On a difficult track James Shanes and Georgie Wood shone in the British Under-21 championship at Ugley on Sunday 14th September. Dunmow were hosting the Championship for the third time since 2008.
From the first race they were the two to catch. Shanes took his first Under-21 title in his usual spectacular style after his runners-up spot last year and he won every heat. Wood took the runners-up spot following his third places in 2011 and 2012 taking second in every race. Defending champion Josh Dingle was also going well until he had to lay his machine down taking avoiding action for a couple of fallen riders. The track looked to catch a number of the youngsters out. After a couple of years with injuries Matt Saul got a creditable third, with James Hartley coming fourth.
In the supporting classes Mark Cossar & Carl Blyth were again winners in the Right hand sidecars. They only had one defeat in the heats, that to Gareth & Billy Winterburn who also went to the final with seventeen points. The Winterburn’s didn't make the start in final but fought their way to third behind their dad Rod Winterburn & Liam Brown. The other crew to make the final with two wins and a second were Paul Whitelam & Kieron Ivy. In the final though they looked to get lost in the dust and finished a lap in arrears.
The 500cc Solos turned out to be a battle between Australian Rodney McDonald and a young Danish Speedway rider Thomas Jorgenson. McDonald went through to the final with two wins, and the Scunthorpe Speedway rider Jorgenson went through undefeated. In his first ever Grasstrack meeting Jorgenson won the final from the gate, McDonald got a second and third went to John Cobbold.
A small entry in the 350cc class went the way of another youngster, Luke Harris. Harris took a maximum of four wins with Brian Cornelius taking second. Third went the way of Ben Leeds.
Yorkshire’s David Knowles who recently finished runner up in the British Championship walked away with the 250s. Four out of four wins saw him beat Ashley Hill into second and Brad Tokley to third.
The uprights were won by Steven Green, competing in his first meeting for a number of years. Second went to Andy Gomm, and third went to Graeme Brown who dropped it on the last bend of the last heat and finished the race pushing home over the line.
Only four Left-hand Sidecars made the event, but Eirwyn & Alex Balman and Dave Briars & Kyle Fish put on a great show for the first two heats with the Balman’s taking both wins. Mechanical gremlins then struck the Balman crew leaving Briars & Fish to win their first meeting in fine style. Equal second ultimately went to Sean Jones & Glyn Saunders and Paul Munnery & Sam Heath. The Balman’s, with only their two wins, took fourth place overall.