Berwick’s Nick Morris took home the league’s top prize by winning the heat that mattered, despite only just making the final, whilst not fully fit!
He made a great start from the outside gate to block Richie Worrall on the inside and held off a late surge by Chris Harris to take the silverware. Harris finishing second, passing the previously unbeaten Worrall who took third. Glasgow’s first rostrum finish since Robert Nagy 25 years previously!
The meeting had been hit by numerous riders pulling out due to injury and then suffered another blow when Workington’s Craig Cook pulled out in the afternoon leaving it too late for a replacement to be found. This also meant that two teams were not represented(Redcar being the other), a totally unsatisfactory situation.
The track had taken a lot of rain in the preceding days before the meeting and this seem to affect the racing in the early heats..
It was the Worrall twins, Danny King and Sam Masters who all started with wins but with the first three meeting in heat 5, it was Richie Worrall who remained unbeaten.
Stuart Robson took his tally to 5 by defeating Nick Morris in heat 6, while Richard Lawson joined him by winning heat 7. Masters suffered a chain failure before the start of heat 8 ruling him out and his night just got worse from then on! Edinburgh team mate Ricky Wells taking the heat to become another on 5.
The next block of 4 saw Morris take his first win, whilst both Lawson and Steve Worrall dropped back into the pack finishing third and last respectively.
In heat 10, Aaron Summers made a superb cut back to go from fourth to first on the first bend, only for Paul Starke to pass him at the end of the lap. Summers and King then passing and repassing each other in the first true race of the night for second, with the home man prevailing. Masters trailing in last.
Robson and R Worrall won their next rides to take the top two spots at the interval.
Harris and Robson then served up a cracking race in heat 13 both of them neck and neck for a lap, with Harris taking the win.
R Worrall remained unbeaten by taking the almost all Glasgow heat 14, with Lawson staying in contention with a second.
Jack Holder put himself in with a chance, winning heat 15 as did Wells in heat 16.
By this stage R Worrall was almost in the final on 12, with Robson second on 10.
Paul Starke took his second win of the night in heat 17 to move to 9, finishing S Worrall’s night. Chris Harris did likewise to Jack Holder in heat 18 and also put himself in with a chance of the final.
R Worrall wrapped up the qualifiers with another win completing his maximum, blasting around Morris on the 3rd bend.
Lawson then booked his semi final place by winning heat 20, meaning Robson failed to make the final automatically, whilst Wells retiral made no difference as he beat Starke on count back for the final semi spot.
The semi final was a tight affair with two re-runs after falls for first Robson and then Lawson and Morris came together, both needing treatment before continuing. Lawson made the start to win easily and it looked like Robson would join him but made a mistake at the start of the second lap, allowing Morris through and he was unable to catch him after this. As it turned out a Championship winning ride by the Bandit!!
Whilst the quality of the field wasn’t as good as it should’ve been, it was still an entertaining enough night, although an early meeting rain shower meant the track didn’t dry out until later. The racing only improving after the interval.
Morris took his chances when presented to him and never looked troubled in the final. Chris Harris had worked hard to pass R Worrall in the final but it left him too far back to realistically beat Morris. For Richie Worrall it must’ve been a devastating night as he was clearly the best rider, going undefeated but the long delays between his 5th ride and the final couldn’t have helped him or Harris.
Qualifying scorers: R Worrall 15, C Harris 12, S Robson 12, R Lawson 11, N Morris 10, R Wells 9, P Starke 9, J Holder 8, S Worrall 8, A Summers 7, D King 6, M Palm Toft 4, J Auty 4, S Masters 3, J Graversen 2, R MacDonald 0, K Whelan(res) 0 Heat 1: S Worrall; Wells; Summers; Auty ; 57.73 Heat 2: King ; Harris ; Morris ; Graversen ; 57.51 Heat 3: Masters ; Lawson ; Palm Toft ; Mac Donald (f) ; 57.87 Heat 4: R Worrall ; Robson ; Starke ; Holder (R) ; 57.56 Heat 5: R Worrall, S Worrall ; Palm Toft ; King ; 58.49 Heat 6: Robson ; Morris ; Summers ; MacDonald(F) 57.56 Heat 7: (re-run) Lawson ; Harris ; Starke ; Auty (fx) ; 58.88 Heat 8: Wells ; Holder ; Graversen ; Whelan ; Masters(x2) ; 60.31 Heat 9: Morris ; Holder ; Lawson ; S Worrall ; 58.65 Heat 10: Starke ; Summers ; King ; Masters ; 59.92 Heat 11: Robson ; Palm Toft ; Auty; Graversen ; 60.25 Heat 12: R Worrall ; Harris ; Wells ; MacDonald ; 59.25 Heat 13: Harris ; Robson ; S Worrall ; Masters(R) ; 59.04 Heat 14: R Worrall ; Lawson; Summers; Graversen ; 59.17 Heat 15: Holder ; Auty ; King ; MacDonald(f) ; 60.35 Heat 16: Wells ; Morris ; Starke ; Palm Toft (r) ; 60.55 Heat 17: Starke ; S Worrall ; Graversen ; MacDonald ; 60.27 Heat 18: Harris ; Summers ; Holder ; Whelan ; 60.07 Heat 19: R Worrall ; Morris ; Auty ; Whelan ; 59.76 Heat 20: Lawson ; Robson ; King ; Wells(R) ; 60.62 Semi-Final: (2 re-runs) Lawson ; Morris ; Robson ; Wells ; 59.88 Final : Morris ; Harris ; R Worrall ; Lawson ; 59.32