Mark Cossar and Carl Blyth were duly crowned Master of Manchester at the National Speedway Stadium at Belle Vue on Saturday night – but a former arch rival re-emerged to share the headlines.
Cossar raced through the card unbeaten to add the title to the British Sidecar Speedway crown he regained at Somerset Speedway last month.
However, it was arguably the reappearance from retirement of Matt Tyrrell that was the talking point of a fast and furious night’s racing.
There was a time when Tyrrell and Cossar seemed to trade the sidecar speedway British title, before the former walked away from the sport some five years ago.
However, with champion passenger Liam Brown to assist him, the Cornishman dug out the old three-wheeler and made the long journey north from Cornwall to lay down the strongest of challenges to Cossar’s dominance of the shale.
Mick Cave & Bradley Steer were hot on the heels of the leading two all evening, while Tom Cossar produced probably his best showing on the shale yet.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for Paul Whitelam & Alan Elliott. Deposed by Cossar from their champion’s throne last month, the duo suffered more of the mechanical woes which have blighted their season on both shale and grass, coming to a stop in their opening heat with trouble which again proved terminal and forced them from the action. Passenger Elliott was due to retire from racing after this meeting, so this was a sad way to exit.
No such problems for Cossar or Tyrrell who breezed through the preliminaries unbeaten having not met and they progressed straight to the A final along with Tom Cossar.
It meant Cave had to contest the B Final where only the winner would progress, but he found sufficient speed to hold off Will Penfold & Ricky Pay, Andy Cossar & Gareth Williams and Neville Penfold & Kevin Jones.
The final held few surprises with Cossar again proving too quick for the rest to complete his 100 per cent record on the night, but Tyrrell was best of the rest to leave fans hoping he might make his return a permanent one and add spice to the 2020 British Championships.
Scorers: M.Cossar & C.Blyth 15, M.Tyrrell & L.Brown 14, M.Cave & B.Steer 13, T.Cossar & W.Rikards 11, W.Penfold & R.Pay 10, A.Cossar & G.Williams 9, N.Penfold & K.Jones 9, C.Blondell & R.Webb 4, R.Wilson & T.Saunters 4, S.Beaney & G.Bemister 3, J.Penfold & K.Ivy 3, M.Stace & R.Knowles 3, P.Wynn & A.Cowper-Smith 3, J.Mogg & J.Smith 3, B.Winterburn & R.Wharton 3, S.Maitland & T.Madley 1, P.Whitelam & A.Elliott 0.
Report: with thanks to HAYLEY BROMLEY Via the Speedway Star