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Last Sunday East Newport Cycle Speedway Team defeated Exeter 94 - 85 at home in a hard fought league match to remain at the top of the South West Division One Table. The understrength Eastenders struggled to break down their tough & determined opponents in the early races with the heavy track conditions being a difficult obstacle for the riders to overcome.
A heat 4 maximum & the same in heats 8 & 9 enabled the side to establish a 10 point lead by the halfway stage. An early second half fight back by Exeter was easily stopped by some tactical replacements introduced by the East Enders enabling the side to maintain a comfortable lead at all times, securing victory by the end of heat 17.

Exeter are to be recognised for their part played in an exciting match, but in fairness to the East Newport side they were never under real threat with their strength in depth once again proving decisive.

Each East Newport rider scored vital points, but the performances of Nicky Evans 11+1 making his debut this season, and utility rider Gilbert Davis 13+1 called up as a late replacement were noticeable in an all round team performance.

Last Sunday East Newport staged the South West u16s & Open Individual Championships.

The regions top junior & senior riders turned out in large numbers to support this years finals, which were superbly organised & run by the number one Welsh Club.

Following some heavy overnight & early morning rain the East Newport Officials turned out in force to prepare a track which was to produce plenty of close & exiting racing.

The large number of entries for the open championship meant two semi finals to be raced before this years finalists could be established.

Each semi final produced some magnificent racing with every point being eagerly contested, resulting in several spills & exclusions to entertain a large & enthusiastic crowd.

In the first semi final both Horspaths Dave Carmichael & Exeters Tom Reed scored 18 points to book their finals place. East Newport's Neil Power & Filtons Mike Burgess secured their places by scoring 16 points each. East Newport's track specialist Nigel Clark & his team mate the hard working Matt Davis secured their positions each scoring 15 points. The final two qualifiers were
Hellinglys Marytn Hollebon 14 points & Filtons Ben Mould 13 points who both suffered exclusions - Hollebon for team riding & Mould moving at the start.

The 2ND semi final was won by East Newport's Kieran Jones scoring 19 points. The evergreen Steve Harris of Horspath, Poole fast starting Aaron Lowey & Hellinglys Neil Hollebon each scored 17 points to secure their positions in the final. Pooles Artur Poprawski & Chris Shylock along with Swindons Rob Hunt each scored 16 points to secure their place. Hellinglys Eddie Ridley scored 13
points to become the last qualifier for the final.

The Final of the Open Championship produced some excellent racing with the fast starting Aaron Lowey emerging as favourite with his skill clearly shining through. All his hard work was undone with an exclusion for moving at the start of heat 11 allowing Hellinglys Martyn Hollebon & Horspaths Steve Harris to move to the front of the scoring.

Hollebon remained unbeaten after three rides & with Harris only finishing third in his third ride & Pooles Artur Poprawski shedding a chain in his third ride, Hollebon could afford to finish 2ND in his final 2 rides to become the 2008 South West Open Individual Champion.

Marytn deserved his title after giving a steady display on the small but fast circuit. Steve Harris finished runner up after scoring 17 points, showing no sign of his ever increasing age. Exeters brilliant Junior Tom Reed scored an impressive 15 points & defeated Pooles Lowey in a run off to secure third place.

Filtons Ben Mould & Pooles Artur Poprawski both scored 14 points just missing out on the third place run off.

Of the home riders qualifiers Nigel Clark scored 12 points & Kieran Jones 11 points failing to finish in his last ride - both riders clearly struggling with tiredness in their latter rides.

But the day belonged to Hellinglys Martyn Hollebon who is a worthy Champion.

Scorers

1st Martyn Hollebon Hellingly 18 points
2ND Steve Harris Horspath 17 points
3rd Tom Reed Exeter 15 points
4Th Aaron Lowey Poole 15 points
5Th Ben Mould Filton 14 points
5Th Artur Poprawski Poole 14 points
7Th Dave Carmichael Horspath 13 points
7Th Neil Hollebon hellingly 13 points
9Th Nigel Clark East Newport 12 points
9Th Rob Hunt Swindon 12 points
11Th Kieran Jones East Newport 11 points
12Th Eddie Ridley Hellingly 10 points
12Th Chris Shylock Poole 10 points
12Th Mike Burgess Filton 10 points
15Th Matt Davis East Newport 7 points
15Th Neil Power East Newport 7 points


The U16's Championship was won by Exeter's brilliant young rider Tom Reed.
Reed easily outpaced his opponents on his way to scoring a faultless maximum.

Newport based rider Mark Carmichael representing one of his two South West teams
Horspath finished runner up dropping his only point to the Impressive Reed..
Another Newport based rider Filtons Ben Mould finished third after scoring 18 points.

Each rider contributed to an entertaining meeting & with such talent on display the
regions future seems to be secured for many years to come.

Result

1st Tom Reed Exeter 20 points
2ND Mark Carmichael Horspath 19 points
3rd Ben Mould Filton 18 points
4Th A Morgan Poole 17 points
5Th C B Jones Newport 15 points
5Th S Dart Exeter 15 points
7Th L Harvey East Newport 13 points
7Th J Avery Exeter 13 points
9Th J Morley Hellingly 12 points
10Th J Davis East Newport 11 points
10Th R Davies Newport 11 points
12Th R Ball Roberts East Newport 10 points
13Th T Carey East Newport 8 points
14Th J Priest East Newport 7 points.

The day proved to be a huge success with the riders serving up a feast of
top racing, the officials of the East Newport Club deserve full praise for
providing such good facilities & running a full days racing on schedule.

East Newport Cycle Speedway Club maintained their position at the top of the South West Division 1 table, with an impressive home victory against Filton last Sunday.
Right from the start the Eastenders took control of the match easily beating their opponents from the starts & pulled off several impressive passes. Each team member played their part in the 98 - 82 victory with particularly impressive performances from Kieran Jones, Aaron Hughes & new signing Neil Power who returned to racing after a 17 year absence.
The victory now leaves the team well positioned in their quest for league success, but with several difficult away fixtures yet to be raced, this good form will need to be repeated if their position is to be maintained.

East Newport scorers
Mike Rice 11+2 (5)
Nigel Clark 12 (4)
Neil Power 10 (4)
Kieran Jones 18+1 (5)
Aaron Hughes 12+2 (5)
Ryan Hughes 16 (5)
Rob Absalom 6 (3)
Dale Clark 13+4 (5)

Top Eastend junior Aaron Hughes travelled to Bury on Saturday to race in the National U14's individual. Aaron was not sure how good the opposition was going to be but soon showed the bumper crowd his natural talents by qualifying for the A final and then finishing a terrific 2nd place behind Hull's Matt Beharrel. Aaron was unlucky to slip a pedal in his final race but with 3 more rounds to go there is still plenty of time for our eastender to try and better his current 2nd place in the overall standings. Well done from the whole of the club.

The East Newport family would like to wish Nigel a speedy recovery after being separated from his nose goblin. The goblin who was giving him the edge in photo finishes on the line all season had to go following a nasty incident when the tapes at Leicester went up a bit quick and snagged the protrusion from Lunchies schnozzle.

Get well soon mate. We are all here for you in this hour of need.