In an opening week of twists and turns a draw for Beverley at Coventry was one of many standout results. Fresh from promotion back to the top flight, the Hellcats stunned the title favourites on their own patch, ending a run of 29 consecutive league wins for the Crusaders at Diamond Park, a sequence which extended over 18 months. Coventry didn’t take the lead in the fixture until heat nine, and then their advantage was short lived, Kevin Fierstein (10) winning a gift of a 4-2 when John Hawke (10+1) suffered an untimely retirement in the next to level the scores once more. Fierstein also won heat 12 in another 4-2 to regain the lead for the third time in the meeting, however just as on the other three occasions the hosts answered immediately with a 4-2 of their own. Level going into the last many of the seasoned Diamond Park watches expected the Crusaders to snatch victory in heat 15, but Fredrik Alquist (10) had other ideas, after popping out in front from gate one the experienced Swede used all his track craft to remain in front for the full four laps, securing a first point on the circuit for Steve Baker’s side in their last 16 visits there. A poor ending to what had been an excellent week for Coventry, they having raced to 42-48 wins on the road in both league and cup. Dave Hood’s side opened their bid for a first league title in five seasons with victory at another of the promoted sides, Warley, a last heat 5-1 from Angus Rogers (13+1) and the unbeaten Hawke (14+1) deciding things there. Meanwhile an Anthony Collier (11) winning heat 14 5-1 secured victory for the Crusaders in their Division One Cup opener at Houston.

Given Beverley’s strong start to the league season the biggest surprise of the opening week was their result in the Division One Cup. A 39-51 home loss to Doncaster! The Riverhogs have never gone beyond the group stage of the competition, but they are strong favourites to reach the semi-finals this year after claiming the full four points on offer from the fixture. The margin of victory was remarkable given the visiting riders managed just seven heat wins to their hosts eight, but they certainly made them count, scoring three 5-1’s and two 4-2’s. Promoter Dave Baker will especially be pleased with the performances of second string Karel Chovan (8+2) and reserve Jacob Wagner (9+2), with one or the other—or both in the case of heat 14—involved in the five heat advantages. Coventry’s win at Houston came in the same section, while in the other half of the draw Brighton take an early advantage following a 43-47 victory at St Ives, a meeting in which visiting reserve Mark Carr (9) raced to two of his side’s nine heat wins.

Of the ten top flight sides only one will not feature next week in the second round of the Club Pairs competition. Houston—who have finished on the podium in each of the previous four finals—miss out after finishing fourth in the first round tie at Nottingham (26), with a podium spot required their tally of 19 was three shy of that managed by Timperley, who took third. Cato Kalberg (14) and Jacob Harvey (12) topped the standings for the hosts by three points from St Ives, the same pairing saw the Red Dogs finish fourth in last years final. Home advantage also helped another division two side Rhondda (27) finish clear of top flight opposition, Herman Stanic (14) and Janis Pouchinsky (13) scoring four 5-1’s on their way to a convincing five point win over Warley (22), with Fort William finishing a point further back in third. With the highest average pairing in this years competition, Beverley (24) will fancy their chances of equalling Coventry’s record of seven wins in the competition in SL36, they began well enough, Richard Lewis (13) and Fredrik Alquist (11) winning the tie at Sawley. Sandwell (22) and York (21) followed them through to round two, while Doncaster (21) and Fenny Stratford (20) took the minor podium places in the tie hosted by the latter, which was won by Brighton’s Rasmus Wilhelmsen (14) and Michal Matusovic (9).

Teenagers’ Ben Kaur (15) and Alex Bryan (15) scored maximums to outshine their older opponents to win their respective BU21 semi finals this week. Kaur—who moved to Great Barr from Beverley for £100,000 in pre-season—raced to his first career WSO meeting win in the tie at East Goscote, while fellow 19 year old Bryan—a rider that has come through the ranks at St Ives—topped the standings at Redhill to claim his maiden WSO success, he finished runner-up to Harry Bruce in the SL35 final.

Three teams outside of the top flight began the season with back-to-back wins. All three earning their points on the road courtesy of a 44-46 success, although East Gostcote had secured their victory in the division three meeting at Boston with a race to spare. Both Buxton and Nottingham meanwhile required the use of tactical substitutes to secure victories in their second tier clashes at Rhondda and Sandwell respectively.