Report by Andy Schofield

Hull staged the second round of The Northern Fours & Grand Prix on a chilly and windswept day at The Hessle Raceway.  In The Northern Fours Sheffield produced a strong display, dropping just four points, on their way to a 60 point total.  Hull clinched second place with a final heat photo finish for Noah Lyon in front of Bury’s Reece Pollitt to secure a one point gap over the Comets with 46 points to 45 respectively.  Heckmondwike took a deserved fourth place with 32 points, followed by a depleted Astley & Tyldesley side on 27 points and a mainly ‘guest’ Stockport side on 22 points.  The tricky conditions still allowed for some excellent racing with Sheffield’s Pawel Idziorek, Ed Morton and Oliver Banyard all riding unbeaten.  Jack Lister and Noah Lyon only dropped one point for the home side with Harry Gibson again impressing while Reece Pollitt and Mike Baldock were on form for Bury and Emily Burgess put in a gritty display for Astley.  Sheffield take a 12 point total into the third round followed by Hull on 10 points and Bury with 8 points.

Northern Fours League:

Sheffield 60: Pawel Idziorek 16, Ed Morton 12, Oliver Banyard 12, Kielan Burton 10, Matt Parrott 10.

Hull 46: Jack Lister 15, Noah Lyon 15, Harry Gibson 11, Kacey Bennett 3, Sophia Temple 2.

Bury 45: Reece Pollitt 13, Mike Baldock 10, Danny Taylor 10, Eryk Motala 8, Mark Radford 4.

Heckmondwike 32: Darren Kent 9, Elliot Long 7, Pat Beacock 6,Joe Brownell 5, Lee Warhurst 5.

Astley & Tyldesley 27: Emily Burgess 13, Oscar Belt 9, Steve Harris 5.

Stockport 22: Laura Watson (guest) 7, Ryan Tomkinson (g) 6, Amy Baynes 5, David Cooper (g) 4.

In the Junior GP a small but enthusiastic turnout saw Hull’s Jayden Bennett win the under 13’s from team mate Sophia Temple while Heckmondwike’s Leo Griffin won the under 10’s from Hull’s Alexis Woodcock and Remy Guymer.

Under 10 GP: 1st Leo Griffin (Heckmondwike), 2nd Alexis Woodcock (Hull), 3rd Remy Guymer (Hull).

Under 13 GP: 1st Jayden Bennett (Hull), 2nd Sophia Temple (Hull)

The Grand Prix series saw Laura Watson take the women’s event, Darren Kent the division two plaudits and Oliver Banyard racing unbeaten in the under 16’s.   The Grand Prix Team event was won by Hull with 117 points in front of closest challengers Heckmondwike with 58 points.  Ed Morton won the separate division one meeting from team mate Pawel Idziorek. 

Under 16 GP: 1st Oliver Banyard (Sheffield) 16, 2nd Jake McConnell (Hull) 15, 3rd Harry Gibson (Hull) 14, 4th Elliot Long (Heckmondwike) 12.

Women’s GP: 1st Laura Watson (Sheffield) 20, jnt.2nd Kacey Bennett (Hull) 15, jnt. 2nd Amy Baines (Stockport) 15.

Division Two GP: 1st Darren Kent (Heckmondwike) 16, Justin Naylor (Heckmondwike) 14, Ryan Tomkinson (Hull) 13.

Team GP: Hull 117, Heckmondwike 58, Sheffield 32, Stockport 12.

Division One GP: Ed Morton (Sheffield) 15, Pawel Idziorek (Sheffield ) 9, Kielan Burton (Sheffield) 8, Jack Lister (Hull) 3.