Committed Eagles
TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE
BUXTON 38: Tom Woolley 13, Ben Wilson 10+1, Kieran Douglas 4+2, Lewis Whitmore 4, Corban Pavitt 4, Sam Woolley 3+1, James Cockle r/r.
EASTBOURNE 52: Georgie Wood 13+1, Mark Baseby 13, Tom Brennan 11, Jason Edwards 6+1, Ethan Spiller 6+1, Nick Laurence 3+1, Stephen Whitehouse 0.
STOKE 41: Max Clegg 18, Paul Burnett 7+1, Joe Alcock 6+1, Danny Phillips 6, Adam Sheppard 4+1, Stephen Whitehouse 0, Rob Shuttleworth r/r.
EASTBOURNE 49: Tom Brennan 11, Georgie Wood 10+2, Mark Baseby 9+1, Jason Edwards 8+3, Sam Woolley 5+2, Ethan Spiller 4+2, Nick Laurence 2.
Eagles boss Connor Dugard said: “It has been a great year for the double-winning Eagles, and we carried it through to the very end with two highly professional performances.
“You could not fault the boys’ efforts and commitment. They showed that will to win that has been there all year.”
Eagles rounded off their National League campaign with two victories in a say on Sunday, beating Buxton in the afternoon and Stoke in the evening.
It was bitterly cold, especially on the peaks around Buxton.
A hailstorm hit the Buxton track as the meeting was getting under way and there was still hail on the outside when racing began.
Amazingly, towards the end there was a break because the setting sun was blinding the riders.
The track was quite wet but the Eagles attacked from the off to get control mid match.
It was a quick turnaround for the riders, mechanics, officials and a handful of fans who headed south for the match at Stoke.
There was more joy for the Forman IT Eagles as they beat the Potters to make in an eight league points day.
Eagles boss Connor Dugard said: “It has been a great year for the double-winning Eagles, and we carried it through to the very end with two highly professional performances.
“You could not fault the boys’ efforts and commitment. They showed that will to win that has been there all year.”
These two matches had been rained off earlier in the season.
Here’s how Kevin Ling saw the match at Buxton unfold.
Buxton: Ben Wilson, Lewis Whitmore, Sam Woolley, Tom Wooley, R/r for James Cockle, Kieran Douglas, Corban Pavitt
Eagles: 1 Georgie Wood, 2 Jason Edards, 3 Mark Baseby 4 Ethan Spiller, 5 Tom Brennan, 6. Steve Whitehosue, 7 Nick Laurence
Ht 1: Wilson was fast out of the traps and Georgie in trap four knew it would be tricky running up to turn one – the hail was still up against the fence. Georgie chased hard but Wilson held firm, 3-3, 58.5
2: Pavitt and Douglas are clear winners from Nick and Stephen Whitehouse some way back, 5-1, 58.5, 59.5
3: A 4-2 to the Eagles – cracking ride from Mark Baseby passing Tom Woolley down back straight for win – Ethan Spiller safe in third with Sam Woolley bringing up the rear, 2-4,10-8, 59.8
Ht 4 Swift response from the Hitmen – Wilson takes r/r and wins from Tom – Pavitt holds third from Nick, 4-2, 14-10, time 59.4.
Ht 5 still trading 4-2s Georgie at a canter from Tom Woolley – Jason picking up the odd point with Sam Woolley unable to land a blow 2-4, 16-14, time 58.9.
Ht 6 Tom swiftest from the start keeping Whitmore at bay – a first defeat for Wilson who runs a third – Whitehouse struggling in the conditions well to the rear 3-3 19-17 59.9.
Ht 7 stopped – nasty spill for Corban Pavitt out of second bend – Eagles on a 5-1 at the time – Corban receiving attention now. Pavitt being taken off by ambulance with muscle damage. Big 5-1 in the rerun. Skipper Baseby all the way with Ethan riding shotgun – Kieran Douglas picking up the odd point – Eagles now lead 1-5 20-22 time 59.5
8 Fine win for Jason ahead of Whitmore in heat 8 – slick Nick fending off Douglas for the 4-2 – the latter’s motor failing him on the final lap 2-4 22-26 60.1
9 Tom flying to win heat nine – Tom Woolley in second ahead of brother Sam for 3-3 – Whitehouse again adrift 3-3 25–29 time 58.0
10 True captain’s performance from mMark – he wins from Wilson, Ethan third for 4-2 ahead of Whitmore 2-4 27-33
11 Woolley leading heat 11 but Georgie keeping him honest – final lap – momentary loss of control from the Hitmen captain and Georgie through on his outside for the 3-points – Jason solid in third with Douglas trailing 2-4 29-37 59.4
Ht 12 Douglas replaces Pavitt – Laurence replaces Whitehouse. Four wins out of four for skipper Baseby – saw Woolley some distance back with Douglas outgunning Nick for odd point 3-3 32-40 time 57.9
13 Eagles flying high now Tom and Georgie seeing off Wilson for the big 5-1 with Whitmore (r/r) following them home 1-5 33-45 time 58.0
14 A win for Tom Woolley but Ethan and Nick holding firm in second and third 3-3 36-48 time 60.7
Ht 15 line up Sam Woolley r Tom Woolley b mark w Georgie y Buxton off 1 and 3. Tom Woolley gates but Georgie flies round him down back straight to win by the proverbial mile – titanic scrap between Woolley and Mark which went the way of the home rider – nevertheless a 4-2 to finish final score 38-52 and a big four league points to the Eagles time 56.4 fastest of the meeting.
BUXTON 38: Tom Woolley 13, Ben Wilson 10+1, Kieran Douglas 4+2, Lewis Whitmore 4, Corban Pavitt 4, Sam Woolley 3+1, James Cockle r/r.
EASTBOURNE 52: Georgie Wood 13+1, Mark Baseby 13, Tom Brennan 11, Jason Edwards 6+1, Ethan Spiller 6+1, Nick Laurence 3+1, Stephen Whitehouse 0.
Here’s how we secured victory at Stoke. Heat by heat with Kevin Ling.
Stoke:1 Danny Phillips (g) 2 Adam Sheppard (g) 3 r/r Rob shuttleworth ,4 Stephen Whitehouse, 5 Max Clegg, 6 Joe Alcock, 7 Paul Burnett
Eagles: 1 Georgie Wood, 2 Jason Edards, 3 Mark Baseby 4 Ethan Spiller, 5 Tom Brennan, 6 Nick Laurence 7 Sam Woolley
Heat 1: Perfect start for the Eagles – Georgie flies from the start with Jason close at hand – Phillips gives fruitless chase with Sheppard well adrift, 1-5 ,1-5, time 65.1
2: Potters hit back in race two with Paul Burnett taking a comfortable win from team mate Joe Alcock – Woolley pressing throughout but to no avail . He suffers a tumble on the final lap gifting third place to Launch – Sam up and okay, 5-1, 6-6 time. 70.2
Ht 3 Called back to orders – warning to Max Clegg (taking the r/r) for anticipating the start – all four back. Clegg a comfortable winner of race three – behind him Mark and Ethan fill the minor places for a share of the spoils – Stephen Whitehouse having no better fortune than in the afternoon fixture trailing by some distance 3-3, 9-9 time 65.0
Heat 4 As anticipated Clegg is the man in form as he outpaces Tom. However, with Sam Woolley getting the better of Burnett this time around it keeps things level pegging, 3-3 setting the scores at 12-12 time 65.4
Ht 5 rider replacement taken by Danny Phillips. Phillips now been declared ineligible to take r/r – Sheppard takes the ride. A second, somewhat comfortable 5-1 for Georgie and Jason restores the 4-point advantage Sheppard and Whitehouse (with the greatest of respect) left chasing shadows 1-5, 13-17, time 65.1
Ht 6 Tom makes the gate but fair play, Phillips storms past on outside on back straight to lead – Phillips holds firm to win in spite of Tom’s best intentions – with Sheppard getting the better of Nick, this erodes the eagles lead by 2-points 4-2 17-19 time 66.5
Ht 7 Clegg again sets the pace as he records his third win in three outings – Ethan follows him home with Mark in third – Alcock playing catch up 3-3, 20-22 time 63.6
Ht 8 Paul Burnett touches tapes – back 15 metres. Another strong ride for Jason who wins by a street – Sam proves the hero of the moment with a win over Sheppard to bank our 5-1, 21-27 time 65.9
Ht 9 Tommy B takes the win with Nick dicing with Joe Alcock (taking r/r) for second – that eventually went the way of the Stoke rider but with the 4-2 going Eagles way this increases the margin to 8-points, 23-31 progressively time 68.5
Ht 10 skipper baseby records a flying win over Phillips in the tenth – Ethan loops on final bend of second lap and suffers a tumble but is swiftly up seemingly none the worse for wear 3-3, 26-34 time 66.6
Ht 11 Clegg keeps on winning but with Georgie and Jason following on for the 3-3 the difference remains at 8-points 29-37 time 64.2
Ht 12 Alcock takes r/r . A flying win for Mark – Alcock and Burnett filling the minor places for a share of the spoils but eagles still 8-points to the good 3-3 32-40 time 67.1
Ht 13: Potters gate on 5-1 in heat 13 but Tom and Georgie move one either side of Phillips heading down back straight – Clegg continues his winning sequence but with Eagles again securing a share of the spoils the scores move to 43-35 and they need only provide one further second place to secure their second win of the day – time 63.7
14: Paul Burnett replaces Whitehouse in penultimate race – he secures the win while Sam Woolley completes a wholly creditable performance with second place – Ethan holds third in spite of pressure from Alcock – Alcock falls on final turn meaning a 3-3 confirms Eagles victory – the score line heading into the final race standing at 38-46 time 69.6
Ht 15 Phillips r Clegg b Georgie w Tom y eagles 2 and 4
Clegg all the way to complete a superb 18-point maximum butTom wraps up second with Georgie third ahead of Phillips -t he final race remaining shared at 3-3, the scoreline resting at 41-49 in favour of the Eagles – another big 4-points. Time 63.9
STOKE 41: Max Clegg 18, Paul Burnett 7+1, Joe Alcock 6+1, Danny Phillips 6, Adam Sheppard 4+1, Stephen Whitehouse 0, Rob Shuttleworth r/r.
EASTBOURNE 49: Tom Brennan 11, Georgie Wood 10+2, Mark Baseby 9+1, Jason Edwards 8+3, Sam Woolley 5+2, Ethan Spiller 4+2, Nick Laurence 2.