Astley & Tyldesley took a narrow win over defending champions Bury in the opening round of the Manchester League series at Gin Pit on Wednesday evening.
12 riders contested the match, run for the first time on a Ladder format, with each rider taking four races. This resulted in much more competitive races than under the previous traditional format. Starting positions for the final round of races were decided by an open draw.
New A&T team manager Ed Morton took a superb win in the ‘A’ Final, coming through from grid 4 to win, after early race leader Reece Pollitt missed a pedal. Young Frank White kept up his impressive early season form with a second place, ahead of Mike Baldock and Reece Pollitt. Frank recorded the fastest time of the night, 42.47 seconds, in heat 2.
Manchester League Round 1 result (top 5 scorers only count to team totals)
Team: Astley & Tyldesley 38 Bury 34 Stockport 0
Individual GP: Ed Morton (A&T) 12, Frank White (A&T) 11, Mike Baldock (Bury) 10, Reece Pollitt (Bury) 9, Kris Ramsden (Bury) 8, Eryk Motala (Bury) 7, Oscar Belt (A&T) 6, Riley Candy (A&T) 5, Emily Burgess (A&T) 4, Frank Ngonji (A&T) 3, Elijah Rechembei (A&T) 2, Yahay Hassan (A&T) 1.
Referee – Mike Hack.
The next round is at Bury on Wednesday 6th May at 7.00 pm.
