MATCH REPORT: Bulldogs take the fight to Monarchs
The young Birmingham Monarchs found themselves outclassed by the Bretford Bulldogs last night, in a match that took place at Bretford Cycle Speedway. Only Emily Pitt was able to split the home team in the first four heats, and despite two further second placed finishes for Billy Winwood (Ht6) and Pitt (ht7), the match was as good as over as a contest at that stage, with the score at 46-23.
Birmingham were able to finish on a high with a maximum in the nominated heat as Hancox finally came good after 4 attempts! Bretford had two guests and both Coventry riders added big scores for their adopted club for the night.
For the Monarchs the 3rd Division is very much a learning ground for a relatively inexperienced side of youngsters, so heavy defeats are going to be part of that learning curve in some meetings. Most of the teams Birmingham have raced have experienced teens racing compared to their lower age end riders.
However they can take positives from each meeting and this was one of them. Amazingly Birmingham’s most experienced rider Ewan Hancox was making his debut at the track and provided plenty of hilarity on his attempts to ride one of the tightest tracks in the Country. 3 falls including a last race fall AFTER the race collecting his own team mate into the 2nd bend fence! He struggled as often newcomers to Bretford do and it wont be often he scores so few points!
Again it was Emily Pitt who provided some consistent challenge to the home riders and top scored with 14 points, whilst Billy Winwood and Marc Phipps tried hard in all their races. For the younger Birmingham riders, Connor and Ryan, they struggled against much older youngsters as expected.
MIDLAND LEAGUE DIVISION 3
BRETFORD BULLDOGS 80 – Matt Hambridge 15+1(4), Owen Ford 6(4), Charlie Barnett(g) 16(4), Sammi Marsh 13+2(5), Jason Cleaver 16(4), Niall Cleaver 14+4(5).
BIRMINGHAM MONARCHS 49 – Emily Pitt 14(5), Connor Steel 3(4), Ewan Hancox 11+2(5), Marc Phipps 8+1(4), Ryan Winwood 5(4), Billy Winwood 8(4).