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Date |
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| Sun 26th April | Northern KO Cup | Sheffield | |
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Astley & Tyldesley are the 2015 Northern K.O. Cup winners! Team Green put in a fantastic day's racing at Sheffield on Sunday, to win their first ever Northern senior title in their 25th anniversary season. Eight teams, of four-a-side plus a reserve, contested the event, on a warm, sunny day, on a dry, hard track. Two semi-finals were held, each over 16 races, with the top two teams from each semi-final progressing to the final. A&T led for most of Semi-Final 1 and were always in control for qualifying for the Final. A&T pipped the holders Stockport to take the win, by 1 point, with Hull a further 10 points behind. Polish stars Radek Handke and Damian Zareba led the way, only dropping two points, with valuable back up from Reece Pollitt and Mark Mulvey. Northern K.O. Cup Semi-Final 1 result Astley & Tyldesley 48 Stockport 47 Hull 37 Heckmondwike 28 A&T: Radek Handke 14, Damian Zareba 14, Reece Pollitt 12, Mark Mulvey 6, Gareth Paine 2. Heckmondwike: Pawel Idziorek 12, Mick Knowles 7, Darren Kent 5, Justin Naylor4, Will Naylor dnr. Stockport: Ben Higham 12, Mat Lush 12, Chris Eaton 9, Jack Lush 9, Terry Norman 5. Hull: Andy Angell 15, Lewis Aylmer 10, Lewis Aylmer 5, Nathan Everett 4, Chris Cooke 3. Referee - Rob Mawhood (Sheffield). Bury and Edinburgh progressed to the Final from Semi-Final 2. The scores were: Bury 47 Edinburgh 43 Northumbria 37 Sheffield 32. In the Final, Stockport led after the first round of four races, with 14 points from the favourable inside start positions, with A&T second on 11. The next four races saw A&T starting from the inside positions and they capitalized on this to make up 6 points on Stockport, to lead 24-21 at the interval, with Bury third on 19 and Edinburgh on 15. Stockport's collapse continued in the next round of four races, as A&T moved into an 8 points lead, 38-30 over Bury, with Stockport on 26 and Edinburgh on 24. A&T had one hand on the trophy going into the last round of races, but were starting off the unfavourable outside position. Mark Mulvey took a valuable 3rd place in heat 13, but Reece Pollitt was kept at the back next time out. With the pressure mounting, Damian Zareba took a bad knock after a heavy first bend pile up when three riders came down. Bravely he took his place in the re-run and came through to pass Edinburgh's Jake Slight on the last lap and take a valuable third place. This meant that the pressure was off Radek Handke, as he only had to finish the last race to secure victory for A&T. Unbeaten until then, Handke chased Bury's Ben Scranage hard all the way before settling for 2nd place on the last lap. The 3 points he gained were sufficient for A&T to take a 3 points win, over Bury, with Stockport third and Edinburgh fourth. This was a magnificent and deserved win by Astley & Tyldesley. Brilliantly led by Polish stars Radek Handke and Damian Zareba, they were well supported by Reece Pollitt and Mark Mulvey, who both scored valuable points to take the victory. Mulvey was unlucky to drop two points with a machine failure on the last lap of heat 7. Reserve Gareth Paine took two rides in the Semi-final to enable the riders to be fresher for the Final. Northern K.O. Cup Final result Astley & Tyldesley 46 Bury 43 Stockport 40 Edinburgh 29 Edinburgh: Craig Newsome 9, Jake Slight 7, Mikey Hewitson 6, Kamil Greszla 6,Douglas Morgan 1. A&T: Radek Handke 15, Damian Zareba 14, Reece Pollitt 10, Mark Mulvey 7, Gareth Paine dnr. Bury: Ben Scranage 14, Danny Taylor 11, Chris Parish 9, James Elston 9, Neil Howarth dnr. Stockport: Jack Lush 10, Mat Lush 9, Ben Higham 8, Terry Norman 7, Chris Eaton 6. Referee - Darren Kent (Heckmondwike). |
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