MATCH REPORT: Under 16 & Open Club Championships

September 29, 2019 Steve Copping

The final British Club Championship events for 2019 were staged at Wednesfield’s Ashmore Park raceway on Saturday where the Under 16 and Open Club Championships were up for grabs. The day started with 2 semi-finals for the Open event where the top 2 from each advanced to the Final. Semi-Final 1 saw Poole and Ipswich book their places in the final, Poole scoring 48 points with World Champion Ben Mould scoring a maximum 16 points. Ipswich managed 45 points with Richard Felgett top scoring with 15 points, dropping his only point to British Champion Paul Heard in heat 4. Birmingham, who won this event in 2009 & 2015, missed out on the final with 40 points, Heard top scoring with 13. Their cause was not helped by 2 exclusions for Chris Timms and 1 for Nathan Groves. Coventry were the 4th team in semi-final 1 and scored 24 points, Tom Savage top scoring with 7 points.

Open Club Championship Semi-Final 1

Poole 48

Ben Mould 16, Fraser Garnett 9, Matt Mildon 8, Wil Bristowe 8, Aaron Smith 7

Ipswich 45

Richard Felgett 15, Ashley Hill 11, Matt Hill 11, Dan Knights 4, Lewis Brinkhoff 4

Birmingham 40

Paul Heard 13, Ricki Johnson 11, Chris Timms 8, Mark Winwood 7, Nathan Groves 1

Coventry 24

Tom Savage 7, Josh Walters 6, Adam Watson 6, Dan Drewitt 5

Referee: Wayne Aris

Semi-Final 2 saw the defending Open Club Champions Great Blakenham book their place in the Final with 54 points with Josh Brooke scoring a 4-ride maximum. Lewis Osborne was also undefeated in his 3 races. They would be joined in the final by the host club Wednesfield who scored 39 points. Brandon Whetton was their top scorer with 14 points. Hetherett and Newport were the other 2 teams in this semi-final and both scored 31 points

Open Club Championship Semi-Final 2

Great Blakenham 54

Josh brooke 16, Lewis Osborne 12, Adam peck 10, Jason Ashford 9, JonJo Slaughter 7

Wednesfield 39

Brandon Whetton 14, Tyler Bould 11, Tom Bewick 10, Jordan Holdcroft 3, Owen Wells 1

Hethersett 31

Leigh Cossey 11, David Adams 6, Harley Hamill 5, Charlie Lyth 5, Ben Loombe 4

Newport 31

Callum Goward 8, Adam Bennett 8, Mark Carmichael 8, Dan Bock 7

Referee: Bob Prince

Ipswich made a successful defence of the Under 16 Club Championship title they won last year at Leicester, scoring 58 points. Lewis Brinkhoff & Ben Clarke both raced unbeaten for the Eagles and Harvey Young dropped 2 points, both to Hethersett’s Charlie Lyth. Kristian Mitchell completed Ipswich’s team, scoring 12 points. Coventry went one better than in 2018 to finish as runners-up with 42 points, Tom Savage top scoring with 12 points with Josh Walters scoring 11, Jack Reynolds 10 and Lewis Fry 9. Hethersett finished 3rd despite the fact they were 1 rider short, Lyth dropping only 1 point and that was to Savage in his last ride. Paul Delaiche & Mackenzie Loombe were Hethersett’s other 2 riders, scoring 12 and 9 points respectively

Under 16 Club Championship

Ipswich 58

Lewis Brinkhoff 16, Ben Clarke 16, Harvey Young 14, Kristian Mitchell 11

Coventry 42

Tom Savage 12, Josh Walters 11, Jack Reynolds 10, Lewis Fry 9

Hethersett 36

Charlie Lyth 15, Paul Delaiche 12, Mackenzie Loombe 9

Referee: Wayne Aris

The Open Club Championship Grand Final saw Poole take the victory with 48 points with Ben Mould again showing why he is the reigning World Champion by scoring a 16 point maximum which he completed in the last heat with a glorious pass on Ipswich’s Richard Felgett. The Eagles took the runners-up spot on 46 points whilst Great Blakenham took 3rd place with 34 ponts and host club Wednesfield finished 4th with 30 points