Birmingham Monarchs Cycle Speedway team suffered an agonising last grasp defeat at Leicester last Saturday in the final of the British Open Club Championships.

After brilliantly winning their semi final, Birmingham progressed to their first British Final for many years. In a sensational performance, the Monarchs led for most of the final before imploding in the latter stages, with defeat snatched from certain glory.

Birmingham made a confident start with young guns Marcus Wadhams and newly crowned British Under 19s champion Chris Timms in the forefront of the action, both taking heat wins. The all-action Mark Winwood lended fine support as Monarchs vied for the lead with Gt Blakenham of Suffolk and hosts Leicester for much of the final.

With the final round of four heats to go, Birmingham were in a comfortable three point lead, although they had to start off the outside starting positions as the competition reached a thrilling climax.

The Monarchs were soon four points up on nearest rivals Gt Blakenham as Wadhams zoomed from gate 4 to round his Suffolk opponent in heat 13 and moved Birmingham within touching distance of the trophy.

With glory beckoning, the Monarchs fell apart. Nathan Groves, in his first major senior final, raised hopes with a good first turn in heat 14 only to lose position second time around, before crashing spectacularly. Battered and bruised, Groves remounted in a valiant bid to collect a vital point but was excluded by the referee.

It went from bad to worse in heat 15 as Timms desperately battled to overhaul his Suffolk rival in the penultimate race. Trailing at the back, Timms made a final move on the final lap before he was also excluded for unfair riding.

Winwood needed a miracle in the final heat to beat the best Gt Blakenham racer off the outside grid but by then the damage was done and Monarchs disastrous closing stages was complete when they were pipped by a late surge for the silver medal by Leicester.

Gt Blakenham, with 42 points, took the honours from Leicester on 40 points, with Birmingham on 39, and Wednesfield of Wolverhampton trailing on 35.

The Monarchs were crestfallen after the final heat, with several of their younger riders close to tears. If Groves and Timms had settled for their assured placings in the later stages, they would have scooped the cup. They can take consolation that they will be in many more finals in the future and the sobering experience of last Saturday will be a good learning curve.

Monarchs point scorers:

Marcus Wadhams 14, Chris Timms 11, Mark Winwood 10, Nathan Groves 3 and Carl Winwood 1.

Marcus Wadhams goes for individual glory this Bank Holiday weekend when he starts as joint favourite for the British Final, Cycle Speedways blue riband event, at Poole (Dorset).

Team-mates Chris Timms, Nathan Groves and Mark and Carl Winwood are also in action and hopes are high that two of them will join Wadhams in Mondays final at the Dorset venue.