RCF

Saturday 12th of October at 12 o'clock will see Redcar Speedway host the Northern Junior League 4 Team Tournament with a twist, each team will be made up of 2 500cc riders and 2 125cc riders. followed by the final rounds of the Northern Open Championship and Northern 125 Championship. The teams competing will be Redcar Cubs, Workington Meteors, Berwick Border Raiders, Newcastle Gems, Northside Stars, Castleford Kings and the track return of Barrow Bombers and Linlithgow Lightening. This will be a chance to see 32 of the best young riders in the North including home favourite Dan Phillips, National league star Matt Williamson, British 125 Bronze medallist Leon Flint and Multi British 125 champion Kyle Bickley. Also in attendance will be the popular prototype F2 speedway bikes for some demonstration races. In total the day will have 50 Heats of speedway followed by an awards presentation in the track bar afterwards, all this is totally free for everyone to come and enjoy.

Unfortunately I didn't get full reports from them rounds only final scores

Northern 125 Championship round 4 @ Redcar 12/10/13 Sam Stead 1,2 = 3 Ryan Morris 0, X = 0 Kyle Bickley 3, 3, F – EF = 6 Harry McGurk 2, 2 = 4 William O’Keefe 1, 0 = 1 Joe Thompson 2, 2 = 4 Luke McKenna 0, 1 = 1 Leon Flint 3, 3, F – 3 = 9 Lewis Winthrop 0, 1 = 1 Dean Douglas 1, X = 1 James Hitchen 3, 2, F – 0 = 5 Lloyd Ditchburn 2, 1 = 3 Kieran Douglas 3, 3, F – 2 = 8 Dan Thompson 2, 3, F – 1 = 6 Jack Wright 0, X = 0 Archie Freeman 1, 0 = 1 Heat 1 Bickley, McGurk, Stead, Morris Heat 3 Flint, J Thompson, O’Keefe, McKenna Heat 5 Hitchen, Ditchburn, D Douglas, Winthrop (F) Heat 7 K Douglas, D Thompson, Freeman, Wright Heat 9 K Douglas, Stead, Winthrop, O’Keefe Heat 11 D Thompson, J Thompson, D Douglas (X), Morris (X) Heat 13 Bickley, Hitchen, McKenna, Wright (X) Heat 15 Flint, McGurk, Ditchburn, Freeman Final Flint, K Douglas, D Thompson, Hitchen, Bickley (EF) (5 Man Final) The final round of the championship had to be cut short due to a lengthy delay in the senior championship so each rider only got 2 qualifying rides rather than their programmed 3, with Dan Thompson and James Hitchen tied on 5 a piece it was decided a 5 man final was the fairest way to go. Leon Flint led from start to finish for his 2nd round win of the season which secured him 2nd in the overall championship, series winner Bickley was in second on the second lap when his bike packed up leaving series bronze medallist Kieran Douglas to take silver on the day. The 3 of them have been dominant all season and deserve a lot of credit.

NJL 4TT 12/10/13 @ Redcar Final Linlithgow – Sam Stead 6, Jamie Halder 2, Shaun Wilson 1, John MacPhail 0 Workington – Ryan MacDonald 6, Tommy Fenwick 5, Lewis Winthrop 5, Jack Wright 1 Newcastle – Matt Williamson 5, William O’Keefe 3, Josh Embleton 1, Archie Freeman 1 Castleford – Kieran Douglas 5, Krys Bialecki 3, Kevin Keay 3, Luke McKenna 1 Heat 17 Williamson, Fenwick, Bialecki, MacPhail 0-2-3-1=0-2-3-1 Heat 18 Stead, Douglas, Freeman, Wright 3-0-1-2=3-2-4-3 Heat 19 MacDonald, Keay, Embleton, Wilson (Puncture) 0-3-1-2=3-5-5-5 Heat 20 Winthrop, Halder, O’Keefe, McKenna 2-3-1-0=5-8-6-5 Heat 21 MacDonald, Williamson, Keay, MacPhail 0-3-2-1=5-11-8-6 Heat 22 Stead, Winthrop, McKenna, Freeman 3-2-0-1=8-13-8-7 Heat 23 Fenwick, Bialecki, Wilson, Embleton 1-3-0-2=9-16-8-9 Heat 24 Douglas, O’Keefe, Wright, Halder (EF) 0-1-2-3=9-17-10-12 In the eventful final it was Workington that took the title in style by the end, after only scraping through the group stage the team clicked, the highlight been MacDonald being the first man to beat the very fast Williamson in heat 21, but it was a full team effort and a well-deserved victory. Castleford continued their strong team work to come in second with Newcastle third. Linlithgow can feel a bit hard done by with 2 EF’s when in good positions. It will be Craig Branneys Meteors to be the first team engraved on this particular bit of silverware though

NJL 4TT 12/10/13 @ Redcar Group 2 Workington Meteors – Tommy Fenwick 4, Lewis Winthrop 3, Ryan MacDonald 2, Jack Wright 2 Northside Stars - Glyn Picken 4, James Hitchen 3, Luke Ruddick 1, Kyle Bickley 0 Newcastle Gems – Matt Williamson 6, William O’Keefe 5, Archie Freeman 4, Josh Embleton 2 Barrow Bombers – Rob Shuttleworth 3, Harry McGurk 3, Lloyd Ditchburn 3, Kyle Deans 1 Heat 2 Williamson, Fenwick, Shuttleworth (F), Ruddick 2-0-3-0=2-0-3-0 Heat 4 Freeman, Wright, McGurk (F), Bickley (EF) 2-0-3-0=4-0-6-0 Heat 6 Picken, Embleton, Deans, MacDonald (F) 0-3-2-1=4-3-8-1 Heat 8 O’Keefe, Winthrop, Ditchburn, Hitchen 2-0-3-1=6-3-11-2 Heat 10 Williamson, Fenwick, Picken, Deans 2-1-3-0=8-4-14-2 Heat 12 Hitchen, Ditchburn, Freeman, Wright 0-3-1-2=8-7-15-4 Heat 14 Shuttleworth, MacDonald, Ruddick, Embleton 2-1-0-3=10-8-15-7 Heat 16 McGurk, O’Keefe, Winthrop, Bickley (EF) 1-0-2-3=11-8-17-10 This was a much tighter group, with Newcastle running away with it, it looked like a straight fight between Workington and Northside for the final spot, however with 3 heats left Barrow pulled themselves together and missed qualification by 1 point, early falls from Shuttleworth and McGurk costing them. Northside were also unlucky with mechanical gremlins hitting both Ruddick and Bickley. So the Meteors scrapped through to the final

NJL 4TT 12/10/13 @ Redcar Group 1 Redcar Cubs – Joe Thompson 4, Ben Basford 2, Dan Thompson 1, Kev Whelan 0 Linlithgow Lightning – Shaun Wilson 6, Jamie Halder 6, Sam Stead 5, John MacPhail 1 Castleford Kings – Krys Bialecki 4, Kevin Keay 4, Kieran Douglas 3, Luke McKenna 2 Berwick Border Raiders – James McBain 6, Leon Flint 3, Stefan Farnaby 1, Ryan Morris 0 Heat 1 McBain, Bailecki, MacPhail, Whelan (Fell), 0-1-2-3=0-1-2-3 Heat 3 Flint, Stead, Douglas, D Thompson (Fell) 0-2-1-3=0-3-3-6 Heat 5 Wilson (T, 15m), Keay, Basford, Farnaby (EF) 1-3-2-0=1-6-5-6 Heat 7 Halder, J Thompson, McKenna, Morris 2-3-1-0=3-9-6-6 Heat 9 Wilson, Bialecki, Farnaby, Whelan (EF) 0-3-2-1=3-12-8-7 Heat 11 Halder, Douglas, D Thompson, Morris 1-3-2-0=4-15-10-7 Heat 13 McBain, Keay, Basford, MacPhail 1-0-2-3=5-15-12-10 Heat 15 Stead, J Thompson, McKenna, Flint (FX) 2-3-1-0=7-18-13-10 A tough match in group one with the home team getting no luck at all, with 4 falls while in good point’s positions plus a thrown chain for Kev Whelan it really wasn’t there day. Linlithgow dominated the group, the highlight been when Wilson touched the tapes in heat 5 and went from 15, before lap 1 was over he was in the lead. Castleford plugged away with a great team performance, no wins but more importantly no lasts meaning they made the final. Berwick could count themselves very unlucky with Leon Flint leading the last race which would have seen them through, he hit hole going into turn three ending with a nasty fall.

All riders and teams confirmed for Saturday's NJL 4TT, this event is free for the public to come and enjoy 50 heats of action, there will be a collection at the gate which will be split between Redcar's air fence fund and Ricky Ashworth. We're getting some good publicity but please help spread the word and get as many people there as possible, the bar will be open as normal and a burger van too. T...he Line up is Group 1 Redcar Cubs 1. Daniel Phillips 2. Ben Basford 3. Dan Thompson 4. Joe Thompson Linlithgow Lightning 1. John Macphail 2. Shaun Wilson 3. Sam Stead 4. Jamie Halder Castleford Kings 1. Krystian Bialecki 2. Kevin Keay 3. Kieran Douglas 4. Luke McKenna Berwick Border Raiders 1. James McBain 2. Stefan Farnaby 3. Leon Flint 4. Ryan Morris Group 2 Workington Meteors 1. Tommy Fenwick 2. Ryan MacDonald 3. Jack Wright 4. Lewis Winthrop Northside Stars 1. Luke Ruddick 2. Glyn Picken 3. Kyle Bickley 4. James Hitchen Newcastle Gems 1. Matt Williamson 2. Josh Embleton 3. Archie Freeman 4. William O'Keefe Barrow Bombers 1. Rob Shuttleworth 2. Kyle Deans 3. Harry McGurk 4. Lloyd Ditchburn Following the 24 heat 4TT will be 2 individual competitions, 1 for 500's, 1 for 125's. These are the last rounds of the Northern Open and Northern 125 championships which have been running over the course of the season, the currant standings will be posted shortly. Each will be 13 heats so a great afternoons entertainment for free, first race starts at 12 noon

6/10/13 NJL Newcastle 15 – John MacPhail 7+1 (3), Dan Phillips 7+1 (3), Josh Embleton 1 (2) Berwick 9 – Rob Shuttleworth 8 (4), Kyle Deans 1+1 (4), Stefan Farnaby DNR Heat 1 Phillips, Shuttleworth, Embleton, Deans 4-2 4-2 Heat 2 MacPhail, Shuttleworth, Deans, Embleton 3-3 7-5 Heat 3 Shuttleworth, Phillips, MacPhail, Deans 3-3 10-8 Heat 4 MacPhail, Phillips, Shuttleworth, Deans 5-1 15-9

Workington v Northside 29/09/13 NJL Workington 20 – Tommy Fenwick 11+1 (4), Ryan MacDonald 9+3 (4), 2 Riders Only Northside 4 – Rob Shuttleworth 3 (3), Kevin Keay 1 (2), Ben Basford 0 (3) Heat 1 Fenwick, MacDonald, Shuttleworth, Keay 5-1 5-1 Heat 2 Fenwick, MacDonald, Keay, Basford 5-1 10-2 Heat 3 Fenwick, MacDonald, Shuttleworth, Basford 5-1 15-3 Heat 4 MacDonald, Fenwick, Shuttleworth, Basford 5-1 20-4

Northside v Berwick 28/09/13 NJL Northside 13 – Rob Shuttleworth 7+1 (3), Kevin Whelan 6+1 (3), Ryan MacDonald 0 (2) Berwick 10 – Tommy Fenwick 8 (3), Kyle Deans 2 (3), Stefan Farnaby 0 (1) Heat 1 Shuttleworth, Fenwick, Macdonald (Fell R), Farnaby ® 3-2 3-2 Heat 2 Shuttleworth, Whelan, Deans, Farnaby ™ 5-1 8-3 Heat 3 Fenwick, Whelan, Deans, MacDonald 2-4 10-7 Heat 4 Fenwick, Whelan, Shuttleworth (F Remounted), Deans 3-3 13-10

Just arranged this last couple of days are Northside v Berwick at midday Saturday 28th September and Workington v Northside Saturday 28th evening, the Northside v Redcar match is October the 26th (originally the date for NOC final rounds) and we are just working on the Newcastle v Berwick date now we have play off dates to use

NJL ‘Northside Training Track’ Cup Final Berwick Border Raiders v Redcar Cubs 21/09/13 Berwick 19 – Ryan MacDonald 8+1 (3), Stefan Farnaby 5+2 (3), James McBain 6 (2) Redcar 5 – Kevin Keay 3 (3), Dan Phillips 2 (2), Ben Basford 0 (3) Heat 1 McBain, Farnaby, Keay, Basford 5-1 5-1 Heat 2 McBain, MacDonald, Keay, Phillips (FX) 5-1 10-2 Heat 3 MacDonald, Farnaby, Keay, Basford 5-1 15-3 Heat 4 MacDonald, Phillips, Farnaby, Basford 4-2 19-5 The NJL ‘Northside Training Track’ cup final was a runaway victory for the home team who scored 5-1’s in the first 3 races. The Cubs had some bad luck in the first heat with Phillips getting the better of McBain round the first bend only for a collision entering turn 3, the ref couldn’t decide who was at fault and, in the spirit of the competition, all 4 were invited back for the rerun. Phillips’s bike was in need of some serious work, so Basford was sent out in his place. Heat 2 saw Phillips chasing McBain for 3 laps before giving it a bit too much and coming off again on turn 1, this caused more damage and resulted in Keay taking his ride in heat 3. Keay rode well all night but just couldn’t get in front of Farnaby, the Berwick Captain kept his head to register his best score of the season. With McBain sitting out Heat 4 it looked like it would be a straight forward win for Phillips, but MacDonald rode a blinding first bend to get in front then steadily pull a lead out to complete his second paid max of the year, Phillips came in 2nd to prevent the white wash. Even without the Cubs bad luck the Border Raiders were deserved winners of the inaugural competition Mod Note: WILL YOU PLEASE REMEMBER TO PUT DATES IN HEADINGS ITS GETTING VERY TEDIOUS HAVING TO EDIT ALL THE POSTS

Newcastle Gems – 11 1. Luke Ruddick 3 3 2 TM = 8 2. Josh Embleton 2* 0 0 1 = 3+1 3. Rob Shuttleworth DNR Redcar Cubs – 12 1. Dan Phillips FX 3 3 = 6 2. Ben Basford FX 1* = 1+1 3. Kev Keay 2 1 2* = 5+1 Heat 1 Ruddick, Embleton, Basford (FX), Phillips (FX) 5-0 5-0 Heat 2 Ruddick, Keay, Basford, Embleton 3-3 8-3 Heat 3 Phillips, Ruddick, Keay, Embleton 2-4 10-7 Heat 4 Phillips, Keay, Embleton, Ruddick ™ Re Run 1-5 11-12 With the non-arrival of Rob Shuttleworth the Gems looked like they may be up against it but with an uncharacteristic slide off from Dan Phillips while winning heat one the home team took their chance, they looked like getting an easy 4-2 until inexperienced Basford fell on the 3rd lap meaning an awarded 5-0 for them. The Impressive Ruddick took his second win in heat 2 for a 3-3. Phillips was back to normal service in heat 3 getting the better of Ruddick with Keay slotting in 3rd setting up a last heat decider. It was an even start with Phillips just getting over Ruddick into the bend, this caused Ruddick to lose control and go straight across the corner collecting Keay on his way. After a short bit of medical attention both riders were fit for the re run, however Ruddick’s bike was a write off so missed the 2 minutes leaving Embleton to try and beat one of his more experienced opponents to salvage a home win, it was a little too much to ask of him on his debut though and the Cubs did what was needed for the win. Embleton is the 7th young northerner to make his racing debut this season and looks a good enough prospect for the Gems to build their team around in the future.

The rider line up is now confirmed for round 5 of the Northern Open Championship at Glasgow on Sunday the 8th of September. Daniel Phillips, Robert Shuttleworth, James McBain, Ryan MacDonald, Luke Ruddick, Stefan Farnaby, Kevin Keay and Ben Basford. Dan only needs 4 points to become champion but Robert, James, Ryan, Kevin and Luke are within 5 points of each other in contention for the silver and bronze.

Northern Open Championship Round 5 1. Rob Shuttleworth 2, 2, 1=5 2. Kev Keay 1, 0, 0=1 3. James Culbert 0, 1, 0=1 4. Luke Ruddick 3, 1, 2, 0=6 5. Dan Phillips 2, 3, 3, 2=10 6. Ryan MacDonald 1, 2, 2, 1=6 7. Ben Basford 0, 0, 1=1 8. James McBain 3, 3, 3, 3=12 Heat 1 Ruddick, Shuttleworth, Keay, Culbert Heat 2 McBain, Phillips, MacDonald (Tapes, 15 metres), Basford (Fell X) Heat 3 McBain, MacDonald, Ruddick, Keay Heat 4 Phillips, Shuttleworth, Culbert, Basford Heat 5 Phillips, MacDonald, Shuttleworth, Keay Heat 6 McBain, Ruddick, Basford, Culbert Final McBain, Phillips, MacDonald, Ruddick James McBain was easily the star man on show with his 2nd round win of this season, never been troubled at front, if it hadn’t been for injuries over the season Dan Phillips would certainly have had a tougher battle on his hands at the top, as it is though Dan went into the penultimate round only needing 4 points to secure the title which he wrapped up in his second ride. The battle is still on for the other medal positions however, McBain has now lifted himself into second but the next 5 riders below him are all capable of catching him making for an exciting round scheduled for Northside in October. All 8 riders on the night put a good show on for the healthy crowd that stayed to watch. Shuttleworth was unlucky to miss out on the final as he was leading heat 1 until the last lap when he clipped the fence and let Ruddick through for the win, these two and MacDonald where all setting a good pace and had some good races over the match. Dan Phillips 8 7 11 12 10 =48 James McBain 12 12= 24 Rob Shuttleworth 7 3 7 5 =22 Luke Ruddick 2 7 4 6= 19 Ryan MacDonald 4 8 6= 18 Kev Keay 2 5 5 1 = 13 Liam Carr 12 = 12 Luke Crang 10 = 10 Tommy Fenwick 4 6 = 10 James Culbert 2 1= 3 Sam Darroch 1= 1 Ben Basford 1= 1 John MacPhail 0= 0 Alex Wilson 0 = 0 Tamas Sike (W/C) 12 = 12 Hayden Sims (W/C) 7= 7

Unfortunately due to a lengthy delay due to fence damage at Brough on Sunday night, the scheduled NJL match had to be postponed, hopefully a new date will be found before the season ends

Redcar Cubs 14 – Dan Phillips 9 (3), Kev Keay 3 (2), Ben Basford 2 (3) Newcastle Gems 10 – Luke Ruddick 5+1 (3), Rob Shuttleworth 4 (3), Stefan Farnaby 1+1 (2) Heat 1 Phillips, Shuttleworth, Farnaby, Keay (Fell), 57.3 3-3, 3-3 Heat 2 Keay, Ruddick, Basford, Farnaby (Fell) (Rerun, Ruddick touched tapes, 15 metres), 64.6 4-2, 7-5 Heat 3 Phillips, Shuttleworth, Ruddick, Basford (Fell) Rerun. 57.2, 3-3, 10-8 Heat 4 Phillips, Ruddick, Basford, Shuttleworth (Fell) 4-2, 14-10 As far as junior league racing goes this was a match at its very best, one young man knocking on the door of national league in Dan Phillips showed once again why he’s been getting a lot of interest by taking his 8th max out of 11 matches this NJL season. Rob Shuttleworth, still in his first season continued his rapid progress and didn’t let Dan pull away from him in there heats, he was pushing hard in heat 4 when he over slid into bend 3 lap 2 and took a fall. Luke Ruddick and Stefan Farnaby, another 2 still in their first season also had some good races, Luke touched the tapes in heat 2 and was put off 15 metres, this left veteran Cub Kev Keay, who had done a spectacular flip in heat 1, to make a blinding start and lead from start to finish for his first win of the season much to the delight of the large crowd that stayed to watch, Farnaby kept him under pressure for 3 laps though and while trying an outside pass just lost his back end, great effort though. The most pleasing thing of the night though was 15 year old Ben Basford making his home debut and picking up a couple of useful points. Ben hadn’t sat on a bike until a couple of months ago when he tried a hire bike at the Redcar training days and has picked it up fast since getting his own last month, a great advert for the youth schemes going on in the north at the moment. The win for the Cubs puts them joint top of the table with Workington with only a few matches left to go so after winning it 3 years ago and losing out on point’s difference to Edinburgh for the last 2 years it’s looking good again for them. Newcastle remain at the foot of the table but there first season back has been well worthwhile by the extra rides they have provided for the riders plus this Sundays match v Berwick will see one of their own youngsters progress into the team from there popular training days.

The Newcastle v Redcar on the 11/08/13 match had to be cancelled due to a problems at Brough park so has been rearranged for the 15/09/13, Newcastle v Workington went ahead as scheduled but you already have the heat details above before I returned from holiday, The Northern Open Championship round 2 at Newcastle took place as planned on Sunday the 26th of May. Redcar v Newcastle originally on the 25 July had to be postponed due to a lack of available riders for that date and will now take place tonight (29/08/13). As already explained the Redcar round of the Northern Open Championship lost its date when the PL team were racing elsewhere so with no others dates available it was decided with the riders that the Riders Championship would double as a one of match for that title but the points would count towards the NOC totals. All of this has in the past been posted on speedwaygb, facebook and printed in the speedway star, I have recently been trying my best to post them on this site but I can only post when I get sent the reports myself, and as with me the other managers in the league are all very busy trying there best to help train there riders and spend hours at a time on the phone organising teams and dates for matches in an effort to bring on the small pool of riders we have. I don't try to hide anything but there is far more to the speedway world than this site alone!

Round 3 of the Northern 125 championship at Redcar last Thursday was won again by series leader Kyle Bickley with an unbeaten 12 points for his progressive total. Second place went to Kieran Douglas with 11 and third was James Hitchen on 5. Ryan Morris got 4 making his first final and Archie Freeman took 4 too for his best score to date. William O’Keefe scored 4 on his series debut. Jack Wright and Kieran Taylor failed to score on the night but, as the series was intended, the scores were only half the story as all 8 riders showed good progress and improvement from getting competitive racing under their belts at different venues across the north. Series standings after 3 rounds 1. Kyle Bikley 31 2. Kieran Douglas 24 3. Leon Flint 18 4. James Hitchen 10 5. Ryan Morris 9 6. Archie Freeman 8 7. Lewis Winthrop 6 8. William O’Keefe 4 9. Jack Wright 1 9. James Halder 1 11. Kieran Taylor 0 So far we haven’t got a date set for the Workington round but work is going on to try and have one before the end of the season and the final round at Northside in October.

Round 3 of the Northern 125 Championship is being held at Redcar on Thursday the 22nd of August. Confirmed riders are Kyle Bickley, Kieran Douglas, James Hitchen, Archie Freeman, Jack Wright, and Ryan Morris. 2 places are still available, if anyone is interested please get in touch with Jamie Swales at jimbobswales@googlemail.com or via the Northern Junior League Facebook page

Berwick Border Raiders 9 - James McBain 6 (2), Luke Ruddick 3 (2), Stefan Farnaby 0 (2) Newcastle Cubs 9 - Ryan MacDonald 4+1 (2), Dan Phillips 4 (2), Kyle Deans 1 (2) Heat 1 McBain, Phillips, MacDonald, Farnaby (Fell) 3-3 3-3 Heat 2 McBain, Phillips, Ruddick, Deans 4-2 7-5 Heat 3 MacDonald, Ruddick, Deans, Farnaby 2-4 9-9 Heat 4 Abandoned due to rain, result stands

The Line up for this match is now complete with Kieran Taylor and William O'Keefe coming in. good luck to all involved

Northern Open Championship update Dates - Work 27/4, New 26/5, Edin 7/6, Red 8/8, Glas 8/9, North 29/10 = Total 1.Dan Phillips 8, 7, 11, 12 = 38 2.Rob Shuttleworth X, 7, 3, 7 = 17... 3.Luke Ruddick 2, X, 7, 4 = 13 4.Liam Carr X, 12, X, X = 12 4.James McBain X, X, 12, X = 12 6.Kev Keay X, 2, 5, 5 = 12 6.Ryan MacDonald 4, X, X, 8 = 12 8.Luke Crang 10, X, X, X = 10 8.Tommy Fenwick 4, X, X, 6 = 10 10.James Culbert X, X, 2, X = 2 11.Sam Darroch X, X, X, 1 = 1 12.John MacPhail X, 0, X, X = 0 13.Alex Wilson X, 0, X, X = 0 Tamas Sike (W/C) 12, X, X, X = 12 Hayden Sims (W/C) X, 7, X, X = 7 After the Redcar round had to be cancelled due to a fixture change it was decided with the riders that the NJLRC being held there would also count towards the series total. For the heat details of the round check my last post with the NJLRC report. As for the series following Dan Phillips round win he now has a commanding lead over the rest and only needs 6 more points (taking into account only 5 best rounds will count) from the last 2 rounds to secure the title, but it’s the battle for 2nd and 3rd that’s getting really interesting with 8 riders all within 7 points of each other. The next round will be at Glasgow on the 8th of September and bookings are being taken nowSee More

This was the one off NJLRC which was planned from the start of the season as our show piece event same as the previous seasons with the winner on the night taking the title. however the Northern Open Championship round which was due to take place at Redcar a few weeks earlier had to be cancelled when a fixture change meant the Bears no longer had a fixture on the planned date. With league fixtures for the cubs still to fit in and limited dates now available we agreed with the riders involved that the NJLRC would also count towards their the NOC progressive scores. I'll be posting an NOC update soon with 2 rounds of the completion still to race for.

The 2013 ‘Darrian Properties’ Northern Junior League Riders Championship took place at Redcar on Thursday the 8th of August, in a 7 heat second half event with all 5 teams being represented. It was a great show for the large crowd that stayed behind to watch it. Unfortunately, Glyn Picken (Northside), blew his engine up before the meeting so couldn’t take his rides. Sam Darroch (Newcastle), came in as a replacement for Liam Carr, who withdrew earlier in the week and showed some great progress. Tommy Fenwick (Workington) wasn’t at his best due to bike problems, but still needed to be fast to keep the hard pushing Rob Shuttleworth (Northside) behind him in heat 5. Rob tried some really spectacular moves over the full race that made a mockery of his limited experience. He’d already pulled of a great outside pass on Luke Ruddick (Berwick) in the previous race. This was Luke’s first match after coming back from his second broken collar bone this year, but it wasn’t noticeable, with him beating the fast Ryan MacDonald (Workington) in their opening heat. Home rider Dan Phillips was always favourite to take the title, as he went into the match top of the averages, and he didn’t disappoint although he didn’t have it all his own way and was made to fight for it. Heat 4 saw Fenwick leading for a couple of laps before Phillips could pull of his now trade mark inside pass on bend 3, but his best race was in the final itself. Alongside Dan was Shuttleworth, MacDonald and, with Fenwick withdrawing due to engine problems, it opened the way for Kevin Keay (Redcar) to scrape in having ridden consistently well in his heats. It was MacDonald that emerged from the first bend with the lead from Phillips, and for two laps brilliantly held off the challenges of the home man. But Dan wasn’t going to be denied the title he missed out on last season, and pulled of a superbly controlled outside pass round the pit bend banking to take the trophy. 1. Tommy Fenwick 1 , 2, 3= 6 2. Glyn Picken DNR 3. Dan Phillips 3 , 3 , 3= 9 4. Kevin Keay 2 , 2 , 1 = 5 5. Rob Shuttleworth 3 , 1 , 2 = 6 6. Ryan MacDonald 1 , 3 , 1 = 5 7. Luke Ruddick 2 , 0 , 2 = 4 8. Sam Darroch 0 , 1, 0 = 1 Heat 1 Dan Phillips, Kevin Keay, Tommy Fenwick Heat 2 Rob Shuttleworth, Luke Ruddick, Ryan MacDonald, Sam Darroch Heat 3 Ryan MacDonald, Kevin Keay, Sam Darroch Heat 4 Dan Phillips, Tommy Fenwick, Rob Shuttleworth, Luke Ruddick Heat 5 Tommy Fenwick, Rob Shuttleworth, Ryan MacDonald Heat 6 Dan Phillips, Luke Ruddick, Kevin Keay, Sam Darroch Final Dan Phillips, Ryan MacDonald, Rob Shuttleworth, Kevin Keay