CLUB NEWS: Norwich Stars-The season so far

The competitive action for Norwich riders started at Kesgrave on March 30th where the opening Under 9 Suffolk GP was staged. Connor Jarrett won this with 15 points, losing only to Kesgrave’s Amberley Gant. Shaun and Josie Kell rode in a challenge event running alongside the under 9 series, Shaun scoring 18 from 6 rides and Josie scoring 11 from 6.

The following day Norwich’s opening South-East & Eastern league matches took place at Great Blakenham and the Division 1 match saw the Stars beaten by 104 points to 76. Lee Grange top scored with 14 points with Jamie Medler scoring 13 and Gary Colby 12. The Division 2 match saw Scott Colby and Kieran Legg score 16 paid 17 each whilst Jamie scored a 16 point maximum. Dave Spauls, Alex Dyball & Michael Jones all recorded double figure scores but a special mention here has to go to Connor whose 8 points included his first race win in Division 2. The Stars recorded a victory by 89 points to 63.

Saturday April 6th saw the opening British Youth & Junior League and South-East Grand Prix round at Ipswich and 10 Norwich riders took part. The Under 8’s saw Connor win all his qualifying heats and then go on to win the A Final whilst Frank Spauls also rode, scoring 7 points and finishing 3rd in the B Final. Will Blackmore rode in the Under 10’s, scoring 12 points and then finishing 2nd in the B Final. Shaun finished 3rd in the Under 12’s A Final having scored 9 points in the qualifying heats. The Under 18’s saw Tom Blackmore score 4 points and win the B Final by default, a result which was matched by Tabby Nierop in the Girls event in which Josie scored 7 points and finished 3rd in the A Final. The Seniors & Over 40’s raced together in the qualifying heats and this saw Jamie score 12 points and finish 3rd in the A Final whereas Michael scored 6 and was 2nd in the B Final. Steve Copping was the only Over 40 in attendance so he took the full quota of GP points having scored 8 points in the heats.

The following day the action was at Kesgrave for 3 South-East & Eastern League matches, 2 of which were in the Youth League either side of a Division 2 match against the reigning champions. The Youth League match with the Panthers saw Scott race unbeaten with Tom scoring 14 and Shaun 11 but the young Stars went down to a 70-60 defeat. The Division 2 match followed and saw the Stars defeat Kesgrave by 85 points to 70. Chris Cullum & Jamie scored 17 points each whilst Paddy Wenn scored 14 and Gary 11. The Youth team then took to the track again, this time against the Kesgrave Pumas. Scott scored his 2nd maximum of the day with Tom scoring 12 but the Pumas won 76-53. Scott and Tom were extremely busy as they also rode in the Division 2 match, scoring 9 and 6 respectively.

Saturday 13th April saw matches between Suffolk v Norfolk at Under 10 & Under 16 level take place at Somersham. Norfolk’s Under 10 team consisted entirely of Norwich riders and they took the victory by 89 points to 71. Will scored a full 24 point maximum with Shaun scoring 22 paid 24, Connor 17, Tabby 12+3, Frank 9 and Maddy Grady 5. The Under 16 match featured Scott, Tom and Josie who scored 21, 9 and 2 points respectively as Norfolk went down to a 2 point defeat, 81-79.

The following day saw the return matches with Great Blakenham and the Division 1 match was drawn 90-90 with solid scoring throughout, Lee Grange topped the scores with 16 with Gary scoring 12 paid 16 which included a maximum 7-3 in heat 15 with Scott, who then went on to record a paid maximum in the Division 2 match which Norwich won 86-73 to maintain their 100% start in this Division.

The Easter Weekend started off with Tom & Paddy racing at Wednesfield in the Dash Trophies Under 14 & Veterans events respectively. Tom scored a very creditable 10 points in the Under 14’s event to finish in a 3 way tie for 10th whilst Paddy scored 13 points in the Veterans event to finish 8th. Round 2 of the Suffolk Grand Prix for Under 7’s & Under 9’s took place at Ipswich and Frank won the Under 7’s scoring a maximum 16 points. Connor rode in the under 9 event scoring 12 points which puts him in 2nd place overall. Shaun and Josie rode in the junior league event running alongside the Suffolk GP and Shaun scored 10 points and Josie 8.

The following day saw the 1st ever Norwich rider to be selected for a South-East & Eastern Battle of Britain team. Scott rode in the Junior match, scoring an excellent 13 points which included 3 wins and could have been more but for an unfortunate exclusion. South East/Eastern ran out 97-81 winners in a comfortable victory over the Midlands