CATCH UP: Higham takes Manchester League final

Time to catch up on a couple of stories that got missed due to the British Individual Championships weekend, first up, Manchester League…

The midweek Manchester League season concluded with the Senior Individual Final at Astley & Tyldesley last Wednesday evening.

On a very fast track, Stockport’s Jake Read came close to the track record, recording 40.70 seconds in heat 1.

As the match progressed, four riders forged ahead of the rest of the field. Read and Bury’s Kris Ramsden won the opening two races, before A&T’s Reece Pollitt headed home Stockport’s Ben Higham in heat 3.

Ramsden and Pollitt won the next two heats, before Read lost ground as he attempted to pass Higham, enabling A&T’s Max Evans to slip through and hold 2nd place. Higham, Ramsden, Read and Pollitt all won their third races.

Manchester League trophy winners; (L-R) Jake Read, Ben Higham and Reece Pollitt.

Manchester League top three; (L-R) Jake Read (2nd), Ben Higham (1st) and Reece Pollitt (3rd).

Higham took heat 13, before three of the contenders lined up in heat 14. Read won from Ramsden, with Pollitt third. Pollitt and Read won their final races, to both finish on 18 points.

The title was decided in the final heat, when Higham held off the challenges of Ramsden, to finish on 19 points, with Ramsden on 18. The run-off for 2nd place was a repeat of heat 14, in that the riders finished in gate order.

This time Read headed home Pollitt, with Ramsden the unlucky rider to miss out on a place.

There were trophies for the top three riders, presented by Manchester League competitions organiser, Alan Taylor and A&T official, Janine Paine.

Reece Pollitt was presented with a trophy for winning the Senior Grand Prix series.

Manchester League Senior Individual Final result

Ben Higham (Stockport) 19, Jake Read (Stockport) 18, Reece Pollitt (A&T) 18, Kristian Ramsden (Bury) 18, Max Evans (A&T) 17, Michael Preston (Stockport) 15, Devon Campbell (Stockport) 14, Kaysar Mohammedi (Bury) 13, Louis Wright (Stockport) 12, Neil Howarth (Bury) 11, Eryk Motala (Bury) 10, Alan Plimley (Bury) 9.

Referee – Mike Hack