MATCH REPORT: Birmingham host Midlands BYJL Round 4
The Midlands regional round series came to an exciting finale at Birmingham with more new faces helping to increase the riders taking part to a season high of 66.
It was one of the new riders, Leicester’s Alexander Horbacz, who was the winner of the U8s in a very close contest. By coming second his teammate Liam Wells ended as overall winner, as he just beat Jude Wilcockson and so claimed the title by one point. Finley Youson’s consistent performances gave him third overall. This age group have provided plenty of exciting racing and judging by the action this time it certainly appeared that they had been listening to the coaches at the club training nights.
By comparison the result of the U10s was never really in doubt as Ronnie Wassall completed his 100% record, and will certainly be one of the top performers in the forthcoming Little League series. Ronnie is a veteran compared to most of the other riders in this age group but Lewis Middleton, Tom Pearson and Charlie Buet-Gannonn all performed well in their first year in the sport.
The U12s had developed into a contest between Connor Steel and Kyle Wells and it was the same this time with Connor coming out top at his home track, and in doing so clinched the overall title ahead of Kyle. Rebekah Humphries took a well deserved third place in the final but Jonathan Middleton’s fourth place was enough to give him third place overall.
Tyler Bould once again got the better of Ben Wells in the U14s final but it was Ben who took first overall ahead of Tyler. Third place went to East Park’s Jude Painter and there was no doubting his delight at that as he bounded across the centre green to collect his well-deserved trophy.
In the Girls Lizzie Rigley took her fourth A Final win, ahead of Chloe Whitehead and fourth place for Honey Whitehead was enough for her to take third overall and complete a Leicester clean sweep.
The U18s has provided some very competitive action this year and this was once again the case. With the leader, Brandon Whetton, not riding both Cameron Gill and Ollie Morris were in with a chance of the title if they could reach the A final. In the qualifying races though it was Haydn Rowley who lead the way unbeaten, but in reversal of the previous round, it was Jake White took his first A final win. The action though was at the back of the field where Cameron Gill’s last lap pass of Damien Pelaczyk made him outright winner of this group, which is a considerable achievement as he only started cycle speedway last summer through Brandon’s Dirt Bike Club sessions and, on this showing, looks to have a great future ahead of him in the sport.
Team scores on the day:
Little League – Coventry 107, Wednesfield 62, East Park 35, Leicester 30, Birmingham 24
BYJL – Leicester 103, Coventry 98, Wednesfield 85, Birmingham 78, East Park 52
Top three riders in each section are:
U8s – Liam Wells 85, Jude Wilcockson 84, Finley Youson 72
U10s – Ronnie Wassall 100, Lewis Middleton 78, Tom Pearson & Charlie Buet-Gannonn 66
U12s – Connor Steel 90, Kyle Wells 79, Jonathan Middleton 71
U14s – Ben Wells 90, Tyler Bould 58, Jude Painter 66
U18s – Cameron Gill 63, Brandon Whetton 61, Ollie Morris 55
Girls – Lizzie Rigley 100, Chloe Whitehead 80, Honey Whitehead 60
Full placings can be found at https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/cyclespeedway/article/cysst-Cycle-Speedway—Latest-Premier-League-Table-0?c=SX
Team competition placings:
Little League – Coventry 20, Wednesfield 17, East Park 12, Leicester 10, Birmingham 6
BYJL – COVENTRY 20, LEICESTER 17, Wednesfield 12, Birmingham 10, East Park 6, Nuneaton 1
Well done to Coventry and Leicester who qualify as the Midlands teams in the BYJL National team competition
Whilst the winners should be rightly congratulated, every rider who took part in this year’s competition should be proud of their performances, as should the clubs whose efforts in developing new riders and support of the competition has helped boost this year’s numbers by an impressive 25%. Such is the interest in this level of racing that a stand alone extra meeting will be held at the Brandon circuit on July 29 (this is a change to the date previously announced)
Attention now switches to the National rounds where the Midlands are sure to be well represented – Kesgrave here we come!