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Diamond Edition - ENHANCED
- news - div one - div two - other results - transfer list - averages - - statistics - rider search: gsa/age - rider search: name - club honours - international tables/averages - Comment now on the latest news at the Forum HONEY TRAP Guest stars in another Scorpions win It’s will be a mixed blessing when club number one Ryan Francis returns to the Brookwood side next week, the Scorpions having won their last five league fixtures—four in his absence. Whether or not Francis’s early season injury was the catalyst for turning around the club’s fortunes—they failing to win any of their first three meetings of the campaign—they certainly have coped well without him, John Honey deputising this week to great acclaim at Beverley. Honey got the hosts into a sticky mess with a winning 5-1 in the opener, he working well with second string Luke Travers (6+2) to keep home star Max Ramos at bay. Brookwood’s lead was doubled by the reserves in heat two and from then on it was a case of damage limitation for the Hellcats. If it was Honey that provided the impetus for the success it was Lenny Sloan (11) that made the killer blows, wins over Ramos and Jens Bjellerup (15+1) in turn frustrating the home side’s hopes, while a third success of the night in a heat 13 5-1 with Honey put them out of their misery. A last heat 5-1 for the hosts limited the defeat to single figures, but that will be no consolation for Beverley boss Steve Baker, whose side ends the week in the bottom four. The win moves Brookwood up into third in the standings, three points behind Stafford who defeated Ramsgate 41-49 on their travels. A tight contest turned the leaders way in the final three heats, Markus Innanen (14) setting the Angels up for victory with a win over Matthew Austin in heat 13, a 4-2 there was followed by another in heat 14 and an Innanen/John Bingley (10+1) 5-1 in the last. TODAY: Shorts Despite their defeat at the league leaders Ramsgate end the week a position higher in the table in eighth, having started it in the relegation zone. Their advancement was due to an earlier 42-48 victory at Hull where six different visiting riders claimed race wins. Three of the nine successes went the way of number one Scott Viljeon, his third in a heat 14 4-2 over Dean Newton (16) all but sealing the points. The Hangmen bounced back quickly from the loss, recording their own first away win of the season on their trip to Poole as Newton this time raced to a five ride maximum. The New Zealander was backed up well by all of his team mates, reserve Adam Andersen (6+4) especially impressive in bringing up the rear in two 5-1’s, including the match clincher in the penultimate heat.
Hove moved off the bottom of the division one table after recording their first win of the season, a 48-42 home success over York, but promoter Nick Ward had already made the decision to axe both Vlastimil Lidvin (7) and Leif Malmgren (10+1) from his squad in a bid to turn their fortunes around. Ironically Lidvin’s next meeting will be in a York race jacket—at a cost of £200,000—he showing his new promoter Dave Baker just what he’s capable of with two race victories against his Vipers side, including a heat three win over Aljosa Seslar. Malmgren also signed off at home with two race wins, he moves on to Beverley for £140,000. Ward has brought in two big name and big money replacements at heat leader, Erkan Sahlin joining the club from Kassel for a £465,000 fee, while Craig Binks makes the switch from cash-strapped Gillingham for £175,000.
The change in averages may have robbed them of £55,000 pre-season signing Eduard Sobolev, but it didn’t prevent Monkston extending their winning start to their life in division two to eight meetings. The week started with a 43-47 victory at Nottingham, where a six ride maximum from Zdenko Gula (17+1) helped the visitors recover from a ten point deficit in the meeting. Having beaten the side that started the week third in the table, they went on to record a victory over the one that started second, the top of the table clash with St Barts ending 47-43 in their favour. Monkston in fact end the week five points clear of the Berkshire side, they having earlier been defeated by Gillingham in their home meeting, their reserves scoring just the one gift point between them as in contrast the Snipers number seven Kevin Duffy alone finished with figures of 8+1.
Bradford were the only second division side to beat top flight opposition in the opening round of the KO Cup, they through to face Gillingham in the last 16 after a 44-46 victory at Exmouth this week saw them progress by 22 points on aggregate. The pick of the second round ties is the holders Stafford’s match up with Chisedlon, a repeat of last years final.
Russell Bulman (15) continued his domination of the major youth events by winning his World Under 21 semi final in Pskov this week, the British & World Under 19 plus British Under 21 champion taking the meeting win in Russia by two points from B’ham’s Richard Coward. The pair are joined in the final by fellow Brit James Jackson—a Stafford team mate of Bulman—the 20 year old having finished third in the semi final at Lothian behind Jeremenko Kirjakov and Marek Siadaczko, both Steve Winters and Andy Donnelly though failed to make the cut.
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