Heathersfield Golden Helmet 2010

Greg Blair receives the 2010 Golden Helmet from 2007 & 2009 winner Gary Beaton.


A decent enough meeting all told, given the grubby weather and overall feeling of winding down at the end of another disappointing season. Gary Irving and Patrick Tarp were the top men over the heats, with the slow starting Greg Blair and James McBain making the last four via the semi-final. Blair roared out of the gate in the final with Irving never really getting close to him and James McBain trailing in third. Tarp's bike failed on the 1st bend. Congratulations to Greg, who knuckled down after a poor start and scored the points when it counted.

Special mentions go to Steven Morris, who looks faster than ever and maybe just needs to get his starts nailed. Sixteen year old Rachel Hellowell also rode pretty well, considering she didn't look entirely at home in the condidtions, as well as having some mechanical gremlins. Her race with Steven Morris for a few laps in heat 10 showed what she's capable of. Dale Lamb took a few races to get going in what looks to be a gentle easing back into the sport after a horrible pelvic injury last year.

Glasgow's first signing for 2011......??

Patrick Tarp

John MacPhaill loses it out of the 4th bend. He was a little sore, but needed no hospital treatment.

Dale Lamb, with Stephen Morris chasing in the background

Dale Lamb, Rachel Hellowell and Gary Irving

James McBain

Dale Lamb

Gary Irving

Stephen Morris

Greg Blair

Greg Blair & John MacPhail after a small get off.
Adam Kenyon, in the process of dropping it at the 3rd bend

Eventual winner Greg Blair during the parade.

Heathersfield Gold Helmet

This years Junior extravaganza takes place this weekend. Yes! A whole two weeks before the end of October!! Just think, we might even get some decent weather for it.........

Then again, we might not......

This year the competition will be missing Gary Beaton, who sadly broke his back some weeks back. He's up and about wearing a brace, but it does look to all intents and purposes like he's chucking it for good. Still, the phrase "Never say never" was invented for speedway riders, so we'll just leave it at that for now.... ;)

The line-up so far seems to be:

Greg Blair
James Cartmell
Tom Hill
Gary Irving
Adam Kenyon
Dale Lamb
James McBain
John MacPhail
Steven Morris
Patrick Tarp
Steve Worrall
Adam Wrathall

An excellent and detailed run-down of the riders can be found at the Unofficial Glasgow Speedway site.

This is, of course, minus the four American touring riders being talked about last weekend. Would be good to see them, but even if they don't materialise, that's still a fairly strong field of National League standard riders, with a sprinkling of amateurs to add interest further down the field. Watch out for Dane Patrick Tarp, who visited with Team Viking last season. I've a wee feeling he'll go quite well.

So, get yr erses along, it's only a tenner in (12-15 yrs - £7, Concessions - £4)

See y'all inside!

Junior Snowball Round 5

Gary Beaton 2009 Junior Snowball Tournament Champion.



Gary Beaton took the Snowball Championship in a somewhat depleted field. There was no Robert McNeil, and Johnny Grey had to pull out due to injury. James McBain could, in theory, have taken the title, but that went out the window when he crashed on the 1st bend of the 1st heat before withdrawing. Not sure if it was a wrecked bike or an injury, but best of luck to him next week in the Heathersfiled meeting. Cal McDade bashed it out with Gary Beaton for the top score honours, with Jimmy Culbert & Stephen Morris taking seven and six respectively. Phil Learmonth brought up the rear with 1 point from 3 rides.



Overall, the Snowball has been a success and only injury to various riders prevented the last round from being a spectacle. Look forward to it's return next year and seeing the same faces and a few new ones too.

Stephen Morris.

Cal McDade makes a fine return after some time out of the sport.

Phil Learmonth loses it on the 3rd bend

Phil Learmonth

Jimmy Culbert

Junior Snowball Round 3: Heat 1

Nick Morris runs out of track on the the 4th bend during the Junior Snowball tourney. Race won by Robert McNeil, Johny Grey 2nd and Phil Learmonth 3rd.

A speedy recovery goes out to Robert McNeil who had a nasty crash in heat 6. He pushed his bike across the line for a point, but was obviously in agony. The damage doesn't seem to have been has bad as it looked though, but he was detained overnight in hospital.

On an even more serious note, it would seem Dale Lamb suffered a horrible injury at Berwick, in which he suffered leg and pelvic injuries. Best wishes to the lad and hope to see him again at the start of next season.

Scorercard for Sunday's round of the Snowball Tournament can be found at the Unofficial Glasgow Speedway website. Robert McNeil info also courtesy of same.

Junior Snowball Round 3

Johnny Grey & Gary Beaton

Johny Grey, Jimmy Culbert & Stephen Morris

Round 3 winner Johnny Grey.

Robert McNeil leads James McBain

Series leader Robert McNeil

Robert McNeil challenges James McBain at the 1st bend

Nick Morris's bike after his spectacular off.

Jimmy Culbert leads Stephen Morris

James McBain

Heathersfield Open

Last years final.

Hello!


Just a little bit of a trailer for the up-coming Heathersfield Open meeting on Wednesday 2nd of July. There look to be some tasty battles ahead in this one, with defending champion Gary Beaton coming up against some fairly tough competition. With a little luck, it will be well attended. Last years meeting had a bit of a grim feel to it, being at the tail end of the season and held in fairly nasty conditions. With some luck, a nice night and the promise of a break from the PL grind should bring out a decent crowd. So, to this years line-up.


Gary Beaton captains the Redcar Cubs in the Conference League and is probably the most experienced rider in the field around Ashfield. He has also made a few fairly impressive guest and No8 appearances for the Tigers, but has yet to make the breakthrough to Premier League level.


Adam McKinna, who started the season with Berwick Bandits, will be out to go one better than last year, as well as looking to put himself in the running for another PL team place, after some rather interesting guest performances over the past month or so.


American touring rider Shaun Harmatuik will also be desperate to show well and maybe convince a prospective club that he's worth a gamble, in spite of being handicapped by his 7 point assessed average. On last Sunday's 2nd half showing, he's very quick and will doubtless be in the mix for the final.


Mitchell Davey probably has the most to prove, having had a nightmare start to his British speedway career with Glasgow Tigers. He seems to have adjusted to things now and ironed out various machinery problems. A run out against the likes of Beaton, McKinna and Harmatuik will possibly allow him to assess his progress and move on from there.


Others to watch for will be Ben Hopwood, who currently rides for Plymouth Devils in the Conference League and will undoubtedly be very competitive, John McPhail who has ridden briefly at PL level for Berwick, as well as Glasgow Giants Academy League team and James McBain who reached the final of last years meeting and has been looking pretty good in the 2nd half races I've seen him in at Ashfield. He has also been named as Tigers No8 on various occassions.


The rest of the field are: Mark White, Keiron Morris, Gary Irving, David Haigh and Johnny Grey. I will admit I'm less familiar with these lads, so if anyone has any info on them, feel free to pass it on in the comments section or via email (ewenic@gmail.com) and I'll add it to the post.

Some shots from last years meeting