CLUB NEWS: Monarchs back to winning ways in league action

Birmingham Monarchs Cycle Speedway Club took 2 out of 3 League meeting wins over Coventry on Sunday, with Coventry taking victory in the 2nd Division encounter. Both clubs had senior riders missing so on paper this could have been a balanced meeting however Birmingham took a relative
comfortable 1st team victory.
Both clubs opened with heat advantages to keep the scores level after 2 heats (10-10) but the Monarchs fired in 4 maximum advantages to take total control of the meeting (38-22). The Paul Heard/Mark Winwood partnership featured in 2 of those heat advantages.
Coventry closed the 1st half of the meeting by drawing the remaining 3 races to stem the flow of home advantages with Mitch Barlow taking only the 2nd race win for the visitors (53-37). Both Winwood and Heard remained unbeaten at that stage.
The 2nd half saw the Monarchs add more advantages as the lead became a comprehensive one and it wasn’t until the penultimate race heat 17 that the visitors took their only advantage of the 2nd half with a maximum 7-2 taking advantage of a broken pedal for Hancox whilst Jake Steel could only
manage 3rd.
Steel suffered further bad luck in the 14th heat having lead the race for 4 laps, a costly exclusion for Coventry’s Adam Watson for leaving the track meant a rerun. Steel then suffered a heavy fall whilst leading the race due to a tight 3 rider battle on the 3rd bend.
The Monarchs took the final race by a maximum advantage with the league points already secured several heats before. Heard again lead the scorers with a paid maximum whilst Timms dropped a single point in his opening race. Carl Winwood also impressed only dropping a single point from
reserve.
The 2nd division encounter was all one way traffic for the visitors with the Monarchs tracking 4 of their junior riders against a more experienced Coventry side. Paul Timms dropped just 2 points for the Monarchs whilst young Connor Steel top scored with a very spirited and powerful performance that belied his young age. Ben Heagren made his senior team debut.
The 3rd division was won by Birmingham, limiting the visitors to just one heat winner with both Connor and Charlie unbeaten and Bekah dropping a single point. Heagren again impressed with 3 heat wins.

Photos taken by Paul Devine

MIDLAND LEAGUE
DIVISION ONE
BIRMINGHAM MONARCHS 100 V Coventry 78 – Ewan Hancox 13+1(5), Nathan Groves 13+1(5), Chris Timms 18+1(5), Jake Steel 7(5), Mark Winwood 11+1(4), Paul Heard 18+2(5), Carl Winwood 11(3), Billy Winwood 9(4).

DIVISION TWO
BIRMINGHAM MONARCHS 66 V Coventry 83 – Paul Timms 14(4), Charlie Buet Gannon 9(5), Bekah Humphries 9(5), Connor Steel 16(5), Josh Hill 7(5), Ryan Winwood 10(5), Ben Heagren 1(1).

DIVISION THREE
BIRMINGHAM MONARCHS 66 V Coventry 54 – Connor Steel 15+1(4), Logan Hughes 4(4), Bekah Humphries 15(4), Issy Buet Gannon 5+1(4), Charlie Buet Gannon 14+2(4), Ben Heagren 13(4).​

It’s a busy weekend of track action ahead at Perry Hall Playing Fields. Saturday sees the opening round of the Eurovets series with Birmingham hosting with Mark Winwood looking for a strong start. Action starts at 1pm. On Sunday it’s back to League action with a visit from East Park.
Junior Monarchs were in action on Saturday in the 2nd round of the YJL. Charlie took his 2nd victory in the U12’s to lead the series, Connor took 2nd place in the U14’s and sits 2nd overall. Issy and Logan finished 3rd and 4th in the U10’s B Final.

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