Ayres rocks New Year Classic
Kent Kings’ Danny Ayres missed his first three programmed rides because of bike trouble but, after a mercy dash by his engine tuner, recorded a second place before winning his final three rides to claim victory in the Sunday’s New Year Classic amateur meeting at Scunthorpe’s Eddie Wright Raceway. He defeated Stoke Potters’ Danny Phillips, Cradley Heathen Nathan Greaves and Coventry Storm rider Robert Shuttleworth in the ‘A’ Final. Other class winners were Alfie Bowtell (Support Class), Kyle Roberts (Novice Class) and Dave Harvey (Upright Engine Class).
With fine weather and good track conditions the meeting was an outstanding advert for Scunthorpe’s amateur series. With the ten classes currently split over two separate weekends gone are the days of over a hundred races and the four adult speedway classes combined for a mere sixty-three races in under four a half hours. The affair had a much more manageable feel to it and after the meeting organiser Richard Hollingsworth confirmed it had gone even better than expected. “We had reached saturation point and running long past it turns dark in the winter is not an option. Everything about the meeting had proved easier to organise and during the winter, when numbers are so high and the days so short it has to be the way forward. We had a fantastic bunch of volunteers help us out and the shorter day certainly seemed to help.
“However, we have had to make one more change to the calendar for the Winter Series of meetings. We had originally planned to run a meeting for the youth riders, pit bikes and flat trackers on 22nd March but that is now when a meeting is to be run at Sheffield in aid of Ricky Ashworth.
“There is absolutely no way we can run a meeting against that because everyone in the speedway world needs to attend that meeting at Sheffield to show their support for Ricky and raise some money for him.
“It means the final round of the Winter Series will see all ten classes run on Sunday 29th March. Of course we will split them into two halves but the clocks will have gone forward that day so there will be plenty of daylight to use and with the leagues having started their season the numbers won’t be quite as high as we are expecting over the next couple of months.
The next meeting sees the youth speedway classes, pit bikes and flat trackers race on Sunday 25th January whilst the following Sunday, 1st February, the adult speedway classes will return to action.
Both meetings start at 11am and riders can book places in the meetings by texting Hollingsworth on 07832-402167. Alternatively you can contact him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/rh1967) or email him (richard@scunthorpespeedway.com).
The future amateur meetings scheduled through to the end of October 2015 are:
Sunday 25th January (Junior 110, Adult Pit Bike, Flat Track, Youth 125/150, Youth 250 and Youth 500 classes)
Sunday 1st February (Open, Support, Novice and Upright classes)
Sunday 22nd February (Junior 110, Adult Pit Bike, Flat Track, Youth 125/150, Youth 250 and Youth 500 classes)
Sunday 1st March (Open, Support, Novice and Upright classes)
Sunday 22nd March (Junior 110, Adult Pit Bike, Flat Track; Youth 125/150, Youth 250 and Youth 500 classes)
Sunday 29th March (All classes – Open, Support, Novice, Upright, Junior 110, Adult Pit Bike, Flat Track, Youth 125/150, Youth 250 and Youth 500 classes)
Summer Championship dates for all classes – Saturday 2nd May, Sunday 31st May, Sunday 12th July, Sunday 23rd August, Sunday 4th October
Open Class:
Qualifying scores:
Danny Phillips 12 (four rides), Rob Shuttleworth 11, Nathan Greaves 10, Danyon Hume 9, Tom Perry 9 (four rides), Luke Harris 8, Alex Wilson 8, Sam Woods 7, Adam Portwood 5, Danny Ayres 5 (2 rides), Robert Parker 3, Krystian Bialecki 1 (4 rides).
B Final: Ayres, Woods, Hume, Wilson (retired), 62.0
A Final: Ayres, Greaves, Phillips, Shuttleworth (fell), 62.4
Winter Series points: Ayres 20, Greaves 19, Phillips 18, Shuttleworth 17, Woods 16, Hume 15, Wilson 14, Perry 13, Harris 12, Portwood 11, Parker 10, Bialecki 9.
Winter Series standings (after round 3): Alex Wilson 48 (15-19-14), Luke Harris 46 (19-15-12), Sam Woods 46 (17-13-16), Krystian Bialecki 39 (16-14-9), Danny Ayres 37 (17-20), Tom Woolley 30 (20-10), Danyon Hume 26 (11-15), Robert Parker 22 (12-10), Nathan Greaves 19, Reece Downes 18, Lee Dicken 18, Robert Shuttleworth 17, Zach Wajtknecht 16, Martin Pearce 14, Tom Perry 13, Adam Portwood 11, Michael Neale 9, Krystian Bialecki 9, Arron Mogridge 8.
Qualifying heat winning times: 7. Wilson 67.3, 8.Perry awarded, 9. Phillips 65.5, 16. Perry 63.4, 18. Woods 63.3, 19. Phillips 62.8, 27. Shuttleworth 62.3, 28. Hume 61.3, 30. Phillips 60.8, 37. Phillips 60.9, 39. Shuttleworth 60.3, 40. Greaves 62.1, 48. Greaves 62.9, 49. Ayres 61.5, 51. Shuttleworth 63.8.
Support Class:
Qualifying scores: Alfie Bowtell 13, Matthew Sewell 11, Jamie Halder 10, Sam Darroch 9, Chris Bambury 9, Luke Whitehead 9, Trevor Bebbington 8, Adrian Guest 7, Connor Fletcher 6, George Rothery 4 (four rides), David Morgan 0 (1 ride), Bradley Seal 0 (no rides)
C Final: Bebbington, Guest, Fletcher, 82.6
B Final: Darroch, Whitehead, Bambury, Bebbington (retired), 69.5
A Final: Bowtell, Halder, Darroch (fell, excluded), Sewell (fell), awarded
Winter Series points: Bowtell 20, Halder 19, Darroch 18, Sewell 17, Whitehead 16, Bambury 15, Bebbington 14, Guest 13, Fletcher 12, Rothery 11, Morgan 10, Seal 9.
Winter Series standings (after round 3): Sam Darroch 50 (19-13-18), Matthew Sewell 42 (13-12-17), Luke Whitehead 42 (16-10-16), Bradley Seal 40 (17-14-9), Jamie Halder 39 (20-19), Ryan Kinsley 31 (12-19), Lewis Griggs 31 (15-16), Chris Bambury 30 (15-15), George Rothery 28 (17-11), Trevor Bebbington 28 (14-14), Danyon Hume 20, Alfie Bowtell 20, Ben Basford 18, Mark Whitehead 18, Adrian Guest 13, Connor Fletcher 12, Dan Miles 11, David Morgan 10.
Qualifying heat winning times: 4. Sewell 73.7, 5. Darroch 69.7, 6. Bambury 70.8, 12. Bowtell 70.0, 13. Darroch 67.2, 15. Bambury 70.1, 22. Bowtell 66.6, 24. Fletcher 71.2, 25. Darroch 67.1, 33. Bebbington 72.3, 34. Whitehead 70.9, 36. Bowtell awarded, 43. Halder 68.0, 45. Sewell 73.3, 46. Whitehead 73.0.
Novice Class:
Qualifying Scores: Craig Hancock 15, Luke McKenna 14, Danny Wright 13, Kyle Roberts 12, Mike Hancock 9, John Gaskell 9, Jeff Robinson 7, Lee Baldwin 6, Nigel Limb 5, Michael Baldwin 4, Dave Chiles 2 (2 rides), Lee Coates 2 (2 rides).
D Final: Hall, M. Baldwin, Chiles, 87.4
C Final: L. Baldwin, Robinson, M. Baldwin, Hall (fell), 82.6
B Final: Roberts, M. Hancock, L. Baldwin, Gaskell, 69.9
A Final: Roberts, McKenna, Wright, C. Hancock (fell), 69.4
Winter Series points: Roberts 20, McKenna 19, Wright 18, C. Hancock 17, M. Hancock 16, L. Baldwin 15, Gaskell 14, Robinson 13, M. Baldwin 12, Hall 11, Limb 10, Chiles 9, Coates 8.
Winter Series standings (after round 3): Luke McKenna 48 (15-14-19), Craig Hancock 46 (10-19-17), Mike Hancock 45 (11-18-16), John Gaskell 44 (17-13-14), David Morgan 36 (16-20), Kyle Roberts 36 (16-20), Damon Hall 36 (13-12-11), Jeff Robinson 35 (12-10-13), Danny Wright 33 (15-18), Lloyd Brown 27 (18-9), George Rothery 20, Chris Bambury 19, Jack Flynn 17, Lee Baldwin 15, Stuart Freeman 14, Michael Baldwin 12, Jake Isherwood 11, Nigel Limb 10, Derek Hunt 9, Dave Chiles 9, James Andrews 8, Lee Coates 8, Colin Clarke 7.
Qualifying heat winning times: 1. Roberts 73.6, 2. C. Hancock 74.5, 3. Wright 79.1, 11. Roberts 72.8, 14. C. Hancock 68.0, 17. C. Hancock 70.7, 20. McKenna awarded, 23. McKenna 73.4, 26. Hall 78.2, 29. Wright 74.1, 32. M. Hancock 70.4, 35. Roberts 72.4, 38. C. Hancock 73.8, 41. Wright 74.1, 44. McKenna 73.6, 47. Roberts 74.1, 50. C. Hancock 67.4, 53. McKenna 76.6.
Upright Class (for upright engines):
Qualifying Scores: Shaun Bickley 10, Dave Harvey 10, Gary O’Hare 9.
A Final: Harvey, Bickley, O’Hare, 73.0
Winter Series points: Harvey 20, Bickley 19, O’Hare 18.
Winter Series standings (after round 2): Dave Harvey 40, Glen Belcher 19, Shaun Bickley 19, Gary O’Hare 18.
Qualifying heat winning times: 10. Bickley 72.0, 21. Harvey 70.3, 31. Harvey 69.3, 42. O’Hare 73.2, 52. Bickley 73.8.
