The Coventry Cycle Speedway club, heading a boom in the sport locally, have this week announced exciting plans to stage the UK Open Indoor finals this winter. The finals will take place on Saturday 7th January and Sunday 8th January 2017.
The new national indoor competition, set to attract television coverage, will race into action at the well-appointed Sports Connexion leisure complex, in Leamington Road, Ryton on Dunsmore, Warwickshire, just on the southern outskirts of the city.
It will be the fourth successive year a major national indoor final has been staged at the Sports Connexion, which has become the leading venue for indoor Cycle Speedway in the UK.
The Sports Connexion boasts top quality facilities for the sport. It has the perfect indoor floor, which affords maximum grip for the riders cornering at high speed, excellent changing facilities, ample parking and catering points.
The promotors, for the first time ever, are accepting entries from top Polish and Australian riders. These are expected to include the reigning European champion Lukasz Nowaki, of Poland, and Ipswich based Australian superstar Cody Chadwick.
Reflecting an upsurge of interest in junior racing, the promotors are introducing an under 10s indoor final. This has come from a request from two clubs in the south of England. It is highly likely that the Coventry, Brandon Bees and Nuneaton BMX clubs shall provide a sizable number of entries for this new age category final.
The Coventry club, who featured on Sky Sports this week with edited highlights of last year’s Great Britain V Australia Test match being shown across the nation, are talking to sponsors to raise additional income to cover the high extra costs to stage this year’s indoor finals.
Club officials are also talking to two television broadcasters in initial attempts to obtain television coverage for a major indoor final for the first time ever. Administrators from the club, together with other high ranking officials from the sport, feel that the electric and thrilling spectacle that is indoor Cycle Speedway racing could catapult the sport to another level.
Riders race at amazingly low angles on the corners, almost defying gravity. Some contact is allowed, with a now mandatory `Speedway style` airfence providing not only an outside perimeter barrier but a soft landing for some explosive crashes. All of this, officials believe, is tailor-made for television.
One of the Coventry clubs` senior officials Lee Marsh, one of the most widely respected officials in the game, has been appointed Event Manager for the UK Open finals. A three-person panel of Championship Directors, independent of the Coventry club, will shortly be appointed to arbitrate over any issues and make the official race draws.
To support the UK Open finals, the Coventry club have also announced a number of Sunday night practice sessions at the Sports Connexion. These will start on Sunday 20th November and will continue on 27th November, 4th December, 11th December and 18th December. Times are from 7pm to 9pm. These will be open to all riders and clubs.
A full list of both team and individual classification finals at the UK Open will be published soon. Entries can only be made to the Secretary, Coventry Cycle Speedway Club, 53 March Way, Ernesford Grange, Coventry, West Midlands. CV3 2QZ. All clubs nationwide shall receive entry forms soon.
BEES GO DOWN IN EXCITING CLASH
The newly revived Brandon Bees Cycle Speedway team, enjoying a terrific comeback year, went down 104-70 in their latest away match at Leicester last Tuesday evening. It was the Bees first defeat in three matches.
It was the Bees first visit to the supremely well-appointed East Midlands venue, with its superb race track, terracing, grandstand and other facilities. The match took place under floodlights – another exciting attraction for the new Bees team.
After away wins at Coventry and East Park Wolves, and with several of their team now mounted on new purpose built bikes, the Bees started in confident mood with Lee and Owen Gregory sharing the opening heat.
The Cameron Gill/Amy Baynes pairing also shared heat 2, with Gill again impressing with some fine team riding to usher Baynes into a scoring position. The Bees fell behind in heat 3, despite Tom Savage chasing all the way to take second place.
Leicester`s older and much more experienced side then started to assert control, winning the following three heats by the maximum margin. However, the quality of the racing was first class, with the Bees always in the thick of the action.
Both Lee Gregory and Savage, the latter displaying a brand-new bike for the match, then took well ridden second places to stem the tide of Leicester successes.
By the half way mark – heat 9 – the Bees 52-33 were in arrears. Whilst they were facing an uphill battle, the Bees never lost heart and continued to be keen and competitive opponents.
In the dashing form of 15-year-old Gill, the Bees scored their first heat winner in heat 10, the first race after the interval. Cheered by this, Gill went onto repeat his success in heat 12.
The best race of the evening proved to be heat 14. Trailing from the tapes, the young Bees pairing of Lucais Eyles and Joseph Augustus quickly made up ground. They caught their Leicester opponents by the end of lap one and all four riders flashed over the line together, with Eyles taking second place.
More exciting action followed, with Gill taking his third win of the evening in heat 16, to round off a superb individual performance. The Bees fought to the end, as rain began to fall, but their lack of experience proved to be their only downfall.
Speaking post-match, Bees boss Mark Savage said: “Tonight was a terrific experience for our new young riders, racing under floodlight for the first time. Thanks to our Leicester hosts for such an enjoyable evening.
“As we suspected, it was only our lack of experience that let us down, as the racing and tremendous determination of our team was not reflected in the score line. But our time we come as our youngsters continue to improve in each race”.
Brandon Bees point scorers:
Cameron Gill 17, Lee Gregory 10, Tom Savage 10, Owen Gregory 10, Amy Baynes 7, Jony Middleton 6, Lucias Eyles 4, Joseph Augustus 4 and Thomas Pearson 3.
The Bees have now finished their scheduled matches for 2016. They can look back on an unforgettable resurgence of excitement, enjoyment and thrilling endeavor. Cycle Speedway has made a triumphant return to the Rugby area and the scale of its return has surpassed all expectations.
The Bretford Playing Fields outfit now look to an exciting indoor season of practice and racing at the Sport Connexion, Leamington Road, Ryton On Dunsmore, starting on Sunday 20th November, from 7pm to 9pm.
The Dirt Bike Club, which last Saturday saw more newcomers take to the track, races into action for the last time in 2016 this Saturday morning (10am-11.30am) at the Brandon Bees track, Bretford Playing Fields, Bretford, near Rugby, CV23 0LA.
Youngsters and teenagers can come along to learn bike handling skills, race tactics and a chance to race for the Brandon Bees team. Bikes and safety equipment is supplied. The cost is just £1.
For more information on the Brandon Bees Cycle Speedway club and the Dirt Bike Club, please ring: 07400 993999.
NUNEATON BMX CLUB – CYCLE SPEEDWAY DAY
Nuneaton BMX club continued their introduction to Cycle Speedway last Sunday morning at Hearsall Common, with twenty seven riders competing across three age groups to provide even more racing opportunities locally.In the U10s category, nine riders competed. Ciaran Roberts took the win ahead of Gabriella Houli in second and Harvey Putland third.
Eight riders battled out the 11-16 finals, Markella Houli raced flawlessly to win ahead of the stylish Finlay Clark, with George Hunt in third. Houli again proving she could be a top female rider in her crossover sport.
Twelve riders contested the senior category. Nathan Parsons was the champ with Darren Putland second and Christian Wilkins third. All were making their senior debuts at Cycle Speedway.
Four of the Nuneaton BMX riders competed, with distinction, in the recent Chris Allen Memorial Trophy meeting at Hearsall Common. Two of the Nuneaton riders have already purchased Cycle Speedway bikes.
The Coventry club are to encourage their Nuneaton counter-parts to enter a team in an expanded Coventry League in 2017, together with a newly introduced season long Coventry Junior individual GP.