A bright point in a dreadful season for Kent as they squeezed their way through to the semi-finals of the European Cup. Having gone 17 meetings in all competitions without a win this season, a 56-34 first leg mauling of Pori was just the boost the Steelers needed. That epic margin of victory was nearly not enough though, Mitch Godden’s side making it really hard work for themselves in the Finnish return leg, with the concession of four 5-1’s in the first seven races seeing their advantage cut to just six points. The second half of the meeting was better for Kent, but still Pori would take the tie into a last heat decider thanks to back-to-back 4-2’s in heats 13 and 14. Their lead down to two, Sladen Bruhan (12) would see his side through to the semi-finals of the competition for the second successive season with a heat 15 win over Yassir Mellum (13). Much better will be required if they are to make their first final however, with West Ham awaiting them in the last four. The Dockers booked their placed in the all British tie by completing a ten point aggregate win over Prague in the Czech Republic, second string William Freeman (7+1) amongst the heat winners as Steve Hebden’s side progressed when coming up against European League opposition for the seventh tie in succession. Brighton though did go out after an unsuccessful trip to the continent, the SL33 winners eliminated by Krakow after a 49-41 defeat in Poland. Krakow take on Peak Dean in the semi-finals, the Plunderers overturning an early deficit to win in Lublin this week 43-47 and progress by 24 on aggregate.

They may have been both at home but Kent made it two league wins out of two to move off the bottom of division one. The second came this week against Desford, 48-42, who replace the Steelers at the foot of the standings and are now two points adrift of them having also lost at home to Putney by the same score-line. The defeat—which was inflicted as Kimmo Lasko (13) winning heat 13 and 15 5-1’s— was their ninth in succession in the league. Putney remain second in the table on points difference to Swanage, who like them picked up the maximum six points from their latest set of fixtures, three returned at Reading where the Swans raced to a 41-49 victory. Joshua Ward (13) and Bradley Williams (11+1) completed what was the leaders second successive victory at Palmer Park by scoring a last heat 5-1. West Ham were the big losers in the latest round of fixtures, having began the week just two points off top spot, the Dockers end it eight points adrift following defeats at Peak Dean (50-40) and at home to Liden (43-47), the latter becoming the first side to win at Custom Court in nearly a year after an impressive showing from their recently revamped top four, £40,000 addition from Bolsover Lasse Hinsch top scoring with 12+1 in the victory which takes the Wildcats five points clear of the drop zone.

SL34 world number four Aarno Saarinen (14) is back in the GP series after winning the Scandinavian Final for a second time in two years. Reading’s recent near £3/4million signing dropped just a point to become the first rider to qualify for this years series, Odell Matthiessen (2nd) and Kimmo Laakso (3rd) booked their places in the 16 strong field by completing the podium. Those finishing fourth to seventh in Malmo get another shot at qualification via next months Play Off round in Warrington, barring injury to others the world numbers two and five, Tommy Leinonen (7) and Sladan Bruhn (8), will not be amongst their number.

After three semi-final youth victories Dover’s George Goldsmith (15) gained a first career title this week. The Dover youngster winning the BU21 Championship at the age of 19 after scoring a maximum in the SL36 final at Lothian, the top seven from the meeting—which include Harry Radford (2nd) and Andrew Bradshaw (3rd), who fought out a race off for the minor podium spots—will represent the UK in this years WU21 Championship.

Second division beat first on the road in the first leg of the last-16 KO Cup ties. Still Bracklesham’s 39-51 success at Kent wasn’t a great surprise given the Steelers woes this year, Warrington’s 14 point home rout over top flight leaders Swanage was. The Swans face a tough fight not to be eliminated at this stage of the competition for the second year in succession, especially if Alexandr Zizilev (14) takes the sort of form to Days Park which saw him drop just a point in the first leg. Meanwhile Warrington remain third in the division three standings after going down to a 46-44 defeat at leaders Houston when conceding a last heat 4-2, the Pirates went on to win at Lothian, 37-53, to extend their unbeaten run to 11 in all competitions. Poole consolidated their position in second spot with a draw at Calne, who’d earlier themselves won at Cradley, 44-46, thanks to a last heat 4-2.