Three new club partners came on board – Crown Football Ltd, DG Optical and SMD Tyres, to join the four from the previous year. Anita Green, Corrie Burgess and Gareth Paine joined the Committee, although the latter was replaced by Mark Grantham in mid season. We received a £2,000 grant from Wigan Council to buy eight spinning bikes. The club generated income in excess of £14,000, as we enjoyed the reduced time and costs of track maintenance of the new track. Mike Hack won three major awards – Cycle Speedway Referee of the Year, Wigan and Gt. Manchester Unsung Hero in Sport awards. The ladies road section was replaced with a mixed road section. We finished the year with 85 cycle speedway riders, 8 road riders, 7 off road riders and 15 officials/ volunteers.

Lee Phillips took over as 1st team manager and immediately instilled a real purpose and motivation to succeed. In the Northern League Division 1, we raced unbeaten after a 2 points opening day defeat at Stockport, beating the same team in a Play-off at Bury, to win the league for the first time. The title was won despite losing top rider Damian Zareba with a back injury early on in the season. We finished 2nd in the Northern Cup Final, Northern Fours League and Manchester League Division 2. Janine Paine led the 2nd team to a Northern League Division 2 title victory, again for the first time, overhauling nearest rivals Bury in the last two races of the last match of the season to pip them. Will Evans’ team won Division 3 for the fifth successive year, to make it an unprecedented Northern League treble win and our most successful season on the track.

The juniors won the Northern group of the BYJL and new Little League, to qualify for the national series. We also won the Manchester League Division 2 and Northern Junior League. Fixture congestion ruled us out of entering the British Club Championship. John White won the U-12 British Grand Prix series, whilst Max Evans and Mick Knowles rode for Gt. Britain at junior and veterans level in Australia. Reece Pollitt was again the club’s top scorer, with 425 points, and topped the race averages, on 3.54.

1st team photo, back row, l-r: Paul Graham, Emily Burgess, Kyle Holland, Mark Grantham, Max Evans, Mick Knowles, Janine Paine. Kneeling, l-r: Lee Phillips, Ciaran Collins, Reece Pollitt.