Wimbledon’s poor recent run in the KO Cup looks set to continue after they went down to a 53-37 loss at Beverley in their opening fixture of this years competition. Marc Labrum’s Werewolves conceded three 5-1’s and three 4-2’s in the second half of the first round first leg clash at the East Yorks Raceway, in fact riders from the current division three pacesetters won ten straight races from heat six onwards as their side overturned a two point deficit to win the meeting by 16. Those tally of successes included three from second string Elliott Pike, who dropped just a point from his scheduled four outings to the track on his way to a season best of 11, that score over double his previous highest recorded in SL32! Heat leaders Piotr Slursarski (14) and Jack Bird (8+3) were beaten just once all night by their higher division opponents, with Pike and Bird combining for the first two of the four heat maximums scored by the Hammers, the fourth also won by Pike, he finishing ahead of reserve Tyler Hall (6+1) on that occasion. Beverley’s own record in the KO Cup is far from strong, they themselves only making it beyond the first round once in the past seven seasons, and only to round three once in the 24 years since they finished as runners-up in the SL4 final. All eyes will be on Wimbledon next week to see if Ian Adamson’s side can complete the upset, the remainder of the top flight sides up against lower division opposition are favourites to progress after the first legs of their ties, most notably Eastbourne and Runcorn, who won at Mid Cams (42-48) and Kelso (41-49) respectively.

Runcorn slumped to the bottom of division one after suffering their second home loss since their promotion last season. Defending champions Leeds the latest visiting side to come away with from Linnets Park with the points, despite £121,000 signing Mark Butcher scoring just two on his debut for the Jaguars. Two wins from his fellow second string Neil Burns (8) made up for the new arrival’s short-comings, while the visiting reserves outscored their opposite numbers nine points to one. Previous basement sitters Wimbledon are up to eighth, just points difference adrift of safety, after climbing above both Runcorn and Linlithgow, the latter after they took two out of a possible three points off them when they met north of the border this week. Wimbledon secured a draw at the Lions thanks to Rubert Zmolek’s (11) last heat win over the previously unbeaten Dirk Miller (14), the win also securing Marc Labrum’s side the bonus point by two on aggregate.

Dudley remain unbeaten in SL32 with a draw at Hale making in ten without defeat in division two for the club and 13 in all competitions! They are still three meetings short of breaking their club record unbeaten run of 15, set in SL23, when they went 11 without defeat in the league, a run they can match in their home meeting with Coventry next week. Terry Meech’s Tigers were aided at Hale by the failure of new £60,000 signing Emils Ivanov to score a point in the meeting, the two league points—which includes the aggregate bonus—sees them end the week five clear at the top from Huntingdon. Three further back in third are Coventry, who find themselves in the promotion places for the first time this season following a 44-46 victory at Wolverhampton, second string Christer Arn (9+1) picked up a brace of wins for the visitors as they claimed their first away points since relegation. 44-46 was the result too at Earley, where Bradwell recorded their first away win of the campaign, the Bandits fighting back from ten down after heat ten to win the clash with a two 4-2’s and two 5-1’s in the closing stages, Tomaz Bozic (16) winning the first three of the four successive visiting side heat advantages.

Beverley followed up their KO Cup success with a second away win of their SL32 league campaign. The Hammers ending the week two points clear at the top of division three courtesy of their 43-47 success at Claygate, where a couple of 5-1’s and a 4-2 in the final three races brought about a ten point turnaround in the scores in their favour. Piotr Slusarski won the first and third of those races to end the night with 17 from his six rides. Calderwood remain second, with a draw at Small Heath—who began the week in third—helping them pull away from their promotion rivals in the standings.

Piotr Slusarski (10) successfully negotiated the first hurdle in the defence of his world championship title. The 36 year old Pole finished third in his Continental semi-final in Lublin, a meeting which was won by Wimbledon’s Rubert Zmolek (11). World number two Belal Fabiah (9) also made it through to the final, however three of last years GP riders made their exits this week, with Erich Pavlik eliminated in Lublin and Dzintars Reinkus (7) plus Oliver Schmidt (5) failing to make the cut in the second semi-final at Gyor, which was won by Earley’s Robert Zemljic (12).