Astley & Tyldesley staged a full day's racing with the 1st Round of the Northern Fours and Junior League series at Gin Pit on Sunday.

Astley & Tyldesley cruised to an easy win in the first Fours League match. Chris Finnigan and Remi Burchardt both raced unbeaten, with Damian Zareba losing out only to a gate exclusion in heat 5, whilst the fast improving Tom Hall had a good match. Best visiting rider was Heckmondwike's Darren Kent, but his efforts weren't sufficient to see his team overhaul the Pedalsport team. It was the Bury 'B' team, riding under the Pedalsport name, who pipped both Scotia and Heckmondwike for the runners-up slot.

Northern Fours League Match 'A' result.

Astley & Tyldesley MWC 54: Chris Finnigan 16, Remi Burchardt 16, Damian Zareba 12, Tom Hall 10.

Pedalsport 36: Tom Doyle 10, Steve Mann 8, Chris Parish 6, Michael Parish 6, Ashley Simpson 6.

Scotia 34: Gavin Kennedy 11, Ewan Tulloch 7, Andy McDougall 6, Tom Lee 6, Mikey Hewitson 4.

Heckmondwike 34: Darren Kent 13, James Carter 11, James Lovell 5, Richard Westcott 5.

Referee - Pete Ward (Bury).

The second Fours League match was a much livelier affair, featuring what are likely to be the league's four top teams. After the first round of races, Astley & Tyldesley and Bury were level on 12 points each. A & T stretched the lead to three points at the halfway stage. Bury's challenge ended with gate exclusions to Paul Dyson and Ben Scranage in heats 10 and 12. After the 3rd round of races A & T held a four points lead over defending champions Tameside, who had made good use of their grid 1s. However, it was A & T who finished with the favourable grid 1s, and victories in three of the last four races saw A & T finish eight points ahead of Tameside, with Bury finishing 3rd.

Highlights of the match were tremendous maximums by A & T's Polish stars. Remi Burchardt recorded the third fastest time ever on the Gin Pit circuit, 41.84 secs, when beating Tameside's World Cup winner Terry Norman in heat 4. Damian Zareba pulled off a lightning start from grid 4 to gate across Norman, on grid 1, to win heat 9. Norman was the best visiting rider on show, in a highly competitive match in which all four teams each fielded line-ups of riders who were always in the thick of the action.

Northern Fours League Match 'B' result.

Astley & Tyldesley MWC 48: Damian Zareba 16, Remi Burchardt 16, Chris Finnigan 9, Warren Mee 6, Tom Hall 1.

Tameside 40: Terry Norman 13, Mark Wylie 10, Chris Eaton 9, Danny White 8.

Bury 37: Fred Rothwell 10, Ben Scranage 10, Neil Howarth 9, Paul Dyson 8.

Sheffield 32: Chris Turner 11, Simon Gamble 9, Mick Knowles 6, Martin Gamble 4, Peter Pearson 2.

Referee - Darren Kent (Heckmondwike).

There were plenty of riders on view in the four categories that made up the Junior League match. Defending champions Bury just pipped the home Astley & Tyldesley side to win by three points.

In the Individual Grands Prix, Bury's Chris Dyson raced unbeaten in the U-13 category. Astley & Tyldesley's Warren Mee was unbeaten in the U-16 category, whilst Bury's Ben Scranage came out on top in the U-19 event. In the Senior Combination category, Bury's Scott Jarman and Astley & Tyldesley's Jeff Radcliffe finished as joint leaders.

Northern Junior League match result.

Bury 126 Astley & Tyldesley MWC 123 Sheffield 97 Scotia 85 Tameside 20.

U-13 scorers: Chris Dyson (Bury) 16, John Nuttall (Astley & Tyldesley) 15, Leon Wild (Sheffield) 14, Dylan Radcliffe (Astley & Tyldesley) 13, Ryan O'Shea (Bury) 11, Declan O'Shea (Bury) 11, Charlie Keirl (Astley & Tyldesley) 9, Michael Collins (Bury) 9, Ewan Kennedy (Scotia) 7, Richard Hudson (Sheffield) 6.

Referee - Mike Hack (Astley & Tyldesley).

U-16 scorers: Warren Mee (Astley & Tyldesley) 16, Mikey Hewitson (Scotia) 15, Will Collins (Bury) 14, Ashley Simpson (Bury) 13, Ricky Wild (Sheffield) 12, Jamie Brown (Sheffield) 11, Leo Brindley (Bury) 10, Dougie Urquhart (Scotia) 9, Alex Collins (Bury) 7.

Referee - Ewan Tulloch (Scotia).

U-19 scorers: Ben Scranage (Bury) 13, Remi Burchardt (Astley & Tyldesley) 12, Tom Doyle (Bury) 12, Chris Eaton (Tameside) 11, Chris Parish (Bury) 9, Robert Hudson (Sheffield) 8, William Gamble (Sheffield) 6, Simon Gamble (Sheffield) 5.

Referee - Chris Finnigan (Astley & Tyldesley).

Senior Combination scorers: Scott Jarman (Bury) 15, Jeff Radcliffe (Astley & Tyldesley) 15, Mick Knowles (Sheffield) 14, Martin Cain (Sheffield) 13, Tom Hall (Astley & Tyldesley) 13, Michael Parish (Bury) 12, Gavin Kennedy (Scotia) 12, Mike Hack (Astley & Tyldesley) 12, Roy Heslop (Astley & Tyldesley) 11, Andy McDougall (Scotia) 10, Chic Mackie (Scotia) 10, Alan Taylor (Tameside) 9, Andy Knowles (Sheffield) 8, Steve Mann (Bury) 8, Tom Lee (Scotia) 8, Mark Taylor (Astley & Tyldesley) 7, Ian McKinlay (Scotia) 7, Ewan Tulloch (Scotia) 7.

Referee - Chris Finnigan (Astley & Tyldesley).

There were good performances all round on the day by Astley & Tyldesley riders at all levels. Those riders who have been putting in the training all looked sharp and recorded results that their efforts deserve.