Astley & Tyldesley got back to winning ways in the Northern League with a 81-69 victory at Stockport, on Sunday. The match was closely fought, in strong windy conditions and on a very dry track that cut up. In a very tactical match, A & T provided 14 of the 15 race winners, but Stockport regularly packed the minor places to share the points. It was the clever tactical use of Mick Knowles, deployed as reserve, that swung the match A & T's way, as he featured in four of A & T's five heat wins. A & T held a slender 4 points lead after heat 12, before pulling clear in the last three races to secure the win. A & T's Polish trio were in magnificent form. Remi Burchardt raced unbeaten, both Darek Kurkowski and Tomasz Wlodarczyk lost once each to Terry Norman, with great support from Mick Knowles, winner of two races.

Northern League match result

Stockport 2006 69 Astley & Tyldesley 81

Stockport: Terry Norman 16, Chris Eaton 12 (1), Graham Johnston 11 (3), Dylan Radcliffe 10 (3), Ben Higham 7 (1), Jack Lush 7, Jeff Radcliffe 5 (1), Matt Lush 1.

A & T: Remi Burchardt 19 (1), Darek Kurkowski 19, Tomasz Wlodarczyk 18, Mick Knowles 14 (1), Mike Hack 4, Roy Heslop 4, Ben Dickenson 3.

Referee - Alan Taylor.

A young and inexperienced A & T team were heavily beaten by Stockport in the Combination (2nd team) match, 83-37. Ben Dickenson was the only A & T rider to beat an opponent, finishing ahead of Jake Read in heat 1. The Stockport junior team have now raced together for the past two or three years and they clearly demonstrated the benefits of regular competition, to supplement club training nights.

Northern Combination League match result

Stockport 2006 'B' 83 Astley & Tyldesley 'B' 37

Stockport: Joe Pickford 16, Matt Lush 13 (3), Jake Read 12 (2), Dylan Radcliffe 11 (1), Jack Lush 11 (1), Ali Lam 11 (1), Ben Higham 9 (3).

A & T: Ben Dickenson 9, Stefan Whitelegg 7, Joel Partington 7, Ben Keen 5, Laura Watson 5, Molly Walker 4.