A reasonable crowd turned up at Ashfield to watch the last action of the 2006 season as 6 Scots, 4 Englishmen and a Czech contested the Heathersfield Golden Helmet Individual Championship. Unfortunately due to licensing problems, Sean Paterson and meeting reserve Rusty Dougan were unable to ride in the event thus reducing the field to 11 but the remaining riders did their best to entertain.

Gary Beaton won a well spread out opening heat from the gate to give him the start the had hoped for. After a ragged start in heat 2, Cal McDade and Simon Lambert went into the opening bends side by side. McDade was able to pull clear coming out of the second bend however and went on to win.

Tigers fans present got their first glance of Matej Kus in heat 3. In the first running of the heat he was very slow out of the heat, Kieron Morris showing how it should be done. Kus swept round the outside of the second bend and opened up a comfortable gap pretty quickly. the race was to come to an early halt however when Wayne Dunworth slid off on the opening bend of the third lap, Ricky Lee Beecroft doing well to lay his bike down. Referee Jim McGregor ordered a re-run which Kus then won from the gate. Morris and Beecroft had a good battle for second but Morris held Beecroft off before pulling clear on the final lap.

Kieron Morris once again made an excellent gate in heat 4 and although Steven Jones passed John McPhail on the third bend of the opening lap and gave chase to Morris, Kieron was able to hold on for the win. Kus shot from the gate in heat 5 and quickly opened up a large lead before the race was stopped when Robert McNeil spectacularly high sided on the third bend of lap 2, his bike cut out failing to work as he came off. It left a two man re-run as only three riders came to tapes in the original running and Kus won comfortably, Dunworth falling and remounting at the start of the second lap.

Heat 6 took a few attempts to run. McDade and Lambert gated ahead of Beaton and Beecroft and pulled clear. However Lambert slid off on the opening bend of the second lap, Beaton sliding into him as he laid his bike down. Lambert excluded, the next two attempts to run the race were hit by tape malfunctions before it finally concluded with Gary Beaton winning from the gate. Steven Jones won heat 7 comfortably from the gate, Simon Lambert clearly suffering the after effects of his heat 6 fall going from 2nd to 4th on the opening bends and tailing off at the back. Robert mcNeil did his best to catch Wayne Dunworth in 2nd and came close with a drive off the final bend.

Another ragged start in heat 8 culminated in Greg Blair and Gary Beaton having a hefty coming together on the way to the opening bend leaving both riders on the deck. Both were able to take their place in the re-run which Beaton won from the gate although Morris made it difficult for him in the middle stages of the race. Ricky Lee Beecroft was a little over enthusiastic going into the third bend of the opening lap with too much speed and sliding off but he was able to remount and allow the race to continue.

Kus gated in heat 9 and many expected that to be it but Cal McDade had other ideas as he swept round the outside of him on the opening bends. Kus stayed close but realistically did not look like doing any more than shadowing McDade as he went on to inflict what was to be the Czech's only defeat of the afternoon.

Steven Jones had been somewhat of a surprise package on the day and he gave Kus a run for his money in the first half of heat 10 before Kus pulled clear and went on to win. There was a decent race at the back between Greg Blair and Ricky Lee Beecroft, Greg managing to pull clear after a strong outside challenge from Ricky Lee. John McPhail came out to record a comfortable victory in heat 11 with Robert McNeil and Wayne Dunworth doing battle for second. Dunworth had made the better gate but McNeil went round the outside of him on the opening bends. Dunworth stayed right on his tail but came off trying to come up the inside of him on the first bend, the third time he had hit the dirt on the same bit of track that afternoon.

With semi final placing's to race for, Kieron Morris was hit a cruel blow when his bike developed problems with 30 seconds to go and he was excluded under the two minute rule. McDade made the gate but was passed by Lambert coming out of the first bend and then by Gary Beaton coming out of bend 2. Beaton, who had made a shocking gate, rode a very determined outside line pulling alongside Lambert going into the third bend and coming out of the fourth bend ahead to go on and win the race and claim his place in the first semi final.

The light was by this stage very poor but Beaton, McDade, Morris and Dunworth came out in the first semi final and competed in a close race which was won by McDade, Cal going round the outside of Gary Beaton after Beaton had gated. Morris slid off at the end of the third lap in a desperate attempt to go round the outside but cleared the track quickly to allow the race to finish. The second semi final was more of a procession with Matej Kus again winning from the gate and Steven Jones following him home to claim the his place in the final.

With the poor light it was a case of straight into the final race with Jones lining up on the inside, McDade in 2, Beaton in 3 and Kus off the outside. Kus McDade and Beaton all came into the opening bends together but coming off bend 2 Kus just kept the throttle open and pulled well clear. McDade was holding Beaton off for second place when an error by Beaton at the start of the second lap saw him come off and the race had to be re-run.

Kus won the re-run from the gate by a considerable margin but the re-run was to provide costly for Cal McDade whose engine appeared to loose power on the second lap just as Steven Jones was threatening to come round the outside of him for second place. McDade pulled up and Jones, still listed as a Glasgow asset, claimed second place although well behind overall winner Matej Kus. Cal McDade did have the consolation of being awarded the George Beaton Memorial Trophy however as the top placed Scottish Rider, making him the Scottish Junior Champion.

With the Ashfield Classic only being postponed on Thursday, Colin Mackie and the promotion only had 48 hours to put together this field and it is to their and the youngsters credit that they were all willing and able to come at such short notice to put on a show. Kus gave the impression that he had more to give but he was still defeated during the meeting by Scottish Junior Champion McDade. Steven Jones surprised a few people whilst many of the youngsters showed promise although the lack of training facilities at the moment must be having an adverse affect on the Scottish youngsters. It would be good if today's news that speedway will continue at Ashfield in 2007 could be followed soon by news of training schools be resumed north of the border.

Well done to all of today's competitors and to those involved in getting the meeting together at such short notice.