WEEKEND PEVIEW: British Club Championships highlight of a busy weekend
A busy weekend of Cycle Speedway kicks off on Saturday with action at Great Blakenham and Leicester. At Great Blakenham it is the opening day of the British Club Championships which return after last year’s cancellation. The first day will see the Under 12, Under 14, Junior & Open categories decided. Apart from the Open category, which remains as 4 a side plus a reserve, all other categories will be run as pairs. Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances Poole and Exeter have had to withdraw all of the teams they had entered which means the action gets underway at 10am with the Under 14’s Club Championship which is now a straight final featuring Coventry (who are fielding 2 teams), Ipswich, Norwich, Hellingly, Hethersett & Kesgrave.
At 11.30am the Junior Club Championship returns after a 3 year absence with 2 of the teams who contested the last staging in 2018, namely Kesgrave and the defending champions Ipswich. Great Blakenham & Hethersett are also entered.
Seven teams are left in the Open Club Championship following the withdrawal of defending champions Poole. 4 time winners Wednesfield and 2 time winners Birmingham compete in the 1st semi-final at 12.30pm along with Coventry & Ipswich. The 2nd semi-final at 2.00pm features 2 teams who have won this event 5 times between them, namely 3 time winners Horspath and the host club Great Blakenham (who have won this event on 2 occasions). Sheffield complete the line-up in this semi-final. The top 2 teams from each semi-final will advance to the Final which is scheduled to start at 5pm.
Before the Open Club Championship final the Under 12’s Club Championship takes place at 3.30pm featuring Kesgrave (who are fielding 2 teams), Great Blakenham, Hethersett & Norwich.
Meanwhile at Leicester it is the 2nd staging of the Wilson Burns Memorial Pairs and this will feature 2 semi-finals with 7 pairs in each. Both semis will run in line with each other with a start time of 12:00. The top 3 pairs from each semi-final will advance to the final. There will be 2 run-offs, one between the 4th place pair from Semi-Final 1 and the 5th place pair from Semi-final 2 and the other between the 5th placed pair in Semi-Final 1 and the 4th placed pair in Semi-Final 2. These races will be scored as 4,3,2,0 and the winning pair from each run-off will join the top 3 from each of the semi-finals for an 8 pair final
On Sunday the remaining British Club Championships will be decided at Ipswich’s Whitton Sports Centre. The action gets underway at 10am with an Under 10’s demonstration event. That is followed at12.00 by the Over 40’s category which will be a straight final featuring Kesgrave, Birmingham, Leicester B, Leicester C, Leicester A. Ipswich, Norwich and Great Blakenham.
At 2pm it is the Under 16 Club Championship. As such, U16 girls are eligible to compete in the now mixed U16 Club Championship following the cancellation of the Under 16 Girls Club Championship. The 5 time and defending champions Ipswich have entered, along with the 3rd placed team from 2019 Hethersett. The line-up is completed by Kesgrave. Leicester are back to defend the Women’s Club Championship for the 14th time at 3.30pm with Sheffield and Kesgrave the other competing teams
Away from the Club Championships there is action in the North-West section of the North & Scotland League as Astley & Tyldesley travel to Bury for a match which was postponed from Sunday June 20th. The action at Goshen Sports Centre gets underway at 1pm with the Division 3 match with the Division 1 match scheduled for 2pm and the Division 2 match scheduled for 3.30pm.
Enjoy your racing wherever you may be this weekend and please stay safe