TWO cycle speedway annual meetings were held in the first weeks of the new year, with special interest for Hethersett Hawks.

The first one was for South-East Regional, held at Great Blakenham in Suffolk, and the second was the Norwich Stars Club, held at the Harford Park Community Centre.

The regional AGM turned out to be a straightforward one in which five clubs declared that they will contest the South-East League Division One.

Those clubs are East London, Great Blakenham, Hethersett, Ipswich and Norwich.

All of the clubs, as in 2010, will meet each other four times, twice at home and away. The renamed Second Division will see all of the same clubs, plus Kesgrave contest the league, but they will meet each other just the once home and away.

The Regional Youth/U16 League will once again be held, with the clubs contesting the competition being Hethersett, Ipswich, Kesgarve and Norwich.

The regional committee was returned to serve for another year and with this year's British Senior, U16's, U10's and Women's Championships being held in Norfolk over the August Bank Holiday weekend, this will be a big year not only for the south-east region, but also for Norfolk Cycle Speedway.

There will be just one south-east side this year racing in the British Premier League, and that is Ipswich. Norwich decided to pull out of the 2011 Premier League season, after suffering 12 defeats in 12 matches. It was felt that with let-downs and late call-offs from certain riders the Norwich club reluctantly felt it was time to call it a day in the Premier League, but they hope to return in the near future.

At the Harford Park Community Centre last Friday evening, the Norwich club held their 2011 AGM and with a well-attended audience in place, they all listened contently as to what lie ahead of them for the season ahead.

The committee was elected back to serve once again en bloc, and with the club finances in good shape, a new racing shirt and club jacket was shown to the crowd and orders for these were taken. Everybody is looking forward to the new season, especially with it being British finals weekend once again in Norfolk. The last time they were held in these parts was in 2000 at Hellesdon, when Phil Howells of Hethersett won the British senior title in front of a packed crowd. Norwich will be extending their racing commitment in 2011 when they contest the Second Division for the first time since 2004.

The Norwich B team for the Second Division will be mainly made up of youngsters with some experienced riders.

The Norwich club will be taking part in many of this years British age category team events, with Hull away is their first opposition in the British Senior Team Championship of 2011.

The Norwich club will share their time at both Harford Park and Eaton Park, with the 'big one' as mentioned earlier, being the British finals weekend in August. On the Saturday at Hethersett, the British Under 10's and Women's Individual Championship will be held.

On Sunday at Harford Park and Hethersett, the semi-finals of the British U16 and Senior Championship will be held, and finally on Bank Holiday Monday at Eaton Park, the British Senior and U16 final will be staged. There will be regular training sessions for all riders, weather permitting, starting at Eaton Park this coming Sunday, starting at 10am.