ANGELL DELIGHT  - posted 29 August 2011

















There was a dramatic finish to this afternoon's Wilco national championships with the result uncertain until literally the last second of the match.

In a nail-biting grandstand finish, two of tournament favourites, Mark Boaler and Andy Angell, together with Horspath's Chris Osborne, clashed on the final turn of the last race.  The packed crowd, estimated in excess of 500, hushed into silence awaiting the referee's decision.

"Race awarded to Andy Angell" screamed announce Rob Sensicall.  Andy Angell, the people's favourite, was the new British champion.

It was a thrilling finish to an unbelievably exciting match, packed with incident and drama - in short, a classic.  After the dust had settled, Andy Angell emerged as a worthy winner, on 18 points, ahead of four-times champion Lee Aris on 17. Ever-popular Norfolk-based Leicester rider Phil Howells took bronze after beating Chris Timms and Mark Boaler in a tie-break race.

From the start the action came thick and fast.  The first race (pictured below) gave a taste of things to come as Lewis Osborne brilliantly passed Suffolk rival Adam Peck as the notoriously difficult pits bend quickly claimed its first victim, Matt Beharrell who was set for a nightmare match.

Ben Mould reinforced his reputation as arguably the best rider in the Premier League by executing a glorious pass on contender Mark Reed in the third.

If that wasn't exciting enough, the drama ratcheted up several notches in race four when defending champion Boaler unceremoniously barged team-match Steve Harris onto the centre green, narrowly missing a television boom camera (pictured below).  
















Referee Doughty, who enjoyed a good match given the pressure, ruled it a racing incident and recalled all four riders for a restart.  Many of the crowd, packed on the pits turn, thought Boaler lucky not to be excluded before the Oxford man went on to win the re-run.

















Chris Jewkes saw his hopes dashed when he was disqualified at the start of heat five, then Ben Mould over-cooked it on the second lap as he chased Andy Angell and Adam Peck (pictured above).  So after two rides apiece Boaler and Angell were setting the apace with an unbeaten eight points, ahead of Adam Peck, Lewis Osborne, Lee Aris, Ben Mould and Chris Timm all on six - it really was that close.

Fast gating Angell, his face etched with effort and determination (pictured above), shot from the gate in heat ten to maintained his 100% record and open up a two point lead on the field.  Phil Howells made the most his his number seven draw by winning back-to-back races in heats 12 and 13 to move up the leaderboard.

Then came a simply sensational race 15. Thomas Reed, making his British final debut, pulled an unbelievable line to pass high-flying Chris Timms, only for the Birmingham man to counter with an even better manouvre as he went on to take the chequered flag to a standing ovation and a cocophony of noise.  Angell, trailing third, could do nothing to challenge the leaders and slipped to his first defeat of the afternoon.

Ben Mould maintained his title challenge by diving inside Steve Harris on the last bed of heat 16 to keep the pressure well and truly on Angell.  Meanwhile Aris and Timms both notched important wins to tie the lead after four races apiece, Angell, Mould and Timms all on 14, Howells, Aris and Boaler on 13.  At that stage it was anyone's championship.

Aris rode a tactically superb bend in race 17, taking his total to 17 points as he left Harris and Reed  trailling in his wake. Heat 17 brought together three of the principal contenders, Mould (14), Timms (14) and Howells (13) but none of them could match Lewis Osborne from the inside gate.

So the stage was set for a winner-takes all showdown between defending champion Boaler and champion elect Angell.  This time is was the other Osborne brother Chris who upset the applecart, setting the pace, hotly pursued by Angell and Boaler.  Knowing that win would give him the title, Angell, never a rider to settle for second best, dived inside Osborne on the last turn (pictured above).  In a flash, Boaler was through, his arms aloft in celebration as he crossed the line (pictured below). The crowd's out-stretched arms shared his moment of glory.  But wait ...
















There had been an exclusion.  Referee Doughty, making probably the most important call of his refereeing career, adjudged that Osborne's left leg had brought down the Hull man.  For a few minutes the crowd, who had created a noisy atmosphere all afternoon, fell deathly silent.

Announcer Sensicall, well aware of the drama unfolding infront of his eyes, played the crowd, teased and tantilised them like an old pro - before announcing that Osborne had been excluded and the race had been awarded to Andy Angell, British champion Andy Angell.

As the announcement was made Angell, emotional and close to tears, (pictured above) suddenly realised the magnitude of what he had achieved.  Andy Angell - British champion.  It sounded good.  

While the focus was all on Angell, few noticed former champion Boaler, thinking that he had forced a championship-winning tie-break with Lee Aris, was sportingly clapping Angell's victory.

But it hadn't finished yet.  There was unfinished business as Howells, Timms and Boaler came to the tapes for a tie-break race for bronze.  At the first attempt, Boaler was disqualified for obstruction leaving Howells and Timms to fight it out again in a straight head-to-head.  Eventually after another re-start, Howells survived a strong first bend onslaught from Timms before pulling away to take overall third.

Timms (pictured above) can consider himself unlucky not to finish on the rostrum.  Had he managed to hold the first of his two inside gates, it could have been a different story.  Lewis Osborne was always in the thick of the action, winning three races while Ben Mould (also pictured above) was right up there with the front-runners until he trailled in last in his final outing.

Paul Heard suffered a gate exclusion in his first race, won his second and then fell heavily in his third, sustaining a suspected broken thumb which ruled him out of the competiton, home rider and reserve Lee Grange coming in for Heard's last two races.

Still rebuffing offers and cash inducements from Premier League clubs, Hellingly's Neil Hollebon battled hard for 12 points, scant reward for his efforts.  Well-fancied debutant Thomas Reed will probably be a shade disappointed that he didn't manage a race win while, in contrast, Steve Harris (pictured below), veteran of 22 national finals, 18 consecutively, will not be unhappy with his 11 point return.