Swanage (22) have taken the SL34 Club Pairs title to equal Willenhall’s record of four wins in the competition. They moved top of the all-time winners list with a single point victory over Brighton (21) in this week’s Nottingham decider, the success follows two successive runners-up finishes in the competition for the club. Cameron Richards (8) was one half of the duo that finished second to Peak Dean (13) in both SL32 and 33, Matthew Francis (9)—who was representing Bolsover (19) in this years final—his partner on both of those occasions, Daniel Mucha (14) the man to ride alongside him this year. No glory for the Plunderers this time, they finishing last of seven in the final, with Mark Smith having to wait until his fifth ride to get his first point. The defending champions were on the wrong on a 5-1 when they came up against Swanage in heat five, that the second of back-to-back maximums scored by the Mucha/Richards partnership, they having already dispatched fellow semi-final winners Kent in the opener. A Mucha fall in heat nine saw them receive some of their own medicine when they took on Lane End (16), a 5-1 going the way of the sports newcomers, who were bidding to become the first side from the third tier to win the competition in 27 years. The challenge to Swanage for the trophy however came from Bolsover and Brighton, Bolsover’s ended when Francis fell when they met the Swans in heat 19, a 5-1 there for Swanage setting Brighton a 23 point target for the win. They fell short when failing to pick up a heat advantage over Lane End in the last, leaving the Swans to celebrate another success.

TODAY: Shorts

Kent’s record breaking start to the season continued as they added three more wins to take their tally to 11 from 11 in all competitions. In beating Bolsover 55-35 at home they picked up the maximum four points from the Division One Cup first round fixture, booking their place in the semi-finals at the earliest of opportunities in the process. They are also certain to qualify for the last-four as group winners, in what will be the first time in their history that they have reached that stage of the competition. Including last season Kent have now won eight in a row in the league, which is a new best sequence for the club, the latest victory returned at Swanage, 43-46, that despite Mitch Godden resting Fiske Liljedahl from his side, a rider who’d been averaging 9.00 in the top flight this season. The Swede’s replacement, Joshua Upton, scored just two points from his five rides, while Liljedahl kept his 6.38 GSA for the next six rounds of racing. Despite this and the fact that Espen Askelien was left out of Kent’s earlier eight point win over Milton Keynes, Godden’s start of season side is over the 47 point ceiling and he’ll be forced to make changes again. Zarand Paris (14) dropped just one point in what was Kent’s first ever win at Days Park, his GSA goes from 8.98 to 10.21, another big improver was second string Milos Hubenak (6+1), whose mark has gone from 5.66 to 8.17.

Defeat at Kent leaves Swanage with just one win from their first six in the league this season. However three of those meetings have ended in draws, including what was a second away from home this week on their trip to Reading, where a paid 11 from reserve Robert Cooke helped the scores finish all-square. Bicester’s meeting with Brighton also finished level, that despite the Bulls claiming 50% more race wins than the visitors, who did though claim the only 5-1 of the meeting. Elsewhere Putney benefited from the under-strength line-up by their hosts to win at Bolsover, 42-48, the Bears struggling without the injured Juhani Mantyla, they needing tactical substitutes just to stay in contention late on.

Away wins are still hard to come by in division two in SL34—just one from 30 fixture to date—Nottingham though came close to doubling the number on their trip to Dover. In the end they had to settle for a draw in a meeting they led going into the last before conceding a 4-2, 19 year old Jazz reserve Valentin Koltsov top scoring with 13 in the meeting, the Estonian’s GSA has since increased from 5.77 to 8.00.

Four years and six weeks since their maiden British League meeting Calne have gone top of division three for the first time. They did so after winning their home clash with Lothian, 56-34, that followed an away win at Tresco, which has become one of the Eagles favourite circuits. The two point victory was their third in their last four visits to the Cromwell Stadium, and was secured by a last heat win for their number one Alexander Holden (13+1) over Mikhail Yudin (10+2). Meanwhile Benfleet scored three 5-1’s in the first four races on their way to a 42-48 victory at Lothian, six different riders took part in the early maximums, with Danilo Jeglich (6+1) and reserve Claus Marcher (12+1) going on to add to their heat four success with another 5-1 five races later.