Birmingham started this match like their lives depended on it with three 7-3' and three 6-4s in the first 6 heats and Wednesfiled just didn't know what had hit them. The normally reliable Chris Jewkes was on the wrong end of two of the 7-3s, Lee Aris slipped off when chasing Dominic Rycharski and the other big hitter Terry Norman lost out to Lewis Bates and Russ Evans.

Things improved for the away side when Chris Timms was excluded for moving at the start of heat 7 leaving Paul Heard marooned on grid four and with Lee Aris off grid three the inevitable 3-7 followed. However at the interval Birmingham were 14 points ahead and at that point had provided 8 of the 9 race winners.

Wednesfield have not won all of the trophies they have over the last few years by throwing in the towel, and Roger Ellis obviously rallied his troops in the break and they came out fighting with a 7-3 of their own in heat 10 through a great first turn by Terry Norman and Mark Griffiths forcing Dominic Rycharski out of the race on the first corner.

Lee Aris became the only Wednesfield rider to beat Lewis Bates in the next race but with Errol Thaw holding of Sam Smith the race was halved. Another excellent first turn by Terry Norman in heat 12 when he got Dayle Peace into first place looked to narrow the gap further but Chris Timms made two wonderful passes to take the flag and again another race was halved.

Heat 13 saw Wednesfield's next 7-3 with Chris Jewkes finally finding some form to shepherd his partner Roger Cox home in front of him, and the match that looked all over at the interval now had only 6 points in it. However that was as close as it got as Birmingham made a 7-3 and 6-4 in the next two races to virtually guarantee the points.

Marcus Wadhams came in for an unwell Paul Heard in heat 17 and completed his 4 ride maximum when Lee Aris was controversially excluded by referee Mike Hack for not speeding up when requested: Lee did claim not to have heard the referee's request, however with his experience he must have known that the pace he was riding at was not going to be acceptable to the official. Errol Thaw grabbed 2nd place and then Lewis Bates and Dominic Rycharski completed the job with the final heat 7-3. Final score Birmingham 97 Wednesfield 80 and interestingly enough every Birmingham rider won at least one race.

Thanks to Mike Hack for a very professional refereeing display.

Birmingham 97:

• Lewis Bates 18+1
• Marcus Wadhams 15+1
• Dominic Rycharski 13
• Errol Thaw 12+2
• Chris Timms 12+2
• Paul Heard 10+1
• Russ Evans 9
• Nathan Groves 8

Wednesfield 80:

• Terry Norman 16+1
• Lee Aris 12
• Chris Jewkes 11+3
• Mark Griffiths 11
• Dayle Peace 8+1
• Roger Cox 8
• Scott Docherty 7+2
• Sam Smith 7

Combination

Wednesfield were up against it from the off conceding 22 penalty points with Lee Aris and Scott Docherty 'doubling up'. With the exception of a heat 1 Birmingham 7-3 through Paul Timms and Tom Sensical, every other race in this match was drawn 5-5!

There was however some excellent racing, particularly the duels between Lee Aris and Carl Winwood, and there is no doubt that in Liam Johnson Wednesfield have a star in the making. For Birmingham there was some excellent team riding from Tom Sensical and Mark Winwood, Mark Fletcher had probably his best meeting of the year and all of the other riders scored well.

For Wednesfield Lee Aris rode unbeaten and had some excellent support from Stu Bentley who once again rode very well around the Perry Barr track.

Finally two lots of thanks - to Garry Pearce for stepping in to referee and to Wayne Aris and the Wednesfield management for allowing 6 year old Billy Winwood to have his point in heat 11 after being lapped - it really did mean lot to him - such a pity that all Clubs cannot be so gracious!

Birmingham 89:

• Paul Timms 13+1
• Carl Winwood 13+1
• Tom Sensical 12+2
• Mark Winwood 10+3
• Mark Fletcher 10
• Phil Widdas 7+1
• Billy Winwood 2

Wednesfield 63:

• Lee Aris 16
• Stu Bentley 15
• Scott Docherty 10+1
• Matt Turley 8
• Liam Johnson 6+2
• Natalie Timms 4+2
• Jordan Rich 4