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Stannington Shoguns picked up their first trophy in three years after overturning an 18 point deficit going into the final leg, to win the 4TT by four. Gloucester, Broxbourne and Beaconsfield had won the previous three legs in turn, leaving the competition finally balanced going into the decider, the Senators favourites to claim the silverware, they holding a comfortable ten point lead over nearest rivals Broxbourne. Hosts Stannington needed a good start, and boy did they get it. Six straight wins from the off seeing them stamp their authority on the final leg, Terry Browett (8) the first to be defeated in heat seven, but even after then the Shoguns had moved to within just five points of the overall leaders. A Michael Moran win in heat eight steadied things for Gloucester, Ivo Viktor (9) the first to drop any serious points for the hosts when trailing in third. That success though was one of only two on the night for the Senators, their second not coming until the final heat—and by then it was too late. In between the Stannington quartet had racked up another five race wins between them, two going the way of Paul Southam (12) who completed his maximum, before Sandor Waltner’s (11) victory over Ashley Wilkins in heat 14 followed by Browett’s heat 15 success over Ryan Holmes assured the Shoguns of the silverware with a race to spare. Promoter Matt Akers will be delighted to get this one under his belt, the pressure relieved slightly as his side continues their bid for a domestic fours/KOC and league treble over the next month. For Gloucester it is a case of what might have been, they held on to take the runners-up spot despite their disappointing final leg, Beaconsfield claimed third for the second successive season.

Jonathan Svensson (9) was so determined not to fluff his lines once again in the German GP, Kassel was were it all went wrong for the Swede last season, and after again opening up this series with two GP wins it was a case of ‘could have been better’ in round three. Race wins over title contenders Sandor Waltner (11) and Sean Robson (9) in his first two promised another good night ahead for the 24 year old, his encouraging start unravelled quickly though, a poor gate in heat nine leaving him playing catch-up and he tried just too hard to get by Ken Scothorn going out of the second bend, taking his prey wide and into the air fence, Svensson was rightly excluded from the re-run. The dropped points weren’t the only cost to him, a change of bikes was necessary with his first choice severely damaged by the coming together, he was clearly not as confident on his second machine, finishing a distant third in his next race before taking a poor second behind Martin Pocisk (12) in his last outing to the track. The win for Pocisk in heat 19 took him into a race-off for the meeting win with Lasse Lien, Lien repeating his earlier victory over the Slovakian in the extra race. Waltner had clinched third with a heat 18 win over Terry Browett, his deficit to series leader Svensson cut to just a single point going into next weeks British GP at Brookwood. Although slipping to fourth after scoring nine in Kassel, Robson is still in a strong position in the series and will be hoping home nation support next week will help him make a leap up the standings. World Champion Tony Williamson (8), who returned to the series this week in place of the injured Ulrik Bjur, will again also be in action.

Totton Tigers will take a ten point lead to Beaconsfield for the second leg of the European Cup final, John Shuttler’s outfit having rounded off a 50-40 first leg success with a Lasse Jussila (13)/Jani Niemi (11+1) 5-1 in the final heat. Brian McKnight’s decision to go with a strong top three backfired, with the lead home duo cancelling them out, while Shuttler’s surprise selection of Gerd Neumann (4+2) and Craig Steven (7+2) at second string—neither have started a league fixture in the last two months—paid great dividends.

A second semi final group win has taken England to the verge of qualification for this season’s World Cup final, double figures from Sean Robson (11+2) helping the Lions to a 54-36 victory over Sweden. Richard Holmes made just one change to the side that beat the Finns in the opening group fixture, Paul Mellor (9) coming in to replace Ryan Holmes to good effect, the Tonyrefail man winning his first two races on his return to the side.

Stansted Spitfires’ eighth away league win of the season has seen them gain a slender one point lead over title rivals Stannington at the top of the division one table, the Spits win returned at Reading Gravediggers (43-47) where Sean Robson (15) wrapped up his ninth full maximum of the season with vital wins in heats 13 and 15. Despite the defeat Reading climb one place in the table to 12th, they out of the relegation zone for the first time this season thanks to an early win at Cradley, who now replace them in the bottom four. Gloucester’s eventual 41-49 success in the black country was assured with a second win of the night from reserve Joe Lewis (9) in heat 14 of the contest.

Long Eaton Rifles became the first side to achieve promotion from division two this season, a 61-29 win over Swindon—the biggest of the season in the division—taking them 12 points clear of fifth placed Houston. That margin would not normally be enough to be certain of a top four spot at this stage but one of the Knights or third placed Newhaven are bound to drop points next week when the two meet. Houston need to get at least the bonus from that fixture having dropped out of the top three this week, falling below Newhaven and Tonyrefail Dragons, the latter 43-47 winners at Exeter.

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