A complete Lincolnshire podium. 1st Neave; 2nd Boast; 3rd Pocklington
Tom Neave pulled off a fantastic pass on the last corner to take the win in Grand Final of British Indoor Flattrack Championship at Arena UK on 27th December, after having a great start to day by taking 2 wins and second in his heat races. The only rider to beat Tom during the heats was Scunthorpe's Speedway Ace Ashley Birks who also took two wins in his heat races. Other heat winners were Tom's twin brother Team Suzuki rider Tim, who had two wins, Shorttrack regular riders Glyn Pocklington also on two wins, and the big surprise of the day was Shorttrack's # 1 Ade Collins without a win in his 3 heat races.
Tensions were running high for the start of the 12 lap Grand Final for British Indoor, with Ashley Birks on pole from Birtwistle and Tom Neave on the front row, Doolan, Boast and Pocklington behind the and Collins, Tim Neave, Koppe and Trapmore off the back row.
On the first attempt pole man Ashley Birks and Birtwistle clashed, stopping the race, with Birks put back to the penalty line for the restart. On the first corner of the restart Collins went down, was hit by another rider and took no further part in the final [see the photo of his helmet, below].
Only on the second restart did everyone get around the first corner safely, with Boastie and Birtwistle side by side for first lap, then Birtwistle just edged past Boast to take the lead, with Pocklington third Birks fourth, Tom Neave fifth and Doolan sixth. On lap 3 Birks went down on turn 3 and was out, with no chance of winning after a great performance all day. Tom Neave continued to work his way through the field passing Pocklington and later a great out side line to pass on Boastie.
By lap 10 Tom was putiing pressure on Birtwistle, Boastie was holding 3rd spot from Pocko who in turn was under pressure from Doolan. On the final lap Birtwistle was still leading but going into last corner Tom Neave held it flat out around outside to surprise Birtwistle, who then gave it a big handful of throttle and went down, never making it to the chequered flag, as Tom bounced off the fence to take the win. Boastie took second spot and Pockington took the final podium spot.
Final Results
1st # 68 Tom Neave...............450 TCR Honda
2nd # 54 Peter Boast................450 Team Suzuki
3rd # 71 Glyn Pocklington.........525 Kinrade KTM
4th # 14 Tim Neave...................450 Team Suzuki
5th # 42 Kevin Doolan...............450 KTM
6th # 62 Damien Koppe.............450 Homan Yamaha
7th # 20 Darren Trapmore..........450 TCR KTM
8th # 30 Alan Birtwistle..............450 Honda
9th # 16 Ashley Birks.................450 Truelove Honda
10th # 1 Aidan Collins................450 HRC Honda
The next indoor Shorttrack meeting is on 23rd of February - England V Rest of the World at 1pm and The International Shorttrack Arena Championship at 6.30pm. www.shorttrackuk.com
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2 comments:
how is the guy that was wearing the mashed helmet?
It was multiple UK champ, Ade Collins in the smashed lid. He texted me the photo, so I assume the helmet did it's job (but it won't be doing it again). G
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