Soggy Hawks go into quarter-finals

HETHERSETT Hawks/Swinton cycle speedway team reached the quarter-finals of the British Team Championships for the first time in eight years when they defeated Premier League club Sheffield in atrocious conditions in Yorkshire.

Heavy rain left puddles on the track but the Hawks got off to the best possible start with a Dave Martin/Phil Adams 7-3 win in heat one. Martin teamed up with Harley Hamill for another 7-3 win in heat five and Dan Chambers/Ben Collins got another maximum win to put the visitors 14 points up.

Then the heavens opened again but the Hawks were determined to see the match through and get the victory they thoroughly deserved.

Collins and David Adams produced some good supportive teamwork and Martin went on to record four straight wins before giving the young reserves additional rides in the final heat. Hawks have been drawn away against the only other non-Premier League team left in the competition, Stoke.

Scores: Sheffield 79, Hethersett 101: (D Martin 16, P Adams 15, P Howells 14, B Collins 13, J Abbott 13, D Adams 11, D Chambers 11, H Hamill 8).

Hethersett took 11 riders to Great Blakenham for the final regional round of the British Youth and Junior League, sufficient to secure fourth place on the day.

Individually, Dan Chambers won the U16 Grand Prix with Scott Grimes (U14), Harley Hamill (U16), Phil Adamns and Ben Collins (U18), and Carly Grimes and Tiffany Collins (Girls) also reaching finals.

Scores: Ipswich 350, Kesgrave 324, Great Blakenham 187, Hethersett 106, Colchester 97, Norwich 12. (S Grimes 15, D Chambers 13, O Forder-Wilcox 11, T Collins 11, K Adams 10, P Adams 10, B Collins 10, R Crowe 8, C Grimes 7, H Hamill 7, O Nicholas 4).

In the Norfolk Grand Prix round three, staged at Hethersett, Norwich riders won all three categories with Harley Hamill finishing second in the U16s.