MATCH REPORT: Honours shared at Ashmore

Wednesfield Aces 88 – 88 Birmingham Monarchs, Midland League One, Sunday 20th April 2014

Wednesfield claimed a draw at home to Birmingham as the meeting went down to a final heat decider at a cold Ashmore Park.

Birmingham traveled the short distance to the Aces on the back of two wins in the league. The Monarchs had just one change to the side that won against Coventry as Ewan Hancox came in for Bob Prince. Wednesfield had the tough spearhead of Ex-Monarch Paul Heard as well as Ben Mould and Chris Jewkes.

Heat one saw Birmingham take a 6-4 advantage with Mark Winwood taking the win but it was short lived as the Aces claimed a 7-3 with Johnson and Heard getting the better of Carl Winwood and Scott Millward. Heat three saw Chris Jewkes get his marching orders for moving at the tapes as Birmingham made a 7-2 in the restart with Andy James rolling back the years with a win with Chris Timms behind.

Heat four saw Welsh International Mark Winwood get his second win of the afternoon as he looked sharp on the track, beating fellow Welsh rider Ben Mould with Hodgkinson beating Alex Aris to make the scores 22-17. Heat five was awarded as Phil Hemming took a tumble on the fourth bend though the Monarchs could of felt James should of got second as he tangled with the former Sandwell rider as he had nowhere to go.

Heats six to eight saw shared heats as Millward, Mould and Heard all won. Heat nine before the interval saw a tussle on the fourth bend between Aris and Hodgkinson with the Monarch rider going down. The referee called a halt and excluded the Smethwick based racer for the cause of the stoppage. The re-run saw Aris and Jewkes make it a 7-2 to put the half time scores Birmingham 45 Wednesfield 42.

Heat ten saw Andy James claim his second win, as captain Millward fended off the challenges of Cox and Hemming to extend the lead for the visitors. Once more the next few heats were shared as Birmingham did some great mature team riding as Nathan Groves and Mark Winwood showed in heat twelve and also the James/Hancox pairing and Hodgkinson/Timms pairing in the heats after. Heat sixteen saw Millward excluded for moving at the tapes and though Mark Winwood made it a hat-trick of wins the Aces filled in the places behind to get a point advantage to make it 76-80.

Heat seventeen saw share of the points which then made sure Birmingham would not lose the meeting. Heat eighteen saw Roger Cox and Paul Heard team ride to get back to all level but the Monarchs riders were very happy to take points back to Perry Barr.

Chris Timms afterwards gave praise to his team mates and gave rider of the meeting to Nathan Groves.

Wednesfield Aces 88: Mould 18, C. Aris 4, Heard 18, Johnson 11, Jewkes 12, Cox 11, A. Aris 9, Hemming 5

Birmingham Monarchs 88: M. Winwood 17, Groves 13, C. Winwood 9, Millward 11, Hancox 2, Timms 12, Hodgkinson 10, James 14

In the Combination fixture Wednesfield were to strong for Birmingham as the Monarchs continue to blood the new youngsters and give them vital meeting and away track experience. Jess Timms made a debut for the Monarchs as Mark Phipps once more showed for such a young age he has a great racing brain as he looked to team ride with Connor Steele

Wednesfield Aces 73:  Brooks 14, Jones 7, Bould 11, A. Aris 14, C. Aris 18, C. Ellitts 9

Birmingham Aces 56: Astury 8, N. Timms 6, Phipps 10, Steele 3, Hancox 14, Stevenson 8, J. Timms 4

The Division Three fixture saw Birmingham take the win with some great racing from Ewan Hancox and Reece Winwood. Mark Phipps also took a fine win as well as Richard Stevenson with a bold move up the inside.

Wednesfield Aces 68: Brooks 14, Morgans 4, Garland-Baker 4, Jones 15, Thompson 4, Bould 17

Birmingham Monarchs 88: Hancox 12, Steele 7, Re. Winwood 14, Phipps 14, Stevenson 7, Ry. Winwood 6, N. Timms 6, J. Timms 2

Report sent in by Birmingham Monarchs