MATCH REPORT: Evans and Lush take Manchester titles
Stockport hosted the Manchester League u-13 and u-19 Individual Finals on Wednesday. Some slick organisation saw 33 races completed in 90 minutes, to finish at 8.35 pm, just before dark.
In the u-13s Final, Astley & Tyldesley’s Matt Snell ran a second place to Stockport’s James Barry in heat 3, before winning his next two races. A&T’s Max Evans opened up with three straight race wins, as did Bury’s Tom Whitwam, who defeated Barry in heat 11. In the next race, Whitwam took the lead off his second grid one. As Evans challenged on the outside, Whitwam took him to the outside edge on the pits bend. Snell swooped inside the gap to take the lead and Whitwam fell as he belatedly tried to close the gap. Evans passed Snell on the last lap to take the win, whilst Whitwam was excluded after being lapped. Barry took the win in heat 14 and then went on to beat Evans in heat 16, meaning that both riders finished on 19 points each. Snell won heat 18, to finish on 18 points and secure 3rd place overall. In the run-off for 1st place, Evans won the toss for grid positions and held off a strong gate from Barry to take the win and the title.
Manchester League u-13 Individual Final result
Max Evans (Astley & Tyldesley) 19, James Barry (Stockport) 19, Matthew Snell (Astley & Tyldesley) 18, Louis Wright (Stockport) 16, Tom Whitwam (Bury) 16, Louis Turner (Bury) 15, Danny Miller (Bury) 13, Sean Etheridge (Bury) 13, Devon Campbell (Stockport) 13, Kieran Fallon (Astley & Tyldesley) 11.
Referee – Mike Hack.
As expected, the u-19 Championships turned out to be a hard fought encounter between three Stockport riders. Mat Lush took a fine win off the outside grid in heat 1, passing Jake Read. Jack Lush won his opening two races, before losing to Read in heat 7. Read won his last race to finish on 15 points. In the last heat, Mat Lush took the lead from grid one, but twin brother Jack chased hard and pulled off a fine pass, to force a three man run-off for the title, after finishing on 15 points. In the run-off, Jake Read moved on grid 3 and was excluded. Jack Lush took the lead from grid 2, but Mat chased hard off grid 4 and pulled off a great pass to take the race win and the title.
Manchester League u-19 Individual Final result
Mat Lush (Stockport) 15, Jack Lush (Stockport) 15, Jake Read (Stockport) 15, Adam Watson (Sheffield) 13, Reece Pollitt (Astley & Tyldesley) 10, Connor Simpson (Stockport) 9.
Referee – Mike Hack.
Mike Hack filled in as a late replacement referee, after John Burston withdrew.
CORRECTION: John Burston has emailed us stating that he never accepted the invite to referee as he was only aware of it two days prior to the event.