CLUB NEWS: Another busy spell for Norwich riders
Saturday May 28th saw 8 Norwich riders represent the club at the 3rd round of the British Youth & Junior League & South-East Grand Prix. Frank Spauls rode in the Under 10’s event and was 3rd in the A Final. The Under 12′ saw Will Blackmore finish 4th in the A Final whilst Zachary Eastwood overcame an exclusion in his 1st race to win the C Final. The Under 14’s saw Shaun Kell take victory in the A Final whilst his sister Josie took 3rd in the Girls A Final. Tom Blackmore was the only Under 18 present so he won the A Final by default. The Seniors saw Jamie Medler finish 4th in the A Final whilst Paddy Wenn won the Over 40’s A Final
The following day saw the Stars make the trip to Whitton Sports Centre for South-East League matches with Ipswich. The Division 1 match saw Norwich lose 96-62 where Jamie top scored with 13 points, Lee Grange scored 12, Ben Loombe 11, Paddy & Tom 8 each, McKenzie Loombe 4, Gary Colby & Rory freeman 3 each. The Division 2 match also went the way of Ipswich by 92 points to 83 with the Norwich score including 15 penalty points for Ipswich’s use of a restricted rider. Ben top scored this time with 15 points, Jamie & Paddy scored 11 each, McKenzie & Tom scored 10 each, Gary scored 6 and Rory 5. The Youth League match saw Norwich draw 63-63. It was Will’s turn to top score with 17 points, Josie scored 16, Shaun 15, Zachary 8 and Stanley Budds 7
Wednesday June 1st saw the opening Norfolk grand prix for Under 16, Females 12+ and Seniors which took place at Eaton Park. Josie won the Females 12+ A Final whilst Shaun finished 4th in the Senior A FInal. The B Final was a Norwich 1-2-3 with McKenzie taking the win from Jamie & Rory.
2 days later Norwich were represented at the Rod Witham Memorial Fours event at Hethersett where they were in the 2nd of 2 semi-finals against 2 teams from Birmingham and also Ipswich A. The Stars finished in 2nd place with 39 points to join Birmingham A, Great Blakenham & Horspath in the Final. Paddy, who wore a Galley Pirates replica shirt bearing Rod’s name, top scored with 12 points with Lee scoring 10, Ben 8, Jamie 7 and Shaun 2. In the final itself Norwich finished 4th with 23 points. Paddy was top scorer again, this time with 7 points. Ben & Lee scored 6 each, Jamie scored 3 and McKenzie 1.
The following day 4 Norwich riders were involved in the Wil Burns Memorial Pairs at Leicester and all of them featured in the 1st semi-final. Gary was paired with former Norwich rider Andre Cross, Paddy & Rory rode as a pair and Lee was paired with another former Star, Leigh Cossey. Paddy (22) & Rory (11) scored 33 points, as did Andre (14) & Gary (19). Both pairs had to face a run-off with the 4th & 5th placed pairs in the 2nd Semi-Final and both lost out. Paddy & Rory lost to Tomasz Szwajorek & Jacek Wleklik, whilst Andre & Gary lost to Lee Galley & Toby Millen. Lee had to ride 6 races on his own after Leigh crashed in his 2nd ride, suffering a serious knee injury.
Saturday June 11th saw Shaun & Will represent Norwich in the 2nd semi-final of the British Under 14 Club Championship at Poole as they looked to go one better than their runners-up spot in the same event at Great Blakenham in 2021. However an exclusion to Shaun in his 3rd ride cost them at least a run-off for 3rd place and the last place in the final as they finished 4th with 23 points, Shaun scoring 16 and Will 7
Training sessions take place most Tuesdays at Eaton Park from 6.15pm. Norwich are next in team action this coming Sunday June 19th which sees Hethersett make the trip to Eaton Park for a South-East Division 2 and Youth League match