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Astley & Tyldesley hosted the O-40 and O-60 British Individual
Championships at Gin Pit on Saturday. The match took place on the
hottest day of the year, but despite the conditions, the veteran riders
turned in an excellent afternoon of racing.
Poole's former World Champion Steve Harris has long rated the Gin Pit
circuit as one of his favourites and he raced to the O-40 British
Individual title, winning all his five races to score a maximum 20
points. He showed his class with two excellent wins from the back in his
opening two races, before making perfect starts to win his last three
races convincingly. Wednesfield's Mark Griffiths is another racer who
always performs well at Gin Pit and after finishing second to Harris in
the first race, won his remaining four races to take overall runner-up
place with 19 points. Exeter's Andy Stone made his first appearance at
Gin Pit and he will rue an opening race slip which let Harris and
Griffiths through, before settling down to score an impressive 17 points
and take 3rd place overall. Defending champion Chris Turner, of
Sheffield, saw his hopes take a dive with a fall first time out, before
recovering to score 15 points and finish joint 5th, along side
Stockport's Terry Norman and one point behind Edinburgh's Lee Lawrence
in fourth.
O-40 British Individual Championship result
Steve Harris (Poole) 20, Mark Griffiths (Wednesfield) 19, Andy Stone
(Exeter) 17, Lee Lawrence (Edinburgh) 16, Chris Turner (Sheffield) 15,
Terry Norman (Stockport) 15, Dave Meanley (Wednesfield) 14, Paddy Wenn
(Norwich) 13, Peter Chant (Southampton) 11, Mick Knowles (Sheffield) 9,
Martin Glover (Swindon) 8, Richie Pawson (Hull) 6.
Referee - Mike Hack (Astley & Tyldesley).
The O-60s championship was keenly contested, despite six riders pulling
out, with Wednesfield's Mick Aris beating defending champion Bob Prince,
of Birmingham, to win heat 4. However, Aris' chances of taking the title
took a blow when he was excluded for a starting infringement in heat 7.
Prince seized the opportunity to come back and he clinched the title for
the third successive year with a clever tactical ride last time out.
Aris finished overall runner-up, with Bury's John Whiting in third
place.
O-60 British Individual Championship result
Bob Prince (Birmingham) 11, Mick Aris (Wednesfield) 10, John Whiting
(Bury) 6.
Referee - Mike Hack (Astley & Tyldesley).
The Championships were sponsored by Commissioning Water Treatment
Specialists Ltd, of Atherton and the awards presented by the Astley &
Tyldesley Club Chairman, Bill Phillips.
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