Wright on top at Redcar

NEWS Sunday 27th August 2023, 9:14pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Charles Wright is the 2023 Championship Individual winner, successor to our own Sam Masters who of course was unable to defend. Joining him on the podium were Chris Harris and Ben Cook with Danny King the other finalist.

Home track winner Wright certainly kept the home track fans happy, though there were those who felt that Charles was fortunate to still have been a contender after crashes in both the semi-final and final in which he was involved. However the referee saw no wrong-doing and there's no doubt the champion knows how to dive-bomb the Redcar bends.

Chris Harris was excellent after a slowish start, showing the class he still has, but for many the man of the meeting was Poole's lively little Aussie Ben Cook, top scorer with 13 in the qualifiers.

Edinburgh finished up having the most competitors but their performances were undistinguished to say the least. For Craig Cook it was a continuation of a very troubled period; he came to the tapes for both attempts to start heat 3 but completed less than a lap, pulled out and withdrew from the meeting. What now for Cookie?

Paco Castagna scored 4 and even managed to lead one of the races, while Kye Thomson picked up 3 after passing Batchelor in his first ride. They will have enjoyed the experience. We might speculate what Josh Pickering may have achieved on a pretty lively circuit.

The bends had been covered pre-meeting to protect them from some heavy rain, and the riders went about their business with gusto. There were quite a few good heats and some hair-raisingly close encounters especially in the early stages.

Rory Schlein, Richie Worrall, Leon Flint and pre-meeting favourite Ryan Douglas all rode well without making the last two races, and the home duo of Wright and King emerged ahead of Lewis Kerr and Richard Lawson in the semi. Kerr and Lawson were brought down in the first running with Lawson taking the worst of it.

The final was also stopped after Wright and King clashed, at which point Cook and Harris had gone ahead. Cook didn't repeat the fast start, Harris briefly led but Charles Wright eventually burst through in an exciting finale.

It was a well staged event as you would expect from Redcar, but efforts should be made to increase the status of the UK individual championships. For various reasons this one lacked Masters, Pickering, Nicholls, Basso, Brennan, Steve Worrall and Howarth.