Last months exit in the KO Cup has been followed by further disappointment for league leaders Whitemoor, who have missed out on another of their top targets. A first home defeat in nearly a year saw the Witches beaten in the European Cup decider, favourites heading into the second leg, this weeks British hosts went down by eight on aggregate after losing out 43-47 at the Sheepcroft. Krakow secured their third European Cup title with a race to spare of the return when reserve Sergei Bogdanovic (11+2) added two more points to his already healthy total in the meeting, the Russian had earlier raced to wins in heats two and ten, the former helping earn the Poles their only 5-1 of the meeting. Krakow’s victory ends an up-tick in results for British sides in the competition, home nation clubs had lifted the trophy in each of the previous two seasons, with Sedgemoor ending a run of five straight final victories for European League sides in SL27. A morale sapping loss for Whitemoor was mitigated somewhat by their progression to the final of the 4TT, although the Witches would go on to end the week with a 12 point league defeat at Chalvington, a result which ended a run of seven straight top flight victories for the league leaders. Whitemoor made it through to their third 4TT final—another competition they have yet to win—in four years by finishing equal top of their second round group alongside Glasshoughton, who won the competition in SL5 and 14. Whitemoor took the lead from opening leg winners Glasshoughton with victory at home in leg two, the Gazelles though clawed their way back to level things up—the two sides finishing with 108 points—in the final meeting at Rugby.

Holders Chalvington (137) made light work of qualifying for the final of the 4TT for the second successive season. The Chiefs quartet led by maximum man Jason Danoff (12) won the opening leg of the second round tie at Cambridge by two points, before finishing in strong runners-up positions at Nottingham and Broadwell, where they posted scores of 30 and 32 points respectively, which are normally good enough to take the meeting wins. They scored 41 at home in leg four to progress by 49 points on aggregate! Smethwick (118) meanwhile are through to the final of the competition for the first time in their 28 year history, the Meerkats winning their home meeting plus leg three at Bridgwater to top the standings in their group by 20 from Longbridge.

Newport Pagnell—winners of the competition in three of the previous five seasons—are on the verge of making the final of the KO Cup once again after racing to victory at division two side Bolsover. Denis Rask (12) top scored in the first leg of the semi-final tie, which the Knights recovered from the concession of a heat one 5-1 to win by six. Chalvington are favourites to make it through from the second of the ties, they holding Smethwick to a draw on their travels in the opener of the all-top flight affair.

Sedgemoor moved out of the division one relegation zone once again after racing to their third away victory of the league campaign. The 42-48 win was their first at Claygate in 15 years, and was returned courtesy of back-to-back 5-1’s at the death. Twice trailing by eight, the visitors fought back to move to within two with a Vitas Kolesnichenko (13) winning 4-2 in heat 12, before the late maximums won by George Bull (14) and Kolesnichenko in turn secured them the two vital league points. The Rebels went on to beat bottom side Netherton, 54-36, a result which crucially gave them the bonus point which kept them above Cambridge in the standings. Netherton are relegated following the loss, despite there still being eight rounds of racing to come.

Rugby’s Zygmunt Jablonski (11) became the fourth different GP winner of this years campaign in as many rounds after topping the standings in Malmo. The series rookie finished a point clear of world number three Taavi Raudnagel (2nd) and Michael Langhorne (3rd) in the Swedish tie, with World Championship leader Bernd Hoover (9) taking fourth. Meanwhile last years runner-up, Vitas Kolesnichenko (15), scored a maximum to win the first of this years WU21 semi-finals at Bridgwater. The 19 year old joined Sedgemoor for £1million earlier in the season.

Kolesnichenko’s old club Wilmington made it four wins out of four to end the week just two points off top spot in division two. The Wombats put themselves in a great position to claim a second promotion in three years with a 43-47 win at Glasshoughton, a side that began the week just a point behind them in the standings. At the other end of the table March won at Wordsley to move to within two points of safety.