MATCH REPORT: North & Scotland League Division 2 play-off

Report and photos by Richie Smith

The sun shone on the cyclists and spectators at Northumbria Vikings’ Cramlington track as Heckmondwike faced Fife in a battle for the overall North & Scotland League Division 2 title.

This was the first time the teams had met so there were no old scores to be settled, but Fife hoped to make it third time lucky after two unsuccessful playoff attempts at Northumbria’s track.

The first 8 heats were action packed with a tapes exclusion in heat 2 for Dan Green (Heckmondwike) and a coming together in heat 5 that saw Pat Beacock (Heckmondwike) excluded and Danny Peoples (Fife) forced to retire with a knee injury. Despite this, only 6 points separated the teams going in to the interval after 8 heats: Heckmondwike 36 – 42 Fife.

Fife extended their lead to 16 points by the end of the match with the final score Heckmondwike 66 – 82 Fife. The heats tally was Fife 8 wins, Heckmondwike 2 wins and 5 shared heats.

Top scorers Fife: Kayden Davidson 20, Harry Langdale 19, Callum Cuthbert and Jake Ferguson 14

Top scorers Heckmondwike: Mark Rushby 14, Darren Kent 13, Justin Naylor 11 (from 4)

Sam Stansfield presented the trophy to Harry Langdale

Congratulations to both teams for a great contest and thanks to Graham Lush for officiating and Northumbria Vikings for hosting.