PREVIEW: British Championships Day 2
Day 2 of the British Championships sees the action move to the 2 Newport tracks. Both tracks stage 2 Open Semi-Finals each with the riders needing to be in the top 16 combined scores to reach the final on Monday at Horspath. 7 of the riders who have won 9 of the previous Open British Championships are entered on this occasion, namely Mark Boaler (2010), Andy Angell (2011,2012 & 2014), Zac Payne (2015), the reigning World Champion Ben Mould (2016), Myke Grimes (2017 where he became only the 2nd rider to win the title with a 20 point maximum), Josh Brooke (2018) and the reigning champion Paul Heard. The Open Semi-Finals at both Newport & East Newport start at 11am and 5pm.
There will be 5 British titles to be decided on Sunday. At Newport the Over 60’s, Over 50’s and Over 40’s Championships will be decided. The Over 60’s Championship is scheduled to start at 12.30pm and Exeter’s Dave Murphy returns to defend the title he won in 2019. Chris Ward (Horspath), who was 3rd in 2019, is also entered as are Steve Clark and Colin Simmons from the host club. Also entered are Terry Ashford (Great Blakenham), Paul Timms (Birmingham), Andy Collett (Exeter) Stevie Nation (Poole) and Martin Davies
Timms & Steve Nation are also entered in the Over 50’s Championship (1.30pm) which sees the top 3 from 2019, defending champion Steve Harris (Astley & Tyldesley), Norman Venson (Leicester) and the reigning World Over 50’s Champion Paddy Wenn (Norwich), back for another tilt along with Alan Nation (Poole). Also entered are Lee Galley (Newport), Lee Ashman (who has returned to the sport this season), Stuart Marsh (Newport), Jason Ashford (Great Blakenham) and Adrian Ryan (Poole).
Harris is also entered in the Over 40’s Championship at 3.15pm where he was runner-up in the 2019 event. The defending champion Kevin Burns (Leicester) and Mark Whitehead (Leicester) are also entered, as is another rider who rode in the 2019 event Mark Winwood (Birmingham). Providing he has recovered from an injury sustained at the Veterans Laurels last weekend Leicester’s Craig Whitehead will also be taking part, as will Andrew Yard (Exeter), Paul Share (Wednesfield) and Nicky Whitehead (Leicester)
In between their 2 Open Semi-Finals East Newport will see the British Under 16 Girls Championship and the British junior Championship decided. The Under 16 Girls at 1pm sees 2 riders from the 2019 event at Kesgrave, Rebekah Humphries (Birmingham) and Phoebe Hammond (Kesgrave), return for another tilt at the title. they will face competition from Megan Burt (Wednesfield), Hannah Jones (Birmingham), Autumn Smith (Coventry), Sophie Bees (Newport), Shannon Tucker (Exeter) and Aimee Porter (Kesgrave)
The Junior Championship at 3pm sees the top 2 from the 2019 event at Kesgrave, double defending champion Ben Clarke (Ipswich) and Lewis Brinkhoff (Ipswich), return for this year’s event. Tom Savage (Coventry) and Daniel Wright (East Newport) also rode in the 2019 event. Tom Blackmore (Norwich), Torsten Jolly (Kesgrave), Nathan Goulden (Poole) and Noah Woodhouse (Kesgrave) complete the line-up