| Steel City "Top Gun" Open | Owlerton Stadium | 7th October | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rider | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Tot | |
| Paul Cooper | x2 | 2 | x2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10th | |||||||||||||||
| Danny Norton | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 6th | |||||||||||||||
| Benji Compton | ef | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 7th | |||||||||||||||
| David Speight | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 8th | |||||||||||||||
| David Meldrum | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 3rd | |||||||||||||||
| Ben Wilson | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 2nd | |||||||||||||||
| Lee Smart | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 9th | |||||||||||||||
| Lee Derbyshire | 1 | 3 | ef | 0 | f/r | 4 | 12th | |||||||||||||||
| Luke Priest | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 5th | |||||||||||||||
| Darren Rolph | ef | 1 | ef | - | - | 1 | 15th | |||||||||||||||
| Chris Ferguson | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 11th | |||||||||||||||
| Carl Belfield | 3 | 1 | 0 | fx | 0 | 4 | 13th | |||||||||||||||
| Richard Hall | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 4th | |||||||||||||||
| Kyle Hughes | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 16th | |||||||||||||||
| James Wright | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 1ST | |||||||||||||||
| Gary Flint | 1 | ef | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 14th | |||||||||||||||
| Mark Richardson (r) | tps | r | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Grant Hayes (r) | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 63.9 | 63.0 | 66.5 | 62.4 | 62.2 | 64.1 | 63.6 | 65.4 | 63.2 | 64.2 | 66.1 | 64.6 | 63.9 | 63.2 | 64.9 | 64.6 | 64.1 | 65.5 | 64.4 | 65.5 |
| Last chance | Final | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| James Wright | 1st | James Wright | 1ST |
| Danny Norton | x | Ben Wilson | 2nd |
| David Meldrum | 2nd | David Meldrum | 3rd |
| Luke Priest | 3rd | Richard Hall | x |
| 65.2 | 63.9 | ||
Paul Cooper's bike failed to start for the parade lap and the three races he completed were courtesy of Garry Flint and Benji Compton whose bikes he borrowed. After failing to beat the time allowance Paul was replaced by reserve Mark Richardson in heat 1, only for Mark's clutch to go and drag him through the tapes! Racing was processional in the early heats with James Wright making the only real move with an impossibly wide line to pass Richard Hall on the second bend on the third lap of heat 4.
Ben Wilson dived under Danny Norton on the third bend to take the lead in heat 6, and David Speight passed Carl Belfield in the same way two heats later. Danny Norton and David Meldrum both showed ahead of James Wright in heat 10 and James seemed unable to make up ground. Someone in this race was stewing a clutch so we assume it was James. Luke Priest popped out to win heat 11, and Lee Smart rode well behind Richard Hall in heat 12 after failing miserably in his first two outings.
Lee went one better winning heat 13 ahead of Paul Cooper, and Benji Compton got into contention for a semi-final place by beating David Meldrum in heat 15. Ben Wilson trapped to lead heat 16 but when James Wright looked for a way around him on the second bend Ben closed the door firmly in his face. Danny Norton won heat 18 but Luke Priest and Lee Smart had a fine scrap for second. Lee seemed to get the advantage with a fine outside pass at the end of lap 2, but Luke regained the lead on the second turn and held it to the line to book a semi-final place. Ben and Richard had a mighty scrap in heat 19 and Benji Compton's hopes ended with third place not being enough.
It was hard to see from the home straight exactly what happened on the second turn in the semi-final, but Danny Norton certainly disagreed with the referee who excluded him following David Meldrum's fall. James Wright took the rerun with ease and a rather fortunate(?)David Meldrum joined him in the final. Stats so far show 7 wins from gate 1, 8 wins from gate 2, 2 wins from gate 3 and 4 wins from gate 4. Ben Wilson wisely chose gate 2 for the final. Richard Hall elected to go off gate 4 leaving James Wright to take the inside. Richard wasn't away very well and chose to cut across behind the field and take the inside line, which would have been alright if he hadn't collected David Meldrum on the exit of turn 2 and deposited him in the fence. Ben moved out into the dirt in the restart and powered into the lead down the back straight and it was looking good for him to win another Tog Gun on his own strip, but James caught him napping with a superb outside pass on the pits turn at the end of lap 3. Well done James. Certainly a name to watch for in the future.
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