YOUTH PUT ON FANTASTIC SHOW
Jack Parkinson, Kean Dicken, Jolyon West and Dan Thompson might have been the class winners but it should be British Speedway celebrating after the first round of the 2015 British Youth Championship at Scunthorpe’s Eddie Wright Raceway today. Fifty riders, twelve more than the first round of last year’s championship, came to the tapes to highlight that country’s youth speedway is going from strength to strength under the guidance of co-ordinator Neil Vatcher.
Fifty-five races were completed in under three hours with riders lining-up well in advance of their races. It never gave the crowd, the referee, announcer or any of the other track staff a moment to relax as the action came thick and fast. In the 500cc class it was Jack Parkinson, Jamie Halder and Lewis Whitmore who dominated the class but Halder denied himself a real chance of revenge on Parkinson in the final when he touched the tapes. Strangely the rules allowed him to race from the 15-metre mark, when riders had picked their gates based on their qualifying results, but he took full advantage to race past Kieron Douglas and Whitmore to claim an impressive second place.
In the 250 class it was the Kyle Bickley and Tom Brennan show in qualifying with their only dropped point being by Brennan to Anders Rowe. Kean Dicken had some tough qualifying races with two losses each to Bickley and Brennan whilst Jordan Jenkins also had a tough draw and, despite defeating Rowe in one of their meetings, missed out on the final. The final was an absolute classic though with under-dog Dicken, who had last pick of gates, riding a determined first corner to lead coming out of the second turn. The other three gave chase but Dicken rode a great race and Bickley, who did gain some ground, lost his steel shoe when looking to give it one last go over the last pair of bends. It meant he dropped to the back and Brennan and Rowe picked up the minor podium places.
The second season of the ‘box’ 150cc class has seen numbers swell with the sealed engine proving cheaper to run than any of the other engines. Jolyon West, a regular winner in the club’s amateur meetings, went through the card unbeaten but he was headed for nearly a lap in the final when Jason Edwards. An inside move, coming off the fourth turn, saw him and Leon Flint claim the top two places on the podium whilst Edwards help off Jordan Palin for third place.
The fourth class, for 125cc engines, was a tale of two sets of brothers. Twins Dan and Joe Thompson claimed first and third whilst Harry and Sam McGurk took second and fourth. All four excelled and when they all met in heat 8 their finishing positions were exactly the same. However, one rider who really had a bad draw was James Hitchen. He didn’t face any of the riders who finished second, third or fourth but had to race class winner Dan Thompson three times which perhaps cost him the chance of racing in the final. Hopefully the draw in the next round will be more favourable to him but in the scheme of things it was about the only negative in a wonderful three hours racing which surely gave anyone present a real belief that the future could be very bright for British speedway. Hopefully in twelve months we’ll be talking about a sixty rider field.
The second round of the British Youth Championship is next Saturday, 16th May, at Eastbourne whilst the next action at the Eddie Wright Raceway sees the Fluid Air Power Scunthorpe Scorpions meet the Rye House Rockets on Friday night (15th May, 7.30pm).
British Youth Championship Round 1 results:
500cc
Jack Parkinson 3 3 3 3 12
Jamie Halder 3 3 3 2 11
Lewis Whitmore 2 3 3 3 11
Kieron Douglas 2 0 3 2 7
William O’Keefe 2 2 1 2 7
Jack Thomas 1 0 2 3 6
Macauley Leek 3 2 1 X 6
Sam Wright 1 2 1 2 6
Sam Woolley 1 2 2 0 5
Mitchell Beckett 0 3 0 1 4
Luke McKenna 2 1 0 0 3
Stephen Whitehouse 1 R 1 1 3
Saul Bulley 0 1 0 0 1
Sam Chapman 0 0 1 R 1
Heat 3: Parkinson, Douglas, Wright, Beckett, 66.25
Heat 6: Halder, Whitmore, Thomas, Douglas, 65.50
Heat 9: Leek, O’Keefe, Whitehouse, Bulley, 65.87
Heat 12: Beckett, McKenna, Woolley, Chapman, 62.19
Heat 15: Halder, Leek, Bulley, Beckett, 63.19
Heat 21: Parkinson, O’Keefe, McKenna, Whitehouse (retired), 64.32
Heat 26: Whitmore, Wright, O’Keefe, Chapman, 64.74
Heat 27: Douglas, Woolley, Whitehouse, Bulley, 66.69
Heat 30: Whitmore, O’Keefe, Beckett, Thomas, 63.50
Heat 33: Parkinson, Thomas, Leek, McKenna, 64.87
Heat 35: Thomas, Woolley, Wright, McKenna (fell), 68.06
Heat 38: Whitmore, Hitchen, Chapman, Woolley, 64.93
Heat 41: Halder, Wright, Leek (fell, excluded), Chapman (retired), awarded
Heat 47: Parkinson, Halder, Whitehouse, Bulley, 63.56
Final: Parkinson, Halder, Whitmore, Douglas, 63.32
250cc
Kyle Bickley 3 3 3 3 12
Tom Brennan 3 3 2 3 11
Anders Rowe 1 3 3 1 8
Kean Dicken 2 2 2 2 8
Jordan Jenkins 2 1 1 2 6
Luke Woodhull 1 R 2 1 4
Ben Woodhull 0 0 1 2 3
Daniel Gilkes X 1 0 1 2
Chad Wirtzfeld 0 0 0 0 0
Heat 7: Brennan, Dicken, L. Woodhull, Wirtzfeld, 65.82
Heat 13: Bickley, Jenkins, Rowe, Gilkes (fell, excluded), 62.19
Heat 18: Brennan, Dicken, Jenkins, L. Woodhull (retired), 62.57
Heat 23: Rowe, L. Woodhull, Gilkes, B. Woodhull, 64.38
Heat 28: Rowe, Brennan, Jenkins, B. Woodhull, 63.44
Heat 36: Bickley, Dicken, L. Woodhull, Gilkes, 63.63
Heat 44: Bickley, Dicken, Gilkes, Wirtzfeld, 63.50
Heat 48: Brennan, Jenkins, B. Woodhull, Wirtzfeld, 64.12
Heat 51: Bickley, B. Woodhull, Rowe, Wirtzfeld, 63.31
Final: Dicken, Brennan, Rowe, Bickley, 63.37
150cc Box Class
Jolyon West 3 3 3 3 12
Jason Edwards 3 3 2 3 11
Leon Flint 2 3 3 3 11
Jordan Palin 2 2 3 2 9
Lewis Millar 2 2 2 2 8
Kieron McCoy 1 1 1 3 6
Sam Stead 1 1 2 2 6
Taylor Hampshire 3 1 1 0 5
James Laker 1 1 0 2 4
Nathan Ablitt R 2 1 1 4
Ryan Morris 1 0 0 0 1
Mason O’Rourke 0 0 X 1 1
Sam Hagon X 0 N N 0
Heat 4: West, Palin, Stead, Ablitt (retired), 68.06
Heat 10: Edwards, Flint, Morris, Hagon (fell, excluded), awarded
Heat 14: Hampshire, Millar, Laker, O’Rourke, 66.44
Heat 17: West, Millar, McCoy, O’Rourke, 65.63
Heat 19: Edwards, Palin, Stead, Hagon, 64.62
Heat 22: Flint, Ablitt, Hampshire, Morris, 66.69
Heat 32: Palin, Millar, Laker, O’Rourke (fell, excluded), awarded
Heat 37: West, Stead, McCoy, Morris, 64.50
Heat 40: West, Edwards, Hampshire, Laker, 65.44
Heat 42: Flint, Millar, Ablitt, Hagon (non-starter), 67.75
Heat 45: Edwards, Palin, McCoy, Morris, 65.38
Heat 46: Flint, Stead, Ablitt, Hampshire, 65.82
Heat 50: McCoy, Laker, O’Rourke, Hagon (non-starter), 69.04
Final: West, Flint, Edwards, Palin, 64.56
125cc
Dan Thompson 3 3 3 3 12
Harry McGurk 2 3 3 3 11
Sam McGurk 0 3 3 3 9
Joe Thompson 1 3 2 3 9
James Hitchen 3 2 2 2 9
Jack Wright 2 2 1 2 7
Mickie Simpson 2 2 2 1 7
Corban Pavitt 3 1 1 1 6
Bailey Fellows 1 1 2 2 6
Jay Farish 3 1 X F 4
Sheldon Davies 2 0 0 1 3
Alex Goldsbrough 0 0 1 2 3
Niall Cleaver 1 N 0 0 1
Taya Thirtle X X X N 0
Heat 1: Hitchen, Simpson, Thirtle (excluded, lapped), three riders only, 73.18
Heat 2: Farish, Wright, Fellows, Goldsbrough, 78.80
Heat 5: Pavitt, Davies, Cleaver, three riders only, 80.56
Heat 8: D. Thompson, H. McGurk, J. Thompson, S. McGurk, 68.56
Heat 11: D. Thompson, Hitchen, Fellows, Cleaver (non-starter), 67.07
Heat 16: H. McGurk, Wright, Thirtle (excluded, lapped), awarded
Heat 20: S. McGurk, Fellows, Farish, Davies, 73.25
Heat 24: J. Thompson, Simpson, Pavitt, Goldsbrough, 68.37
Heat 25: D. Thompson, Hitchen, Wright, Davies, 70.19
Heat 29: S. McGurk, Fellows, Pavitt, Thirtle (excluded, lapped), 73.44
Heat 31: H. McGurk, J. Thompson, Goldsbrough, Cleaver, 66.25
Heat 34: H. McGurk, Simpson, Davies, Farish (fell), awarded
Heat 39: D. Thompson, Hitchen, Pavitt, Farish (fell), 65.87
Heat 43: J. Thompson, Goldsbrough, Thirtle (non-starter), 66.63
Heat 49: S. McGurk, Wright, Simpson, Cleaver, 71.06
Final: D. Thompson, H. McGurk, J. Thompson, S. McGurk, 64.75
