Home star Richard Lawson took the second British Championship semi-final and he was joined by two other home riders, to give Glasgow their highest ever representation in the Final.
Lawson was the first rider to qualify when he won his first 4 races, two within the fastest time of the season, he only dropped points in his final race against Steve Worrall, who would’ve been the winner but for a heat 4 fall and Scott Nicholls, who was announced as the winner, until a check of the rules!
Richie Worrall started with two wins and easily qualified in 4th, while Ben Barker had to sweat a bit, his last race defeat of Charles Wright ultimately getting him through.
The final Glasgow rider, called in at the last moment due to illness and non travelling riders, Danny Ayres, was the surprise packet of the afternoon. He failed to beat the two minutes in heat 1, fell whilst second in his next, had a great win over Charles Wright and finished with 7 points, which was enough to get him into a run off for the reserve position. Unfortunately Wright managed to hold him off despite a great effort from Ayres in the opening two laps before making a mistake on the third.
Paul Starke was an impressive fifth, scoring 12 points without any fuss.
The other qualifier, Craig Cook, didnt have a straightforward afternoon. He broke down whilst second, after winning his first and only had 5 points at the interval. He then nearly fell off whilst leading heat 14, with James Sarjeant unhappy at being excluded after laying the bike down to avoid him. His win in the re-run was enough to put him through.
Whilst there were no shocks, there were one or two scares for some of the fancied riders, although had the full field been there, a couple of big names may have dropped out
There was some good racing, especially early on with Scott Nicholls, going from third to first in heat one and last to second in heat 8. Best race was a great battle between Sarjeant, Stefan Nielsen and Rob Branford for second in heat 3.
Richard Lawson 3 3 3 3 1 13 Scott Nicholls 3 2 3 3 2 13 Steve Worrall f 3 3 3 3 12 Richie Worrall 3 3 1 2 3 12 Paul Starke 2 3 2 2 3 12 Craig Cook 3 R 2 3 2 10 Ben Barker 2 1 2 2 1 8 (all qualify for the British Final) Charles Wright 2 2 2 1 0 7 Danny Ayres X2 1 3 1 2 7 (after run off) James Sarjeant 2 2 1 fx 0 5 Lewis Rose 1 1 0 1 2 5 Joe Jacobs 1 0 0 0 3 4 Adam Roynon R 0 1 2 1 4 Stefan Nielsen 1 2 0 0 1 4 Rob Branford 0 0 1 1 0 2 Rob Shuttleworth 1 1 0 0 0 2 Ryan MacDonald(res) R 0 Lewis Blair(res) DNR Heat 1: Nicholls, Barker, Rose, MacDonald(R), Ayres(x2mins) 57.4 Heat 2: Lawson, Wright, Jacobs, Roynon(EF) 56.6 Heat 3: R Worrall, Sarjeant, Nielsen, Branford 57.6 Heat 4: Cook, Starke, Shuttleworth, S Worrall(f) 56.7 Heat 5: Lawson, Nielsen, Ayres(frmt), Cook (ef) 56.8 Heat 6: S Worrall, Wright, Rose, Branford 58.2 Heat 7: Starke, Sarjeant, Barker, Jacobs 57.7 Heat 8: R Worrall, Nicholls, Shuttleworth, Roynon 57.9 Heat 9: Ayres, Wright, Sarjeant, Shuttleworth 59.2 Heat 10: Lawson, Starke, R Worrall, Rose 58.0 Heat 11: S Worrall, Barker, Roynon, Nielsen 58.6 Heat 12: Nicholls, Cook, Branford, Jacobs 58.8 Heat 13: S Worrall, R Worrall, Ayres, Jacobs 57.7 Heat 14:(re-run) Cook, Roynon, Rose, Sarjeant(fx) 56.6 Heat 15: Lawson, Barker, Branford, Shuttleworth 58.2 Heat 16: Nicholls, Starke, Wright, Nielsen 58.8 Heat 17: Starke, Ayres, Roynon, Branford 58.9 Heat 18: Jacobs, Rose, Nielsen, Shuttleworth 60.0 Heat 19: R Worrall, Cook, Barker, Wright 58.1 Heat 20: S Worrall, Nicholls, Lawson, Sarjeant 58.5 RO: Wright, Ayres 58.9