The Eastern Women's team celebrated winning the One2Call British
Championship with a parade lap of Foxhall Stadium  last night before the Ipswich Witches’ clash with Berwick Bandits which the Witches won 58-36.

Pictured with the Witches are Gemma Hill (Ipswich Eagles), Danielle Riley (Norwich Stars), Lauren Jacobs (Ipswich Eagles), Carly Grimes (Hethersett Hawks), Tiff Collins (Hethersett Hawks).  Unfortunately team mate Laura Dale (Ipswich Eagles) was unable to attend the photocall because of work commitments.

EASTERN VICTORY IN WOMEN'S LEAGUE - posted 20 September 2011

The grand final of the One2Call Women's League was eagerly awaited by all four teams, with Midlands, the current holders taking on the Eastern team while South & South Wales took on the North & Scotland team.

The Midlands had strength in depth while the East had top end strength and a long tail, so it looked like it would go all the way.  The rain tried to dampen the enthusiasm of the girl racers but right from the first race it was all action.

A jet propelled gate from Midlands Lauren Davies was being chased all the way by Eastern’s Lauren Jacobs, but Davies slipped off her pedals enabling Jacobs to pass and share heat one.

Tiffany Collins and Laura Dale for the East took the first advantage 6-4 over Reanna Brindley and Kayla Whetton. The Midlands squared the match with a 6-4 with Davies and Brindley. A tape exclusion for Charlie Ellitts and the Collins/Dale picked up a maximum seven points with Natalie Timms giving it everything to try and split the pair.

Davies, this time with Amy Herbert pegged the score to trail by just one, so at the half way stage the title could go either way. The Collins/Dale partnership gained their second maximum heat win over Ellitts and Courtney Aris which swung the momentum back in favour of the East. A nasty looking fall for Brindley and subsequent exclusion was a blow to the Midlands and they could see their title slipping away.

Danielle Riley took the chequered flag for the East in the re-run ahead of Whetton and Natalie Ward and moved into a six point lead.  Jacobs won then next and with team mate Gemma Hill at the back the Midlands still had hope of pulling something special out of the bag. Davies went on to collect her third win, with Collins and Dale happy to settle for a shared heat and keep a six-point lead. Danielle won the final race to seal victory and the customary bumps awaited her from her team-mates (pictured below).

















Eastern 59
L Jacobs 15, D Riley 15, L Dale 14, T Collins 13, N Ward 5, G Hill 4
Midlands 54
L Davies 15, R Brindley 8, K Whetton 8, C Ellitts 8, N Timms 7, A Herbert 4, C Aris 4

In the match for third and fourth, the South & South Wales team may have thought they were in for an easy ride but North & Scotland had other ideas.  A 6-4 start from the South’s Livvy Horsley and Jess Harris over Laura Watson and Amber Webster and another from Lauren Hookway and Kristina Mines put them in the driving seat before  a big 7-3 from Horsley and reserve Hookway gave them a 24-16 lead. For the North, Sandra Tamborska and Ellie Sullivan gave them hope. Three shared heats kept the scores interesting with some good team riding from Vicky Brown and Georgina Healy for the North the Caris Glover and Hookway for the South.

A good 6-4 from Charlie-Jane Herbert and Rebecca Davies increased their lead to six points. More first class team riding this time Webster and Watson as they kept Mines at the back. Rider of the day Ellie Sullivan picked up another paid second.  Every time Ellie gets on the track she looks more confident and faster. Horsley, the new British women's champion, completed a deserved maximum while Brown won the final heat to crown a fine performance for the North & Scotland and to see how they have finished the season from how they started shows they will be back faster and stronger next season.

Everyone in the British Women’s & Girls League wish Reanna Brindlay a speedy recovery from her fall which needed a hospital visit.

South & South Wales 63
L Horsley 16, L Hookway 13, C J Herbert 11, K Mines 8, R Davies 7, C Glover 4, J Harris 4 
North & Scotland 57
S Tamborska 14, V Brown 13, L Watson 11, E Sullivan 8, A Webster 6, G Healey 5

LIVVY HORSLEY DOMINATES GIRLS GP - posted 20 September 2011

In the One 2 Call under-16’s grand prix series, Livvy Horsley had a comfortable lead and knew an A final finish would see crowned champion. For the minor rostrum places is was any two from four and, as you would expect from the girls, there was no quarter asked or given.  A fine determined pass by Sandra Tamborska over Danielle Riley was proof of that.

The top girls were taking points off each other apart from the flying Tamborska who finished on a maximum 16 points. It came to the count back and Riley missed out and with it her chance of a top three finish. A jet-propelled gate from Tamborska got her to the front where she stayed.

Hookway knew she had to pass Horsley to secure second place and Mines was chasing hoping a clash in front would give her the chance to sneak through and gain a rostrum finish. Hookway made the pass on Horsley and that’s how they finished.

SURNAME	1ST NAME	REGION	CAT	RND 1	RND 2	RND 3	RND 4	TOTAL
HORSLEY	LIVVY	S&SW	U16s	18	20	25	18	81
HOOKWAY	LAUREN	S&SW	U16s	16	18	16	20	70
TAMBORSKI	SANDRA	N&S	U16s	25		18	25	68
MINES	KRISTINA	S&SW	U16s	20	16	12	16	64
RILEY	DANIELLE	EAST	U16s		25	20	14	59
ARIS	COURTNEY	MID	U16s	12	13		13	38
DAVIES	REBECCA	S&SW	U16s	11	11	11		33
GLOVER	CARIS	S&SW	U16s		12	8	12	32
BRINDLEY	REANNA	MID	U16s	14	14			28
OWEN	BILLIE	N&S	U16s	7	8	7	6	28
WHETTON	KAYLA	MID	U16s			13	8	21
SULLIVAN	ELLIE	N&S	U16s			9	11	20
HARRIS	JESS	S&SW	U16s	8			9	17
WEBSTER	AMBER	N&S	U16s		9		7	16
DAVIES	LAUREN	MID	U16s			14		14
HERBERT	CHARLEY-J	S&SW	U16s	13				13
UNWIN	KATIE	N&S	U16s		7	2	3	12
COOKE	CALEY	MID	U16s	4	6			10
COX	SHARNA	MID	U16s	9				9
MORTON	NIAMH	N&S	U16s	6		3	0	9
UNWIN	ALICE	N&S	U16s	3	4	1	1	9
HILL	GEMMA	EAST	U16s		3	4	2	9
BORAK	PATRYCJA	MID	U16s			6		6
HEALEY	GEORGINA	N&S	U16s				4	4
DALE	JAMIE-LEIGH	EAST	U16s		2			2
HARRIS	CIARA	S&SW	U16s					0

FAULTLESS LAUREN DOMINATES WOMEN'S GRAND PRIX - posted 20 September 2011

Lauren Jacobs had done enough in the three previous rounds and with her presence here couldn’t be caught so the battle was between the World number one and two and Sheffield team-mates Laura Watson and Vicky Brown.

Jacobs again showed her class with a faultless 16 point maximum with Tiffany Collins putting in a solid performance to finish on 12 points, the same as Watson.  Despite a tumble in her first race Brown also scored 12 points to secure an A final.

A tapes-to-flag win for Jacobs meant she had been faultless throughout the competition, scoring a maximum in every qualifying rounds and winning every A final, a terrific achievement. Collins chased Jacobs all the way but the real battle was between Brown and Watson.  Try as she might, Brown couldn’t find a way past.
 
The announcer thought the racing had come to a conclusion but we then had to have a race off as Brown and Watson had both finished on 70 GP points.  With the track now very heavy from the rain showers we had to encounter all day, there was a deserved rest for the two whilst the presentation were made to the under 16’s. Watson won the toss and picked in side but a massive gate from Brown got her clear from the tapes and finished the race to secure second place overall with Watson third.

SURNAME

1ST NAME

REGION

CAT

RND 1

RND 2

RND 3

RND 4

TOTAL

JACOBS	LAUREN	EAST	O16's	25	25	25	25	100
BROWN	VICKY	N&S	O16's	20	20	14	16	70
WATSON	LAURA	N&S	O16's	16	18	18	18	70
TIMMS	NATALIE	MID	O16's	14	13	13	12	52
ELLITTS	CHARLIE	MID	O16's	18		20	14	52
COLLINS	TIFFANY	EAST	O16's		14	11	20	45
WARD	NATALIE	S&SW	O16's		12	9	11	32
DALE	LAURA	EAST	O16's			16	13	29
HERBERT	AMY	MID	O16's	13		12		25
GRIMES	CARLY	EAST	O16's		16			16
KEMP	PHOEBE	S&SW	O16's		11			11

SOUTH-WEST WIN GP LEAGUE - posted 20 September 2011

The GP League which is the competition where all the riders qualifying points go to their regional team total the same way as your scores go towards your team total in the Wosskow Brown British Youth & Junior League.

This title for the second year went to South & South Wales and with North & Scotland winning their host round and finishing second overall. This competition will hot up even more in 2012.

The ethos for this event is ‘getting bums on bikes’ and this is showing through as the Women’s racing gets more competitive and more popular. 

EASTERN EDGE INTO WOMEN'S LEAGUE FINAL - posted 9 August 2011

With the final round-robin of the One2Call at Leicester, eyes were on the South & South Wales vs Eastern match as the winner of this contest would go  through to join Midlands in the final at Heckmondwike on September 17th.  In the other match, the Midlands wanted to go through the card against an improving North & Scotland and with their top three all back in the line up they were not going to make it easy. 

In the top billing match, first advantage went to Eastern with a 7-3 from the Danielle Riley/Tiffany Collins partnership, their first of three maximum scores. Collins made a good pass on Livvy Horsley and got her team partner through with Caris Glover in fourth. Horsley made amends in heat seven lowering the colours of Lauren Jacobs with a fine pass, this being the first time Jacobs has been beaten in the league.  The 6-4 to S& SW narrowed the gap to two points. 

Great team riding from Laura Dale to shepherd Gemma Hill home for a 5-5 with Lauren Hookway taking the win with Christina Mines trying all she could to get past the Eastern pair.  Another 7-3 from Collins/Riley, this time over Hookway and Charlie Jane Herbert. South & South Wales pair Rebbeca Davies and Patrycja Borak knew they had a job to do in heat 21, with only one point between the teams, but they unable to stop the Collins/Riley pairing getting their third maximum of the afternoon and put them ever closer to the grand final. Dale went out and won a classy final race to book Eastern’s place in their first ever grand final.
 
South & South Wales 55
Hookway 14, Horsley 13, R Davies 8, C J Herbert 8, Glover 5, Mines 4, Borak 3
Eastern 60 
Jacobs 15, Riley 15, Dale 13, Collins 11, Hill 6, Natalie Ward 4

In the second match a gutsy performance from Vicky Brown just missing out beating Reanna Brindley and a tussle at the back between Kayla Wheetton and Ellie Sullivan and Midland opened with a 6-4.  They extended their lead with another 6-4 in the next from reserve rider Lauren Davies and Charlie Ellitts over Polish sensation Sandra Tomborska and Billie Owen respectively.

Two drawn heats with a fine win for World champion Laura Watson kept scores close but the  Midlands turned it up a gear with consecutive 7-3’s from Coutney Aris and Ellitts then from Amy Herbert and Davies a 6-4. Niamh Morton came in for Katie Unwins after a nasty look crash but Katie got her breath back and had a great battle with Whetton in heat 20. Alice Unwins came in to replace her sister but tried as she did, she was not able to trouble Natalie Timms as Midlands went onto win 70-49.

North & Scotland 49
Tomborska 13, Brown 13, Watson 11, Sullivan 5, Owen 4, K Unwin 1, Morton 1, A Unwin 1
Midlands 70
Brindley 12, Whetton 7, Ellitts 12, Aris 9, A Herbert 9, Timms 6, L Davies 15

HORSLEY CONTINUES TO IMPROVE - posted 9 August 2011

In the One2Call Grand Prix series Livvy Horsley made another improvement.  After a third in round one, a second in round two she took top spot to increase her lead at the over Lauren Hookway 63 points to 50. With Danielle Riley claiming second in the A final, Danielle has now closed the gap on Christina Mines who could only manage third. 

So with one round to go Horsley just needs to ride sensibly to take the 2011 crown with a real battle with Hookway on 50 pointsts, Mines 48 and Riley 45 - so it will go down to the wire for the minor rostrum places.

In the Over-16’s Lauren Jacobs made it three out of three to take a massive 21 points lead into the final round. With nearest challenge having a tough draw in the qualifying heats, Vicky Brown made the win in the B final which she knows wasn’t good enough on the day. With Laura Watson taking third in the A final, she closes the gap on Brown to just two points so all to play for in the final round at Heckmondwike.

Under-16’s  
L Horsley 25, D Riley 20, S Tomborska 18,  L Hookway 16, L Davies 14, Whetton 13, Mines 12, R Davies 11, E Sullivan 9,  C Glover 8, B Owen 7, P Borak 6, G Hill 4., N Morton 3, K Unwin 2,  A Unwin 1
Over-16’s
Jacobs 25, C Ellitts 20, L Watson 18, L Dale 16, V Brown 14,  N Timms 13, A Herbert 12,  Collins11, N Ward 9

EASTERN BACK ON TRACK - posted 23 July 2011

Round two of the One2Call British Women’s & Girls League took place at Ipswich’s Whitton Sports Centre this afternoon and produced two entertaining matches between the North & Scotland and Eastern, plus defending champions Midlands against the South & South Wales.

Eastern were able to field a full complement of riders for their match against North & Scotland. After their first two races were shared, Eastern moved in front with a 7-3 from Danielle Riley and Laura Dale over the Unwin sisters.

















Despite the best efforts from the North & Scotland, Eastern maintained their lead to run out comfortable winners by 75 points to 45. The loudest cheer was reserved for the youngest rider on view Gemma Hill (pictured) in heat 19 where she led all the way with her partner Lauren Jacobs fending off the Unwin sisters.

North and Scotland 45
Vicky Brown 11, Laura Watson 9, Amber Webster 8, Katy Unwin 7, Billie Owen 6, Alice Unwin 4
Eastern 75
Lauren Jacobs 15, Danielle Riley 14, Laura Dale 13, Tiffany Collins 13, Carly Grimes 13, Gemma Hill 7

MIDLANDS AND SOUTH SERVE UP A CRACKER - posted 23 July 2011

The other match saw Midlands take on South & South Wales in a repeat of last season's championship match. This was a match which was nip and tuck with the lead changing hands four times. Midlands took the lead with a 6-4 in heat two. Heat four was shared but the Light Blues took the lead in heat six with a 7-2 by Lauren Hookway and Caris Glover over Sharna Cox after Charlie Ellitts was excluded for moving at the tapes.
















The scores were levelled in heat eight with a Midlands 6-3 after an exclusion for Charlie-Jane Herbert following a collision with Lauren Davies. The Light Blues regained the lead with a 7-3 in heat 12 before Herbert picked up her second exclusion after crashing into the third bend fence in heat 14.The resultant 7-2 by the Midlands put them one point up at 39-38.

Their next two races were shared before South & South Wales regained the lead with a 6-4 in heat 20. Following a shared heat 22 it meant that Midlands needed a 6-4 to win whereas South & South Wales needed a shared heat which they were on course for as Hookway led all the way with Glover at the back but going into the top bend on lap three Glover slid off and, although she remounted, she was
subsequently lapped and excluded to give both teams a share of the spoils.

Midlands 58
Lauren Davies 13, Courtney Aris 12, Reanna Brindley 10, Charlie Ellitts 9, Natalie Timms 8, Sharna Cox 6, Carly Cook dnr
South and South Wales 58
Lauren Hookway 15, Livvi Horsley 12, Krissy Mineds 8, Rebecca Davies 8, Caris Glover 8, Charlie-Jane Herbert 7, Natalie Ward dnr, Phoebe Kemp dnr

MAJESTIC JACOBS UNTOUCHABLE IN WOMEN'S GP - posted 13 July 2011

The girls competing in the opening round of Women's League once again put on a great show of cycle speedway at its best.

With a heavy schedule and spiralling fuel costs, the numbers taking part were down slightly but the riders were none less enthusiastic. This is something the organisers will need to look at for next season as the girls' competitions including British individuals, Wosskow Brown League  and the tour of Poland all seem to be crammed into a six week window which puts a lot of pressure on the families and competitors alike.                                                      

With the use of ‘guests’ and ‘rider replacement’, the racing was compelling and competitive throughout, none more so in the two league matches with North & Scotland taking an early lead against South & South Wales with Sandra Tomborska (N&S) in fine form. S&SW pegged them back and by the interval were six points up 33-27 after some fine team riding from Charley-Jane Herbert (S&SW). 

Whilst in the corresponding fixture it was really nip and tuck with Charlie Ellitts and Courtney Aris (Midlands) taking a 6-4 over Sharna Cox and Carly Cooke (Eastern) to give them a two point advantage after the previous heats had been shared, only for Lauren Jacobs and Livvy Knights (Eastern) to score a maximum and take the lead by two for the East. At the interval it was level 30 pts each.

The N&S battled in the second half with a fine win for Vicky Brown and a 6-4 for Tomborska and Laura Watson partnership but with the lower order strength not giving the back up, although Alice Unwins and Niamh Morton gave there all, S&SW were able to extend their lead 68-52. The S&SW had all-round strength with Lauren Hookway and Herbert only dropping one point apiece to the opposition. Rebecca Davies and Kristina Mines were a solid pair scoring 12 points each and it was a good first appearance in the competition for Jess Harris.
 
The other match was full of action with the lead changing constantly. There was some good team riding from Reanna Brindley and Aris in heat 20 but then the East looked like they may have snatched victory with a 7-3 in their penultimate heat with Horsley and Jacobs over Natalie Timms and Amy Herbert. Timms and Ellitts had other ideas and in the final race got a match winning 7-3 over Billie Owen and Cooke to take the win 61-59

The racing was excellent and the comments from around the arena after was how much the girls racing has improved and the competitiveness shown we now all look forward to the next round.

In the individuals, the categories have changed to bring them in line with other national age groups.  In the under-16s the action was even better than the team event but a master class of gating and smooth lines gave Hookway a maximum 16 pts to put her in the A final. Horsley, who was always in the thick of the action along with Tomborska, also made the A final and after some gutsy riding Mines made the four.  

Hookway’s luck ran out when she drew gate four.  Tamborska drew one with Horsley two and Mines three. A strong gate from Tomborska and with three behind battling for places she rode clear to win, with a strong move Hookway from Horsley it left a gap for Mines to nick second place with Horsley third and Hookway fourth.

In the over-16s it was majestic from Jacobs.  Four wins in the qualifying and a fortunate pick of grid one in the A final, she looked untouchable all day. Vicky Brown also went unbeaten in the qualifiers but had to settle for second in the final.  Oh how she wished she had picked grid one. Ellitts finished the days racing with a rostrum place just getting the better of World champion Laura Watson. 

Under-16s Grand Prix scores
Tombrska 25 pts, Miines 20, Horsley 18, Hookway 16, Brindley 14, Herbert13, Aris 12, Davies 11, Cox 9, Harris 8, Owen 7, Morton 6, Cooke 4 Unwins 3.

Over-16 GP scores
Jacobs 25, Brown 20, Ellitts 18, Watson 16, Timms 14, Herbert 13.