russian finishing a point clear of Milan Grof of Doncaster. In addition to Sloan, British riders Benjamin Storey (10) and Stuart Goodman (10) will also line-up in this years final.

Beverley got back to winning ways in division two after their first defeat of the campaign last week. The Hellcats resuming normal service since their relegation by beating Sawley 43-47 on the road thanks to a last heat 5-1 from unbeaten pair, Joshua Sky (14+1) and Henrik Kojefors (14+1). Steve Baker’s side end the week five points clear of second place Dudley, up to third go Timperley who were impressive 38-52 winners at St Barts. The Pelicans returned their biggest away league win in over 11 years despite new signing Ben Walsh scoring just one, much better though from Sean Leach (7) who raced to two of the visitors 12 heat wins, he back in favour after being left out of the previous three league meetings. At the other end of the table Brighton moved out of the relegation places with a 43-47 victory at East Kent, who replace the Rockets at the bottom of the standings. Second string Kristofer Gorqaj top scored with 13 for the Rockets, with the Swede inflicting a first defeat on Soren Kure (14) in the last heat decider. In division three Bolsover extended their unbeaten run to five league meetings with a 40-50 victory at Redhill. The Stallions galloping into the promotion places with the win, in which both second string Pentele Kalman (10+1) and reserve Ryan Forrester (8+2) were paid for double figure scores.