Astley & Tyldesley made the long trip to Norfolk for their Premier League match with Norwich, on Sunday. A & T had Scottish international Craig Newsome and top Humberside prospect Andy Angell making their debuts for the club.

However, A & T suffered a disastrous opening, with four exclusions and a machine failure in the opening five races, to trail Norwich 33-11 at that stage. The very slippery and tricky Norwich track caught out the A & T riders in their opening races, with all the decisions going in favour of the home team. The match was already decided by that early stage, but credit to A & T for the way their riders stuck to the task and prevented Norwich from extending their lead. Norwich ended up winning the match 98-73.

Darek Kurkowski (pictured) won all his five races, whilst Remi Burchardt won his last four races after being controversially excluded in his opening race whilst leading. Newsome had a nightmare start with two exclusions, but showed his class by bouncing back with two race wins. Angell also suffered two exclusions, but scored well in the two races he finished. Jazz Abbott raced unbeaten from reserve for Norwich, with all their riders scoring well and giving a solid team display.

British Premier League match result

Norwich 98 Astley & Tyldesley 73

Norwich: Jazz Abbott 16, Nick Myhill 13 (2), Josh Brooke 13 (1), David Martin 12 (3), Ian Grange 12 (2), Richard Williamson 11 (2), Lee Grange 11 (2), Leigh Cossey 10 (2).

A & T: Darek Kurkowski 20, Remi Burchardt 16, Craig Newsome 10, Gavin Kennedy 8, Andy Angell 6 (1), Ewan Tulloch 5, Joe Allen 5, George Hughes 3.

Referee - Stan Allison (Wisbech).

In the Combination Division match, Norwich took the win, in a re-run last heat decider, by 80-75. Joe Allen, Mike Hack and Remi Burchardt raced unbeaten. A & T were a rider missing and conceded 30 penalty points for using two ineligible riders, so it was a great effort to pull back such a big deficit and go to a last race decider. Norwich also took a bonus point for fielding a completely separate team.

British Premier Combination League match result

Norwich 80 Astley & Tyldesley 75

Norwich 'B': Liam Parker 10, Danny Wright 8 (1), Josh Colby 7, Lewis Connor 6 (1), Kieron Parr 6, James Wakefield 6, Ryan Mountain 4 (2), James Connor 3 (1).

A & T 'B': Joe Allen 20, Mike Hack 16, Roy Heslop 14, Remi Burchardt 13 (3), Darek Kurkowski 12 (4).