Astley & Tyldesley made the long journey to Edinburgh for the 5th Round of the Northern Fours & Junior League series as league leaders. However, A & T were missing several key riders, and finished well behind Tameside on the day, with A & T and the home Scotia team having a close battle for 2nd place throughout the match.

There was no shortage of controversy in the closing stages of the match, as Tameside impeded A & T's riders on several occasions in order to bring Scotia in to take 2nd place. Their 'tactics' looked to have failed when Scotia's Lee Lawrence shed a chain when well placed in the penultimate race. This put A & T two points ahead of Scotia going in to the final race. Scotia's Mikey Hewitson made the start from grid 1 to take the lead, whilst A & T's Chris Finnigan rode a clever first corner from grid 4 to pass Tameside's Mark Wylie and move into third place behind Heckmondwike's Darren Kent. Kent smartly moved up the inside of Hewitson going into the last lap, but the young Scot chopped across Kent and he fell heavily on the first bend. In the melee, Finnigan caught up Hewitson, and the two riders clashed on the back straight, with referee Alan Hewitson immediately excluding Finnigan and awarding the race to Mikey Hewitson, with Wylie second and Kent a non finisher. Heckmondwike protested strongly that Hewitson should have been excluded for bringing down Kent, which would have made the subsequent clash irrelevant, whilst A & T protested strongly that Finnigan shouldn't have been excluded from the second incident.

However, the referee stuck to his guns, leaving Scotia to take 2nd place, Tameside happy that their dubious tactics had closed the gap on A & T in the league table, whilst both A & T and Heckmondwike were less than pleased with the final outcome. Chris Finnigan was in impressive form for A & T, having dropped just one point before the last race. The referee was a late appointment, as Bury failed to provide a referee for the match.

Northern Fours League match result:

Tameside 52 Scotia 38 Astley & Tyldesley MWC 36 Heckmondwike 27.

Tameside: Chris Eaton 14, Danny White 13, Stephen Ward 13, Mark Wylie 12.

Scotia: Mikey Hewitson 11, Lee Lawrence 10, Gavin Kennedy 7, Tommy Lee 6, Andy McDougall 4.

A & T: Chris Finnigan 11, Damien Hack 9, Jeff Radcliffe 8, Warren Mee 6, Mark Taylor 2.

Heckmondwike: James Carter 13, Darren Kent 10, Richard Westcott 4.

Referee - Alan Hewitson (Scotia).

Scotia ran out easy winners in the Junior League match. A & T's hopes of taking 2nd place ahead of Bury were scuppered when Mark Keirl sustained nasty facial injuries that ruled him out of the remainder of the match, after clipping the back wheel of Bury's Mike Parish on the back straight in his opening ride in the Senior Combination Individual. Warren Mee and Jeff Radcliffe top scored for A & T, with 14 points apiece in the U-16 and Senior Combination Individuals respectively.

Northern Junior League match result:

Scotia 134 Bury 87 Astley & Tyldesley MWC 82 Sheffield 56 Heckmondwike 0 Tameside 0.

A & T scorers: Warren Mee 14, Jeff Radcliffe 14, Dylan Radcliffe 12, Mark Taylor 12, Charlie Keirl 10, Mike Hack 10, Maurice Radcliffe 10, Mark Keirl 0.

The next match at Gin Pit is on Wednesday 31st August, starting at 7.30 pm, when Astley & Tyldesley host the Manchester League Senior Individual Grand Prix Final.