MATCH REPORT: Astley & Tyldesley victorious

Hull were the visitors to Gin Pit for a Northern League fixture at Gin Pit on Sunday. The track held up well, providing a good grippy surface, after plenty of rain during the week.

In the Division 1 match, A&T opened up with a 6-4 heat win to the Reece Pollitt/Mark Graham pairing over Sam Schofield/Josh Bellis. A hard fought 7-3 from the back by the Luke Jamson/ Danny Hughes pair over David Cooper/Lewis Aylmer in heat 6 put A&T into a 33-26 lead. Hull hit back immediately with a 6-4 to Adam Stephenson/Richie Pawson over Pollitt/M. Graham. This was followed by Adam Phillips picking up a gate exclusion, leaving Schofield and Nathan Everett to take a 7-2 over Ciaran Collins, to level the scores. A&T responded with successive 7-3 heat wins either side of the interval, to Hughes/Paul Graham over Aylmer/Bellis and then to Lee Phillips/Jamson over Cooper/Everett, to open up a 53-45 lead. However, as before, Hull immediately hit back. The Pawson/Stephenson pair took a 7-3 over A.Phillips/Collins in heat 11. Pollitt collected a gate exclusion in the next race and the subsequent 7-2 win to Cooper/Aylmer over M. Graham put Hull ahead 59-58 after heat 12.

The match again swung dramatically, as A&T banged in three successive maximum scores, to finally put the match beyond Hull’s reach. Hughes/Jamson took their 2nd 7-3 of the match, this time over Schofield/Bellis. The key race was the re-run heat 14, when Stephenson fell at the first bend and P.Graham/A. Phillips raced off to a 7-2 over Everett, as Stephenson failed to finish. In the next race, Pawson picked up his second gate exclusion of the match and Collins/L. Phillips raced to a 7-2 win over Bellis, to put A&T 79-66 ahead with three races remaining. The last three heats were played out, with Jamson a faller in the last heat, as A&T ran out 94-80 winners.

The final scoreline doesn’t reflect the closeness of a hard fought match, as Hull made A&T fight all the way. Sam Schofield top scored for the visitors, with Adam Stephenson unbeaten except for a fall in heat 14. A&T though were solid scoring from 1 to 8, with Danny Hughes top scoring and the rest all scoring well, with only Mark Graham not winning a race.

Northern League Division 1 match result
Astley & Tyldesley 94 Hull 80
A&T: Danny Hughes 16 (2), Reece Pollitt 14, Luke Jamson 12 (3), Adam Phillips 12 (2), Ciaran Collins 11, Mark Graham 10 (1), Lee Phillips 10 (1), Paul Graham 9 (2).
Hull: Sam Schofield 17, Adam Stephenson 15 (1), Nathan Everett 12 (1), Lewis Aylmer 11 (1), David Cooper 11 (1), Richie Pawson 7, Josh Bellis 6, Charlie Wade 1.
Referee – Bill Phillips.

The Division 2 match was even closer, as no more than 2 points separated the two teams until the last race! The first six races were all shared heats, before an Adam Phillips/Ben Dickinson 6-4 over Nathan Everett/Katie Greaves put A&T ahead. Richie Pawson/Sam Schofield took a 7-3 over Matt Snell/Dickinson to put Hull in front 46-44 after heat 9. Two shared races followed, before Pawson collected his third gate exclusion of the afternoon. Schofield won the re-run ahead of Ciaran Collins/Max Evans. A&T regained the lead with a 6-4 heat win to the Reece Pollitt/Joe Quarmby pair over Everett/Greaves in heat 13. The next race was shared, so A&T went into the last race one point ahead. The Pollitt/Phillips pairing raced away to take an easy 7-3 heat win over David Cooper/Josh Bellis, to give A&T a 77-72 win.

Reece Pollitt and Adam Phillips both raced unbeaten for A&T , with the others all chipping in with valuable points. Sam Schofield was unbeaten in his four races for Hull, with Nathan Everett and David Cooper scoring well.

Northern League Division 2 match result
Astley & Tyldesley 77 Hull 72
A&T: Reece Pollitt 20, Adam Phillips 19 (1), Ciaran Collins 12 (3), Max Evans 10 (1), Ben Dickinson 8, Matthew Snell 6 (1), Joe Quarmby 2.
Hull: Nathan Everett 16, Sam Schofield 15 (1), David Cooper 14 (1), Richie Pawson 9 (1), Josh Bellis 8 (2), Charlie Wade 6 (2), Katie Greaves 4.
Referee – Mark Graham.

Astley & Tyldesley had no such fears in the Division 3 match, as Hull failed to field a single rider. Max Evans raced unbeaten, with Ben Dickinson losing only to Matthew Snell in heat 1.

Northern League Division 3 match result
Astley & Tyldesley 72 Hull 0
A&T: Max Evans 16, Ben Dickinson 15, Matthew Snell 12, Joe Quarmby 11, Jonah Clare 10, Max Quarmby 8.
Referee – Alan Farrell.