The four home nations - England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales - converged on Gin Pit on Saturday for the annual Home International Cycle Speedway match. Torrential rain the previous evening, when 2 inches fell in 2 hours, would have rendered many circuits unrideable. However, the Gin Pit circuit drained superbly and although the track was softer than usual, there was never any danger of the match being called off.

England, perhaps inspired by the football team's heroics earlier in the afternoon against Denmark, quickly set the standard, winning the opening four races, with Wales in hot pursuit. Ireland lost the services of their veteran captain, Joe McLaughlin, who was taken to hospital with a suspected broken collar bone and concussion, after a bizarre crash in heat 2, when his front wheel dug into the ground on the pits bend, pitching him head first over his handlebars as his bike snapped in two, with no other rider involved. Team mate Mick Docker was in the wars in the next race, falling heavily on the back straight after the chain came off his machine, although he took his next two races before another heavy fall in heat 11 ruled him out of the match. It was always an uphill struggle for the Irish but they had a titanic battle with the Scots throughout to determine the 3rd place in the match.

England were fast from the start throughout and once in front never looked like being caught. Lee Aris and Darren Slater were simply yards ahead of the opposition, winning every race convincingly. Paul Dyson was unbeaten in his three races, with Dave Solomon winning two and suffering a gate exclusion in his other. On the two occasions when Aris and Dyson missed the start, they executed superb passes on the pits bend by cutting back inside their opponents to sprint past them to take the wins. Wales rode well throughout and were never threatened for second place. Danny Harper was their sole race winner, with Allan Busby and Colin Simmons both scoring well. Ireland and Scotland had a real battle throughout for third place, before Kevin Burns secured 3rd place for the Scots by finishing ahead of Gary Colby in the final race. Ireland's and Scotland's tail end riders never looked comfortable on the track, with Elliott Jones ruled out of the match after losing control on exiting the pits bend and taking a heavy fall after clipping the outer kerb in heat 9. Burns was best for Scotland, with Arron Campbell and hard pressed reserve / coach Martin Gamble impressing for the Irish.

Evidence that the Astley & Tyldesley track held up really well after the previous night's deluge came when Lee Aris won the final race in a time less than 1 second off the long standing track record. Fellow maximum man Darren Slater would surely have beaten the record had he not coasted from the pits bend when winning heat 15.

The match was well handled by referee Frank Finnigan, with the sport once again grateful to the Tyldesley Division of the St. John Ambulance for their prompt treatment of the injured riders. The match was sponsored by the Eagle School of Motoring, Astley.

Presentations were made to all competitors and the referee by: the match sponsor, Steve Mills; the British Cycling Cycle Speedway Administrator, Brian Furness; the Astley & Tyldesley Club chairman, Bill Phillips.

Home International - sponsored by Eagle School of Motoring, Astley.

England 56  Darren Slater 16, Lee Aris 16, Paul Dyson 12, Dave Solomon 8, Neil Howarth 4.

Wales 40  Danny Harper 11, Allan Busby 10, Colin Simmons 9, Nicky Evans 5, Dale Clark 5.

Scotland 29  Kevin Burns 11, Dave Frith 9, Craig Newsome 6, Alan Mackie 2, Elliott Jones 1.

Ireland 28  Arron Campbell 11, Martin Gamble 9, Gary Colby 6, Mick Docker 2, Joe McLaughlin 0.

Referee          Frank Finnigan (Congleton, Cheshire).