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Astley & Tyldesley Cycle Speedway Club hosted an exciting day's racing in the Northern K.O. Cup Finals at Gin Pit on Saturday. Regular watering of the track enabled plenty of excellent racing to be dished up on a very hot, sunny afternoon, with both Finals going right to the wire.

In the Junior Final, Sheffield sportingly agreed for the match to be delayed for 15 minutes, to enable the late arriving Robert Pearce of Bury to take his place. Bury quickly opened up a 7 points lead after 6 races, with some excellent passing by Tom Doyle, to supplement two race wins each by Ben Scranage and Scott Jarman. Sheffield hit back in dramatic style with two 7-3 heat wins, either side of the interval, to take the lead. The latter was achieved by a fine last bend by Peter Pearson and Richard Bowler, in relegating Doyle to third place. Two drawn heats followed, and then Sheffield put in two heat wins to extend the lead to 4 points, with just two races remaining. Heat 14 was drawn, leaving Bury requiring a 7-3 heat win to draw the match. Despite the valiant efforts of Simon Gamble and Jono Birks, it was Pearce and Scranage who hit the front and held on for the necessary 7-3. So, three extra races were required. First blood went to Bury with a 6-4, but Sheffield hit back with a 6-4, and the next race was drawn. So, another three races were required. Again, first blood to Bury with a 6-4, but this time Sheffield couldn't hit back and with both the next races being shared, victory went to Bury, by 105 points to 103.

Scranage was in excellent form for Bury, racing unbeaten in his seven races, with solid support from Pearce, Jarman and Doyle. Sheffield had six solid scoring riders who took full advantage of Bury's weaker tail end, but the tally of providing just 5 race winners out of 21 tells its own story.

Northern Junior K.O. Cup Final result:

Heat 29 saw Fred Rothwell win for Bury from Chris Eaton, and the next race saw Bury dramatically level the scores as Neil Howarth won, with Mark Wylie a faller. Tameside brought in Brian Eaton for heat 31. The Tameside man was content to let Martin Gamble and Darren Kent go, in order to relegate Dyson to last place. On the second lap, Dyson dived hard under Eaton on the pits bend, forcing the Tameside man to the outer edge. Referee Mick Pedley stopped the race and excluded Dyson for using excessive force, a decision which was received with uproar from the Bury camp. The re-run saw Eaton pull out a superb gate from grid 3 to gate across Gamble and Kent to win and all but clinch the cup. Terry Norman then went on to win heat 32 from grid 4 for Tameside, after James Carter and Mark Rushby clashed, to ensure that Tameside won the Northern Senior Cup.

The first staging of this format in the North proved to be a great success, with all seven Northern teams competing in a highly competitive match. The best individual riders on show were Terry Norman and James Carter, beaten only by each other. Perhaps the most meritous performance came from A & T's 12 year old Becky Heslop, who beat several much older opponents from the back.

Northern Senior Cup result:

Tameside 69 Bury Pedalsport 62 Sheffield Stars 53 Heckmondwike 45 Astley & Tyldesley Miners' Welfare / CTA Direct 31 Scotia Allsorts 30 Hull 24

Tameside: Terry Norman 19, Danny White 14, Chris Eaton 13, Mark Wylie 12, Brian Eaton 11.

Bury: Neil Howarth 16, Mark Rushby 15, Paul Dyson 13, Ben Scranage 10, Fred Rothwell 8.

Sheffield: Jonathan Birks 14, Simon Gamble 14, Martin Gamble 13, Richard Bowler 12.

Heckmondwike: James Carter 19, Darren Kent 13, Sam Westcott 8, Jamie Westcott 5.

Astley & Tyldesley: Garry Pearce 11, Becky Heslop 8, Mike Hack 7, Lee Harper 5.

Scotia: Alan Mackie 11, Alan Smith 7, Chic Mackie 6, Andrew MacDougall 6.

Hull: Chris Cooke 11, Andy Schofield 9, Matt Bates 4.

Referee - Mick Pedley (Wednesfield).