Astley & Tyldesley came out on top against local rivals Bury, in Sunday's thrilling Northern League match at Gin Pit.
After a close start to the match, A & T recorded two successive heat wins, including a 7-2 from Remi Burchardt and Tomasz Szwajorek after Mike Hewitson was excluded when all three clashed on the pits bend, to lead by 6 points at the half way stage. Bury immediately hit back with a well worked 7-3 from John Whiting and Scott Jarman over Szwajorek and took a slender 1 point lead with just two races remaining.
Bury's Hewitson hit the front in the last race, but a great ride by A & T captain Tomasz Wlodarczyk saw him reel in the Scottish international and pass him on the last lap to take the race win. Roy Heslop took 3rd place and A & T took the win by 88 - 86, amidst much jubilation in the pits.
Wlodarczyk and Burchardt both raced unbeaten, on a track made heavy in the wintry conditions, with good scores from their fellow Polish internationals, Darek Kurkowski and Szwajorek, despite both suffering a race exclusion each. Whiting top scored for the visitors, who were much more solid than A & T, but could provide only four race winners.
Northern League match result
Astley & Tyldesley 88 Bury 86
A & T: Remi Burchardt 20 Tomasz Wlodarczyk 19 (1), Darek Kurkowski 15, Tomasz Szwajorek 12 (1), Roy Heslop 10, Ben Dickenson 6, Mike Hack 5, Philip Atherton 1.
Bury: John Whiting 15 (2), Ben Scranage 15 (1), Neil Howarth 14 (1), Mike Hewitson 13 (1), John Miladinovic 12 (2), Scott Jarman 10 (3), Tom Doyle 7 (2).
Referee - Gary Nuttall.
A & T took the Combination match on default, after Bury conceded the match, due to a shortage of riders.
A & T hosted the opening Northern Regional Round of the British Youth & Junior League series on Saturday. Last year's Northern Regional winners, Sheffield, ran out winners by a large margin, with disappointingly low levels of entries in some categories.
BY&JL North Regional Round 1 match result
Sheffield 161 Stockport 91 Astley & Tyldesley 63 Hull 34 Bury 20.
Grand Prix Final winners
U-8: Eden Morton (Sheffield)
U-10: Adam Phillips (Astley & Tyldesley)
U-12: Jordan Gabbitas (Sheffield)
U-14: Matt Beharrel (Hull)
U-16: Chris Dyson (Bury)
U-18: Ryan Hoyland (Sheffield).
