Stoddard Wins Golden Helmet
Heathersfield Golden Helmet 26th Sept

Despite the wind and occasional rain showers, the Junior Individual Championship of Glasgow for the Heathersfield Golden Helmet (to give it its full title) went ahead giving a few of the youngsters their first taste of real competitive racing.

With riders ages ranging from 15 to 31 and experience ranging from a few months to many years it was difficult to know what to expect but the youngsters went out to provide as much entertainment as possible in conditions many seniors wouldn't have relished racing in.

Most races had competition for at least one of the places and although understandably a lot slower than league meetings there was still a fair bit of skill with one or two youngsters catching the eye for the future.

For those sceptics who thought there would be a lot of falls there were probably no more percentage wise than in a Premier League individual event and certainly weren't of the 'wobbler' category.

The meeting opened with Kriss Irving getting the better of Gary Beaton thanks to an excellent pass at the end of the first lap, with Kieran Morris and Colin McDonald having their own battle for 3rd. Stoddart shot out of the gate in heat 2 to win. An impressive ride by young James McBain in heat 3 saw him claim second behind Gary Flint whilst heat 4 saw Priest get the better of Speight and Haigh for his first win of the day.

Heat 5 saw a good battle between Irving, Speight and Stoddart before the Cumbrian over cooked an outside pass on Stoddart and came down, having already got past Speight. He remounted but could not make up the ground to gain any points and the mistake was to prove costly. James McBain touched the tapes at the start of heat 6 and went off 15m. He past Morris on the third bend of the first lap but could not make up any ground on McKinna and Haigh. In heat 7 Flint led for a lap and three quarters before a good outside pass by Tully on the fourth bend of the second lap. Beaton got the better of Priest in heat 8 in the battle for the win whilst Maben managed to get the better of McPhail in their battle at the back.

Onto the third set of rides and heat 9 saw a frightening looking crash by Luke Priest on the first bend of lap two when his throttle appeared to jam open throwing the youngster and bike into the fence with his bike bouncing back across the track. Thankfully he was able to get back to his feet after a short time down and even more surprisingly continue in the meeting. Heat 10 saw a comfortable win for Stoddart. Although it was the slowest of the night heat 11 was one of the most competitive, Colin McDonald eventually coming out on top with Keith Maben suffering an engine failure. David Haigh executed a fine outside pass on Cal McDade to claim second place. The only awarded race of the night was heat 12. First running saw Speight come down and excluded at the end of the first lap in some hard racing with Tully. Tully himself was to fall in the re-run after trying to go too wide on the final bend of the third lap challenging Beaton, who was awarded the win.

Tully made amends for his earlier fall by winning heat 13 from the stylish Irving with Speight getting the better of Flint and young Kieran Morris, who seemed to visibly improve in confidence as the meeting went on, in heat 14. McDonald touched the tapes in 15 and was unable to make up any ground on Stoddart Priest and McBain, another who seemed to improve as the meeting went on. Gary Beaton was to get his third heat win in a row in heat 16 despite the close attentions of Adam McKinna.

McBain showed how much he was improving by leading heat 17 for a short while but Kriss Irving was able to cut back inside him half a lap later to retain the lead. McDade was to fall when third on the final lap third bend in heat 18, Luke Priest finishing off his day with a win in this one. It was value for money in heat 19 with two good races in one with Speight finally getting the better of McKinna and McPhail beating McDonald.

The three who could win the meeting were against each other in the final heat. The first running resulted in all four back after Beaton came off on the first corner. Stoddart knew all he had to do was finish second and he achieved that despite everything Beaton could throw at him, Flint taking the victory.

All in all a worthwhile meeting and a pity there weren't more people there to support it. Gary Beaton said in the speeches afterwards that he was a little disappointed not to win it but given the experience of the two ahead of him he shouldn't be.

The meeting showed how well some of the youngsters have come on and gave the novices an idea of what they have to do. As well as the top 3, Irving impressed, Adam McKinna has come on leaps and bounds and James McBain looks to be progressing into a tidy little rider.

The scorecard and heat details can be found here.

Photographs courtesy of Lioness can be found here .