BLAKENHAM SNATCH DRAMATIC VICTORY - posted 17 August 2008

Great Blakenham snatched the British Open Club championship in dramatic style at Leicester yesterday.  They came from behind in the final quarter to steal victory from Birmingham after a remarkable series of races. Going into the last four heats, Birmingham looked to be heading for victory but two unbelievably careless exclusions handed the title to the Suffolk side.

Birmingham, on the verge of their first team title in years, looked in control for most of the match and went into the last round of races three points ahead of Great Blakenham.  Their destiny seemed assured when Marcus Wadhams was content to hold reserve Dan Osborne in last place to open up a four point gap with three races to go.

Then Birmingham fell apart.  Nathan Groves slipped and fell on the car park turn when fiercely contesting heat 14.  Playing the sympathy card, he took for ever to get up and regain his composure.  By that time Josh Brooke was on his back wheel, leaving referee Frank Finnigan little option by to exclude the lapped Birmingham rider and bring the scores level, at 37 all.  Then in in the next race, the penultinate on the card, Chris Timms, clearly frustrated by the turn of events, gifted the match to Blakenham by blatently hooking Chris Osborne's back wheel.

Solid, dependable Adam Peck make no mistake in the last race, comfortably slotting into second place ahead of Mark Winwood to give Great Blakenham their first Club Open title.  Meanwhile Leicester took full advantage of Birmingham's capitulation, taking 14 points from their last four races from the inside grid to finish runners-up ahead of Birmingham and Wednesfield. 

In fact the meeting started as dramatically as it finished, Wednesfield scoring just six points from their first four races, including a rare last for double British champion Lee Aris.  Having said that, it was a hell of a race.  Putting down a marker for next weekend's national individual championships, leading contenders Aris and Dan Pike were involved in a herculean struggle in heat four.  First Aris executed a glorious pass on Pike before the Suffolk star returned the compliment by making an even better pass to relegate the British champion into last place.

Blakenham fully deserved their  victory.  Adam Peck, surely one of the most under-rated riders on the national scene, was solid throughout, returning a 12 point tally.  Ever-impressive Josh Brooke pitched in with another dozen while Chris Osborne and Leon Mower did all that was asked of them. 

Leicester, minus super-star David Hemsley, who was spending the afternoon go-karting, came close.  Craig Marchant, Mark Newey and Dan Pike provided a solid platform but Kev Burns and Mark Whitehead struggled to make any real impact.  Chris Jewkes and Lee Aris both recovered from indifferent starts to head Wednesfield's scorechart - and Birmingham - well enough said.  They will be kicking themselves for years!

Fourth spot in the open category was enough the ensure Wednesfield retained the over Club Championship title, a splendid effort and fully deserved.  The West Midlanders contested all seven rounds, winning the Vets and under-19 championships to finish on 126 points, ahead of Leicester (101), Ipswich (85), Sheffield (84) and Hethersett (81) - subject to ratification.

Once again the Club Championship's most unreliable team, Norwich, failed to turn up.  There was a tame excuse circulating around Glover Park that they needed to stay home to prepare their track for the Premier League visit of Poole the following day!  Taking advantage of British Cycling's more lenient view of teams and riders not arriving at events, it was not the first time Norwich had dipped out of a championship commitment this season.  In June, they failed to make an appearance in the corresponding veterans' championship at Hull.  As far as we are aware, no disciplinary action has been taken against the club.

Having said that. the open category has failed miserably to capture the imagination, let alone support of clubs and supporters.  Only seven teams contested the event (only the women's championship attracted less entries) and the final was witnessed by just 36 spectators!!! 

Perhaps Norwich got it right after all!

British Open Club - Final
Great Blakenham 42
(Adam Peck 12, Josh Brooke 12, Chris Osborne 9, Leon Mower 8, Dan Osborne 1)
Leicester 40
(Mark Newey 11, Craig Marchant 11, Dan Pike10, Kev Burns 4, Mark Whitehead 4)
Birmingham 39
(Marcus Wadham 14, Chris Timms 11, Mark Winwood 10, Nathan Groves 3, Carl Winwood 1)
Wednesfield 35
(Chris Jewkes 13, Lee Aris 12, Mick Aris 6, Tom Haddock 4)
Referee:  Frank Finnigan

British Open Club - Semi Final A
Wednesfield 54
(Chris Jewkes 15, Lee Aris 15, Tom Haddock 14, Mick Aris 10)
Great Blakenham 51
(Josh Brooke 15, Adam Peck 14, Chris Osborne 9, Leon Mower 9, Daniel Osborne 4)
Sheffield 37
Norwich (failed to arrive)
Referee:  Ralph Doughty

British Open Club - Semi Final B
Birmingham 50
(Marcus Wadhams 15, Chris Timm 12, Mark Winwood 8, Nathan Groves 7, Carl Winwood 6)
Leicester 46
(Craig Marchant 11, Mark Whitehead 11, Daniel Pike 10, Nicky Whitehead 9, Kev Burns 5)
Hethersett 37
(David Martin 13, David Adam 8, Jazz Abbott 7, Ben Collins 5, Phil Adams 4)
Ipswich 28
(Leon Yelland 10, Thomas Pike 8, Jordon Stant 5, John Mason 5)
Referee:  Frank Finnigan

EIGHT CLUBS LINE-UP FOR FINAL EVENT OF SEASON - posted 8 August 2008

The seventh and final round of the British Club Championship takes place at Leicester on Saturday 16 August.

Just eight clubs have entered the competition and the draw has certainly favoured the non Premier League sides.  The first semi-final, which starts at 1pm, brings together four PL teams, Norwich, Wednesfield, Sheffield and Great Blakenham, leaving Leicester as the only Premier League team in the second semi - so the gate open for at least one 'non-league' team to reach the final.

While the result is academic as far as Wednesfield are concerned, having already been crowned 2008 champions, there will be plenty of competition for the remaining places.  Just 14 points separate the next four teams so Leicester, Ipswich, Sheffield and Hethersett will be keen to make a mark on the event and establish themselves in the final top three.  The draw is

BRITISH OPEN CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP - Saturday 16 August 2008 at Leicester
Semi-Final One at 1.00pm
1 Norwich 2 Wednesfield 3 Sheffield 4 Great Blakenham
Semi-Final Two at 2.30pm
1 Ipswich 2 Hethersett 3 Leicester 4 Birmingham

The top two from each semi-final will progress to the final at 4.30pm

Current Club Championships Table

 

LEICESTER RETAIN WOMEN'S TITLE - posted 4 August 2008

 

On Saturday the Leicester Ladies won the Women's British club championship in fine style.

 

Heat one saw Amy Crouch come up against the on form Lauren Jacobs from the outside grid and came in  second, just as manager Nick Whitehead asked. Heat two, Michelle Whitehead from gate four gated super fast to get over Rosie Woollard and Natalie Timms. Former girls and women's champion and indoor champion, ladies captain Lucy Whitehead made easy work of taking four points in heat three.  In the final grid four, Jenna Whitehead took to the track and was well on form to take the four points.

 

Nick Whitehead told spokesman-online "To only drop one point from four grid fours was excellent.  Our girls never looked back after this.  The only time in the match that we was behind was heat one."
 
Leicester then took grid twos scoring 14 points, Crouch, Michelle and Lucy Whitehead all taking four points each from their rides, backed up with a third place from Jenna Whitehead who dropped points to Lauen Jacobs and Charlie Ellits.
 
Coming off grid ones, Lucy stepped up and again destroyed her opponents with two quick laps, so she could then settle down and save her energy for her next race. Another win from Crouch and two second places from Michelle and Jenna which was 14 points while
their closest opponents, Ipswich, could only score 12 points kept the team on course for the title.
 
The final set of races saw Leicester take to grid threes while Ipswich had grid fours.  Ipswich took 11 points as Leicester notched a three wins.  In heat 15 Jenna Whitehead was replaced with former British champion Dave Hemsley's daughter Rebecca who was unlucky not to make the pass on the Sheffield rider.

 

Heat 16 saw the long awaited clash of the two unbeaten riders, Lauren Jacobs and Lucy Whitehead.  With the match already won, the girls own pride came in to this race with the race getting re-run after Jacobs twitched at the tapes.  The restart saw Lucy fly from grid three with Jacobs chasing for four laps trying everything she had to pass Lucy but Lucy finished the match in style with a max.

 

Leicester team manager Nick Whitehead was quick to sing the praises of the young Sheffield team but was really disappointed with track conditions and the lack of a perpetual trophy for the winning team.

 

"Well done to the Sheffield team for putting such a young side out but they all done brilliant" said Whitehead.  "I was disappointed that the
the track was only swept when the under-19s started.  Why this is I don't know but it's the girls big day just as much as the under-19s, so it should of been swept for them too. Also why was there no shield for the winning team? Surely this  meeting should be treated like a British team not British club championship and a big cup or shield should be presented to the winning team.  It's now been three years and still no shield" said Whitehead disgruntledly.

 

Final Result

Leicester 56, Ipswich 47, Wednesfield 37, Sheffield 18

 

EXETER DOMINATE UNDER-13 CLUB - posted 20 July 2008 

 

Astley & Tyldesley hosted the Under-13 British Club Championships, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Astley, at Gin Pit on Saturday afternoon. Heavy rain for much of the preceding week and on the morning of the match rendered track conditions heavy for the first match of the day.
 
The first semi-final got off to a bad start with only one Leicester rider arriving, but the youngsters quickly got stuck in to the action. Stockport raced to an impressive win, to easily qualify for the final, along with Ipswich. A very young Astley & Tyldesley team (all 9 or 10 years old) did well to finish third, ahead of Bury, with Leicester well adrift. A & T deployed Adam Phillips at reserve and he recorded a 16 points maximum score.
 
Under-13 British Club Championship Semi-Final One
Stockport 55 (Mat Lush 15, Jake Read 15, Jack Lush 12, Joe Pickford 8, Jack Sweeney 5)
Ipswich 49 (Richard Fellgett 14, Ashley Hill 13, Charlie Rumbold 12, Daniel Knights 10)
A & T 40 (Adam Phillips 16, Joel Partington 7, Adam Watson 6, Stefan Whitelegg 6, Philip Atherton 5)
Bury 37 (Liam Burke 12, Aiden Ramsden 9, Michael Kennedy 9, Tom Spencer 7)
Leicester 5:(Liam Doughty 5)
Referee - Mick Knowles (Sheffield)
 
A very competitive second semi-final took place, as the rain eased off and conditions improved. Four teams were in strong contention throughout the match, for the two final places. Exeter booked their place, finishing on 45 points with one race remaining. Going into the last race, Wednesfield headed Sandwell by a point, with Sheffield a further three points adrift. There was a dramatic end to the race, as Wednesfield's Matt Haddock, who had been third at one stage in the race, dived inside the race leader, Brad Clark of Sandwell, on the very last bend. Haddock came down and Clark was excluded for illegal use of the leg. The race was awarded to Haddock, so it was Wednesfield who booked their place in the final, as the holders, Sandwell, went out.
 
Under-13 British Club Championship Semi-Final Two
Exeter 45 (Aaron Coles 14, Corey Heyde 13, Joe Avery 11, Charlie-Jane Herbert 5, Lauren Hookway 2)
Wednesfield 44 (Liam Johnson 15, Matt Haddock 11, Lewis Southam 8, Jack Harriman 6, Rianna Brindley 4)
Sandwell 39 (Ricky Johnson 12, Tyler Pearson 11, Brad Clark 10, Ryan Simkins 6)
Sheffield 39 (Aiden Wylde 11, Richard Hudson 10, Jordan Scaife 9, Kyle Brough 9)
Hethersett 25 (Scott Grimes 12, Jack Andrews 5, Axl Johnson 5, Ryan Cubitt 3)
Referee - Jeff Radcliffe (Stockport)
 
A superbly prepared track greeted the riders for the final, as the track dried out and was tyre packed beforehand. Stockport got off to a flyer with race wins to the Lush twins, but Exeter had drawn level at the end of the first series of races, heat four. The Devon side moved into a three points lead at the interval, as Stockport struggled off their grid fours. Back came Stockport to take a one point lead after heat 10, with Ipswich a further two points adrift. Exeter then took complete control of the match, to win each one of the last six races and take the trophy, finishing an emphatic 12 points clear of their nearest rivals. Ipswich drew level with Stockport, as Richard Fellgett held off a strong challenge from Jack Lush in the last race, to force a second place run-off. The same pair were nominated by their team managers for the run-off. Lush called correctly in the toss for start positions and won comfortably to secure second place overall for Stockport.
 
The powerful duo of Corey Heyde and Aaron Coles both raced to impressive 16 points maximum scores for Exeter, with strong support from Joe Avery. The Lush twins raced well for Stockport, but they sorely missed Ali Lam, whose presence could have proved decisive. Richard Fellgett and Matt Haddock both impressed for Ipswich and Wednesfield respectively.
 
Under-13 British Club Championship Final

Exeter 51 (Corey Heyde 16, Aaron Coles 16, Joe Avery 12, Lauren Hookway 5, Charlie-Jane Herbert 2)
Stockport 39 (Mat Lush 13, Jack Lush 12, Jake Read 10, Joe Pickford 3, Jack Sweeney 1)
Ipswich 39 (Richard Fellgett 12, Charlie Rumbold 10, Ashley Hill 9, Daniel Knights 5, Matt Hill 3)
Wednesfield 29 (Matt Haddock 12, Jack Harriman 5, Rianna Brindley 5, Liam Johnson 4, Lewis Southam 3)
Referee - Mick Knowles (Sheffield)
 
Awards to all final competitors were presented by the Mayor of Wigan, Councillor Rona Winkworth. Another official guest was the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Andy Burnham MP, who thoroughly enjoyed the racing in the first semi-final. All in all it was a great day's racing, with Exeter proving to be convincing and worthy winners. Once again, the standard of refereeing was excellent, as both referees enhanced their reputations as good up and coming officials.
 
Despite not winning this event, Wednesfield extended their lead in the overall British Club Championship series, to put themselves in  a very strong position with just two rounds remaining.