CLUB NEWS: Winwood misses out on Eurovets podium

Mark Winwood went agonisingly close but just missed out on a podium finish in the Eurovets finale at Leicester on Saturday. A 3rd place finish on the day saw him finish level on points with Northumbrian Jason Keith in the 40s, however Keith took 3rd place on countback which saw Winwood miss out. Home star Craig Marchant was crowned 40s champion.

In the 50s category, Norwich rider Paddy Wenn took a 3rd straight win on the day, but it was Wednesfield’s Mark Griffiths who took the crown, with Wenn runner up, outgoing champion Norman Venson took 3rd place. Monarchs riders made the final stages. Paul Timms reached the A final and secured 2nd place on the day, Steve Hodgkinson won the B final.

In the 60s, reigning champion Terry Kirkup missed out on countback on defending the title, Wednesfield rider Phil Hemming being crowned the 2017 champion. Whilst Hemming took the title on the day it was an A final win for Birmingham’s Paul Timms who would have surely been in contention if he had ridden enough rounds.

On sunday The Monarchs travelled to Newport for a cross over league fixture. What started as a friendly encounter between both teams turned late on in the meeting with both sets of riders unhappy about decisions made on track. Otherwise there were some great action by both teams as expected of 2 teams who have quality riders within their ranks.

Birmingham kept things respectable despite missing several key riders, however the events later on in the meeting saw riders on both sides failing to compete as the scoreline failed to reflect the closeness of the competition.

NEWPORT 94 V BIRMINGHAM 79 – Chris Timms 13+1 (4), Ricki Johnson 13+1 (4), Jake Steel 12 (6),  Mark Winwood 11+2 (5), Paul Timms 11+1 (4), Steve Hodgkinson 8+1 (5), Ewan Hancox 7+2 (4), Ryan Winwood 4 (2).

The Monarchs will travel to Horspath on Wednesday 25th October for an outstanding cross over league fixture with a start time of 8PM. This will be the final league fixture of the 2017 season.

This Saturday, Birmingham host the prestigious Midland Riders Championships. It will be a busy day of action with 6 meetings taking place. Action gets underway at 12 noon with the juniors, the seniors taking centre stage later in the day.

Training has now reverted to sundays (when not racing), times and dates to be advised. Newcomers welcome.

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