Favourites England maintained their impressive record  in this well attended Home International as Baiter Park provided the perfect stage for all that is best in the sport of cycle speedway. There was an added bonus for local supporters as riders from the Poole/Sea View Coaches club top scored for three of the four competing nations. Chris Roberts was top scorer for England with 15, dropping his only point to club mate Pete Young who took two wins and a second from his three races to top the Scotland scorechart with 11. Surprise packet Kevin Lowey was a late inclusion in the Ireland team and despite a lack of match practise, he top scored with 9.

 

The host nation capitalised fully on their inside grids by winning the first 5 heats leaving the rest to play catch up and while Wales battled gamely to keep in touch with some spirited racing, England drove home their early advantage with 6 more race winners and only a couple of mid-match tumbles by Dan Pike and team skipper Craig Marchant prevented that total from being even higher.

 

One of the biggest cheers of the day came in heat 6 when England's Dan Pike clashed with stylish Welshman Dave Carmichael allowing their two opponents to sneak through and in the melee, Phil Hemming gave Ireland their only race winner in the mad dash for the chequered flag just inches ahead of talented young Scot  Marcus Wadham from the Birmingham club.

 

First and foremost, this was an event to showcase the sport and the racing matched the presentation which was slick and entertaining. The crowd was appreciative and a special word of praise is due for the Welsh contingent as Newport and East Newport put aside their local rivalries to really get behind their team, creating a great atmosphere.

 

ENGLAND:  C.Roberts 15, L.Osborne 14, D.Pike 13, C.Jewkes 11, C.Marchant 6.

 

WALES:  R.Hughes 12, D.Harper 12, M.Winwood 11, D.Carmichael 8, R.Jones 6.

 

SCOTLAND:  P.Young 11, C.Newsome 9, M.Wadham 9, M.Hewitson 4, D.Frith 4.

 

IRELAND: K.Lowey 9, G.Colby 8, J.Murphy 6, P.Hemming 6, P.Widdas 4.

 

 

 

 

England: Jono Birks 17+3, Declan Crouch 16+2, Chris Osborne 16, Lee Richardson 12+1, Jamie Ball 11+2, Sean Rudman 11+1, Tom Haddock 10+1, Carl Jarvis 8+2.

 

Wales: Dave Carmichael 15, Ryan Hughes 14, Ben Mould 13+1, Ryan Jones 13, Chris Davis 9+2, Ryan Jones 9, Mark Carmichael 3, Sam McMauns 3.