For the first time in ten years Leeds have failed to reach the quarter-finals of the KO Cup. Their remarkable run of form in the competition—they’ve reached the final in five of the previous six seasons, lifting the trophy twice in that time—was brought to an end by Cradley Heath, who dominated the second leg of their second round tie on their own Silverthorne circuit, beating the league leaders 55-35 to progress into that last eight by 20 on aggregate. It’s the first time Leeds have lost in their opening tie of the competition since SL17, that the same year the Cobras were starting out in the sport as a third tier team. Cradley made the quarter-finals that year too, but have only gone beyond the last eight once, that when finishing as runners-up to Stowmarket in the SL29 competition, Runcorn stand in their way of progressing for a second time. Owen Mitchell (13+2) scored a maximum for the Cobras as they recovered from an opening heat 4-2 reversal to secure their passage with two races to spare, the hosts taking control with a run of four 5-1’s in the space of eight races, three coming from the Cerek Ostrowski (9+2)/Mitchell partnership, with crucially the second of those scored when Daniel Lake came into partner Aaron Macaulay as a tactical substitute in heat five. That result provided all the encouragement the hosts needed to go on to claim their memorable victory, Leeds ended the night licking their wounds with just four heat wins to their name. Runcorn take on Cradley after coming through a tricky tie against Small Heath by ten on aggregate, the Rockets limiting their third division hosts to a 48-42 second leg win this week. There was plenty of Division Three success however, with holders Dudley exiting on their SL32 debut in the competition to Margate, who go on to tackle Coalville in round three, while we are certain of one minnow in the semi-finals, with Calderwood and Beverley drawn together in the last eight following their successes over Coventry (87-93) and Huntingdon (94-86) respectively. Brickhill and Wentworth complete the quarter final line-up.

For the second successive season British riders completed a clean-sweep of the Overseas Final podium places. With them of course comes three automatic spots for the GP series, Leeds world number three Aaron Macaulay (11) topped the standings at Linlithgow by a point from a group of four riders who fought out a race-off to decide the remaining two available places, 22 year old Claygate rider David Duckworth—making his Overseas debut—the surprise winner of the extra heat, world number seven Nathan Kay taking the all important runners-up spot. Kyle Ostrow and Mark Jolly missed out, but—along with the remainder of the top nine—they get another shot of making the GP’s in next weeks Play Off in Eastbourne. Macaulay meanwhile becomes only the third rider—and the first in 23 years—to win the Overseas title, British title and his British semi-final in the same season. This weeks victory sees the 38 year old match Nathan Kay and Gavin Moss’s record of four career wins in the Overseas.

Hamish MacKay (14)—who moved from Calderwood to Stowmarket for £300,000 as an 18 year old last year—dropped just a point to win the BU21 title on his former circuit this week. Back on familiar shale the ever-improving Scot recovered from an early defeat to Liam Carter (8) to finish two points clear of Matthew Dowling (12) on the podium, a rider who was only in the final due to Ethan Baker being ruled out through injury. Defending champion Alex Walton (5) had an awful night, two non-finishes seeing him end way outside of the necessary top seven to book a place in this years WU21 semi-finals.

Runcorn’s improvement in form was short lived as they lost at home for the third time in the top flight this season. Brickhill back above them in the standings—although still in the relegation zone—follow their 42-48 win at the Rockets, a win they secured despite their riders racing to just five heat victories. Brickhill—who have yet to lose at home this season, but have drawn four out of nine—end the first half of the season eighth, a point adrift of safety, Runcorn are a further three back in ninth. Leeds top the standings at the halfway mark for the seventh successive season, Stowmarket slipping to second following a first home defeat of the campaign suffered at the hands of Cradley Heath. On a high from the KO Cup success the Cobras went on to win at the Witches, 44-46, where second string Andreas Magnus top scored with 11. Elsewhere a first away win of the campaign for Linlithgow, who inflicted Eastbourne’s first home defeat, 41-48, despite their number one Dirk Miller scoring just three! Reserve Aaron Joyce (10) and second string Lacklan Smith (10+1) did though make double figure contributions.