British Speedway Championship Semi-Final

Owlerton Stadium

24 April '14

Rider01020304 05060708 09101112 13141516 17181920TotResult

  1. Danny King

3 3 3 2 3 14 1ST

  2. Edward Kennett

ef 1 1 3 2 7

  3. Ashley Morris

1 r 0 3 2 6

  4. Craig Cook

2 3 3 3 2 13 2nd

  5. Derek Sneddon

1 1 2 0 0 4

  6. Simon Stead

3 3 ef 1 3 10 5th

  7. Scott Nicholls

2 2 2 3 3 12 4th

  8. Lewis Kerr

0 0 3 2 0 5

  9. Josh Bates

r 0 1 0 0 1

10. Charles Wright

2 r 0 2 1 5

11. Chris Harris

3 1 fx 1 3 8 6th

12. Stuart Robson

1 2 f ef -  

13. Kyle Howarth

0 2 1 0 - 3

14. Adam Roynon

2 2 2 1 1 8 7th

15. Ben Barker

3 3 3 2 2 13 3rd

16. Andre Compton

1 1 tps 1 1 4

17. James Sargeant (res)

2 1 3

18. Nathan Greaves (res)

0 0
Track record 59.1
Ricky Ashworth
010203040506 070809 1011 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
60.060.261.162.061.3 61.961.762.561.863.2 63.861.962.163.963.9 63.162.963.663.363.2

British s/f programmeThe track looked good and heavy, just like it did for the Scunthorpe match before they scraped it bare. Danny King made a blinding start and went on to win heat 1 in the fastest time of the season. Ed Kennett was moving backwards when the tapes rose. Simon Stead made no mistakes winning heat 2 from the gate and Scott Nicholls followed him home after passing Derek Sneddon down the back straight on the first lap. Charles Wright led heat 3 as far as the pits turn where Chris Harris cut back to pass him on the inside. Josh Bates got himself in a mess at the back on the last lap and just avoided falling before pulling off track. Ben Barker won heat 4 from hard chasing Adam Roynon while Andre Compton resisted a wild manoeuvre from Kyle Howarth on the first lap.

Kyle Howarth trapped ahead in heat 5 but Danny King took the lead out of turn two and pulled out a comfortable lead. Adam Roynon led heat 6 from Simon Stead with Ed Kennett passing Charles Wright on the third lap. Steady barged under his team-mate on the first bend at the start of the last lap for his second win. Ben Barker and Scott Nicholls both passed Chris Harris at the start of heat 7. Craig Cook won heat 8 but all eyes were on the terrific scrap between Start Robson and Andre Compton who passed and re-passed several times before the Diamond's skipper eased clear.

Andre Compton's helmet peak snagged a tape getting him excluded from heat 9. The re-start sees Chris Harris clipping Danny King's rear wheel and mono-wheeling into the fence. The new fence does it's job and Chris is soon on his feet but the front wheel and forks looked very second-hand as the track staff carry his bike to the pits. Ten minutes is all it took to replace a fence panel and it's three riders only for the second re-start. A shower of sparks later and there are just two runners as Steady dropped a chain at the gate and Danny King gratefully accepts the chequered flag for the third time. Ben Barker leads heat 10 from Derek Sneddon with Stuart Robson falling as he attempts to take second place thereby gifting Ed Kennett a point. Lewis Kerr looked a different class when he trapped ahead in heat 11 while Adam Roynon bided his time before diving past team mate Josh Bates at the start of the last lap. The track has really bedded down nicely and the racing is good. Craig Cook leads heat 12 with Scott Nicholls passing Kyle Howarth into the third turn. Kyle strikes back on the inside as they enter lap 2 but Scott is right on his tail and re-takes second place on the last lap.

Heat 13 was fine for Scott, Danny and Adam but not so good for Stuart who coasted to a halt from last place on the second lap. Ed Kennett decided it was time to wake up and he led the way in heat 14. Chris Harris is left trailing the field and almost tested the third bend fence on the first lap. Lewis Kerr passed Ed at the start of the second lap but Ed responded and retook the lead on lap three. At the same time Chris Harris and Kyle Howarth had they're own spectacular match race with Chris making the decisive move on the last lap, a very hard won point. Heat 15 was very quiet by comparison, won by Ashley Morris. Craig Cook leads heat 16 with Steady trailing the field. Simon passes his team mate off the last turn and dives under Ben Barker out of turn two, but Ben wastes no time regaining the place and then pulling clear.

Danny King stamps his authority on heat 17 with a fine win while Ben Barker takes second spot from Charles Wright on the third lap. Scott Nicholls wins heat 18 from Ed and the Tigers reserve pairing. Steady passes Ashley Morris into the lead on the first lap of heat 19. Heat 20 is crunch time for Chris Harris who needs to win to qualify. Second place would leave him equal on points with Ed who beat him in heat 14. Craig Cook leads the way from Adam Roynon and Chris moves into third place on the third turn of the first lap. He catches and passes Adam on the second lap but no-one believes he can do anything about fence scraping Craig. Chris shifted into "Bomber Harris" mode and virtually the whole stadium took a sharp intake of breath as he squeezed through an impossible gap between Craig and the second turn fence. What a way to finish a meeting!

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