MATCH REPORT: European Championships Day 2

Report by Mike Hack

It was a most exciting day of racing at Gin Pit on Saturday, as Astley & Tyldesley staged Day 2 of the European Cycle Speedway Championships.
The day’s finale saw England win the European Nations Cup, beating Poland by one point, in an extremely hard fought match, with no shortage of racing incidents throughout the match. Final score: England 63 Poland 62 Wales 45 Ireland 24.
England rode to a more convincing win in the European Junior Nations Cup, beating Poland 97-82.
During the afternoon, continual rain badly affected the two Open Individual Semi-Finals, rendering the slick track very slippery, resulting in numerous slides and falls. Four riders tied for 1st place in Open Semi-Final 1, after scoring 16 points – Paul Heard, Chris Jewkes, Lewis Brinkhoff, Jakub Kosciecha. In Open Semi-Final 2, track record holder Dawid Bas topped the scores with a 20 points maximum.
Jakub Sawinski posted a 20 points maximum score to win Junior Semi-Final 1, whilst Noah Woodhouse topped the scorers in Junior Semi-Final 2, with 18 points.
Day 3 racing starts at 10 am on Sunday, with the Junior Final, followed by the Veterans Final at 12 noon, Women’s Final at 2 pm and the Open Final at 4 pm.
Draws for tomorrow’s finals can now be viewed online at
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Fdrive%2Ffolders%2F1VbjJYaTV91PVw-Fkij0JlyV-8U7RImIn%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1q0Mh3ya5I5hb94pOGgks3COcfSNWNtynWLn_sTItnRf3kvql927yuFiY&h=AT3t_Q-Q39g7Um6C5sME8VEAW3t1sUHzePvoQpPRQCpko9Bj3PYLtZo9-NohIes6rTW8x-_GlzS4GpuJHFVpFLMZj9ef4N9R3fhIjsZNNyUCKoDydT27z5WArk2CoxRcAScK&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT2gyHmGZp9kwW_TnZcjK5eBKKJMln6-cVanzaClTl-1oU75nH7rFv-AMm-iGYqo-CiQr1TEa4OhmAEbufpzMeL_Dk3voj-jiJ0jadzOrsbftrYYNnp4coa3SZ9zjp19JSf2pri4xyIhLNKECim50ulwF8W3_oVxZY1R1a7U0LXjtzNmvT5VSueR657mNSqG4XL9F5QEOpkcKX7v5yEPub1BwbXphecprA

Photos (courtesy of Ian White) from today’s racing can be viewed at
https://www.facebook.com/AstleyTyldesleycyclingclub/photos