Starlet Kelly lifts the title

15 year old Elliot Kelly, who comes from near Redcar but rides for Mildenhall in the National League, came out on top in a very entertaining and interesting Caledonian Riders Championship.

The winner, who had only ridden Armadale on a 125cc bike previously, said "I liked the track. It took me a race or two to get into the swing of things then I loved it. A lot of the other riders here I've ridden with before, all good mates."

The three Scots in the field, Lewis and Gregor Millar and Dale Lamb, all gave a very good account of themselves and indeed Lamb looked like the favourite to win the final after recording the night's fastest times in winning four successive races. He defeated Kelly during the qualifying heats.

However he didn't get away well in the final and in spite of great efforts to recover, he came off on the final turn in close proximity to Joe Alcock, the Stoke National League rider. Alcock finished second and another youngster, Jacob Fellows, was third.

The Millar boys rode well all night in a meeting which started with a thrilling battle between the two of them, won by Lewis after a mistake by Gregor on the final corner. That was one of the best of a number of first class heats. However the Millars' luck ran out in the first semi final when both suffered mechanical gremlins.

Dale Lamb was third in that opening heat but grew in confidence all night before missing out in the final.

In addition to the main competition there were three 125cc races in which Danny Smith and Archie Freeman provided some of the best action of the night with 10 year old William Cairns not far away either.

Monarchs' promoter John Campbell thanked all the sponsors (including meeting sponsors Bert Harkins and Linlithgow Tyres and Exhausts) and said that the crowd was better than he expected, an encouraging sign if we are to give more opportunities to the younger riders.

The meeting was run in double quick time with few stoppages, although George Rothery was a casualty with a heavy fall in his second ride after winning his first. He went hard into the first bend fence and was forced to withdraw, though it is thought that he doesn't have serious injuries and his bike is more damaged than he is.

In truth the Scots in the field, when measured against Kelly and Alcock, looked good enough for National League racing, though the problem there is that so much travel is involved with the nearest tracks being Stoke and Belle Vue.