Isle of Wight speedway star Darryl Ritchings lifted the NORA British speedway crown after a pulsating evening of racing at the Smallbrook stadium on Tuesday.
With the twelve man field reduced to 9, after a weekend of spills causing withdrawals due to injury, the format was changed to 3 rider qualification races from four.
The change made very little difference to the racing as the handlebar hero’s gave it their all.
Kent’s Jack Kingston set the pace with a outstanding pass on Cradley’s Charlie Wood in heat one, before Ritchings stormed to victory in the second.
Hot favourite James Shanes won his opener by a street in heat three, before Ritchings had to work hard to hold off the exciting Kingston in the fourth.
Heat five, saw Wood take a hefty tumble on turn two trying a outside swoop on Butcher, the referee disqualification of the Cradley man was much to his disappointment. Butcher making no mistake in the rerun to take the win.
Shanes then produced a perfect pass on Alex Spooner and then held off Kingston to book his semi final sport.
Warriors captain Danno Verge then gave the home crowd something to cheer, when he won heat 8 from pillar to post.
Ritchings then came from last to first to book his spot in the semi final with a magical pass of Butcher in the ninth, before Butcher joined him by winning the tenth.
The penultimate Qualifying race pitched the two unbeaten riders, Ritchings and Shanes to decide top gate picks, and it was the Warriors number 1 who took the spoils in the fastest time of the night.
Spooner took the last qualifying race to book his place too leading Verge all the way.
In the first semi final it was Butcher who sped from the start followed by Ritchings, they chased and passed each other twice in a super race, before Ritchings dived through to take first place, with Verge missing out.
The second semi final saw Shanes race away to victory, but all the real action was behind him with Kingston and Spooner going neck and neck before the Kent man Kingston, swooped past for second to take the last place in the grand final.
The final produced a terrific four laps of racing with places swopping on every lap.
Kingston went from first to last, Butcher first to third. Shanes 4th to second and the winner Ritchings 3rd to first in superb style for the win, cheered on by another super crowd.
It was a fitting finale to end a fabulous evening of action in which everyone played a part.
Qualifying scores. Ritchings 12, Shanes 11. Butcher 10, Kingston 9, Spooner 7, Verge 7, Laker 5. Wood 5, Rogers 4.
Semi Final 1. Ritchings, Butcher, Verge, Laker
Semi Final 2. Shanes, Kingston, Spooner, Wood.
Final. Ritchings, Shanes, Butcher, Kingston.
In the junior final, it was Archie Strong from Kent who was victorious with four straight wins.
Promoter Martin Widman said after the meeting:
“After all the problems with rider injuries, and last minute rider unavailability, those riders that did take part put on a great show in front of another bumper crowd. There was some superb racing and even the riders in the Junior Championship played their part in what was a fantastic night of speedway”
Next week, it’s the final meeting of the season when the Warriors take on the powerful Kent Eagles. Tapes up 19:00
