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.