Six Riders, Three Competitions and what might have been
All roads led to Belle Vue Manchester tonight, for the 2024 Attis Insurance Sports Division British Final where there were four Oxford representatives following a late call up for Jordan Jenkins.
It was OXS Spires caption, Chris Harris who was the star from an Oxford perspective making the final with some of his trademark round the boards racing. Harris was close to taking the wildcard spot however, he made an awful start in the final and despite his best efforts, was unable to beat Tom Brennan who will be at the tapes in Cardiff at the British Grand Prix.
It was a baptism of fire for Jenkins who was certainly not outclassed ending the night on five points, one ahead of Lewis Kerr who just could not find his form.
Charles Wright had the worst possible start, excluded in his first race for brining down Jordan Jenkins! The decision was correct, although there was no malice in a pure racing incident. He followed that up with two wins and a second, just missing out on a semi final spot. He will blame a frantic heat ten, where three riders were all over each other for four laps, Wright unlucky with traffic and unable to find a scoring position.
Meanwhile, in Hungary, OXS Oxford Spires Polish star Maciej Janowski was taking part in the SEC (Speedway European Championship) and finished a very creditable second place. He did the hard work coming through from second place, but a very small mistake allowed Anedrjez Lebedevs back into the lead. Magic fought for the entire four laps and was nearly there at the end but could not quite make it!
Last, but certainly not least, sixteen year old Ashton Boughen was taking his place in the SGP 2 Under 21 Grand Prix qualifier in Macon France. Only four riders qualify meaning that it was always a tough ask in Boughen’s first stab at an international competition. Boughen did well with two heat wins however, he was unable to take a top four spot, ending the night with 7 points and a lot of experience to take into the rest of this season and beyond.