Gladiators and Cheetahs draw after last heat decider

A much depleted Plymouth Westcolour Gladiators septet gained a well deserved and truly outstanding 45-45 point draw against the Oxford Cheetahs on Tuesday night at The Coliseum

With the team missing Edward Kennett, Hans Andersen, Michael Palm Toft; Dan Gilkes and Harry McGurk due to injuries, Team Manager Garry May spent hours on the phone ahead of the clash, trying to book suitable replacements.

For various and understandable reasons, including overseas bookings and injuries to some intended guests and also a fact that many riders contacted, had also ridden in numerous meetings, over 6-7 days per week for the past few weeks, the Westcolour Gladiators augmented James Wright and Adam Roynon in to the top 5 on much lower averages than the riders they replaced and Connor Coles in to the reserve berth. 

The Gladiators would like to thank James, Adam and Connor for their wonderful efforts and those of both Ben’s and Alfie from the original septet.

The perceived lack of fire-power drew some rather unfair and unjust comments from some keyboard warriors, as is the way sadly too often with Social Media and specialist Forums these days, but everyone who turned out to support the Westcolour Gladiators were treated to some outstanding entertainment on the refurbished track, which led to some fast times and thrills galore.

Once again, the track staff at The Coliseum led by Mark, showed that they are amongst the hardest working and best curators in the business, with tens of hours of hard graft rewarded with speedway the winner. Certainly we’d imagine that everyone who attended will want to return for more of the same in the coming weeks.

Ben Barker was both inspirational and outstanding on and off the track, with a sublime 6 ride, 17 point and 1 bonus point, Paid Maximum. The continued progress and maturity of the outstanding Alfie Bowtell was again in evidence with a 10 point and 1 bonus point return from 6 rides. 

Ben Morley, who once again in the wars through no fault of his own, turned in another great display from the reserve berth with 9 points and a bonus point from 5 rides. 

The Guest Riders gave 100% and deserve great credit for riding in positions in the Team that they would not normally fill and with Adam scoring 4 and a bonus and James 3 points they contributed together with Connor, who scored 2 points and a bonus point, to a result that even the most diehard Plymouth Supporter would have thought impossible.

It deserves emphasising that this was a team shorn of 4 riders with Ben Barker being the only official Heat Leader, Alfie Bowtell being the only regular top 5 rider and with Ben Morley, Connor Coles, James Wright and Adam Roynon giving excellent support. 

In addition, the Cheetahs were at near full strength with Scott Nicholls and Troy Batchelor ex-GP Riders, Premiership regulars and in the case of Scott a Multi British Champion, backed by Aaron Summers, Paul Starke and Cameron Heaps all regular Premiership performers in recent years and all Championship level Heat Leaders too in the past few seasons and with Nathan Stoneman a Coliseum Track expert. 

A massive THANK YOU to everyone who did attend and for your loud and vocal support of the team throughout. A great night for Plymouth Westcolour Gladiators Speedway and for the Sport. We must also thank the Oxford Cheetahs for the part they played and the sportsmanship shown in an excellent advert for the Sport. 

Full report to follow.

Plymouth Gladiators = 45

1. Ben Barker – 3, 3, 2’, 3, 3, 3 = 17+1 PAID MAXIMUM

2. Alfie Bowtell – 2’, 3, 3, 1, 1, 0 = 10+1

3. Adam Roynon (G) – 2’, 1, F, 1, F = 4+1

4. R/R for Edward Kennett (BB – 3, JW – 0, AB – 1, AR – F) = 4

5. James Wright (G) – 1, 0, 0, 2, 0 = 3

6. Ben Morley – 2, 0, 2’, 3, 2 = 9+1

7. Connor Coles (G) – X, 1, 1’ = 2+1

Oxford Cheetahs = 45

1. Scott Nicholls – 1, 3, 3, 2, 2 = 11

2. Paul Starke – 0, 2’, 2’, 1, R = 5+1

3. R/R for Jack Thomas (CH – 1, PS – 2’, CH – R, NS – 0) = 3+1

4. Aaron Summers – 0, 3, 2, 1’ = 6+1

5. Troy Batchelor – 3, 1, 3, 1’, 1’ = 9+2

6. Cameron Heeps – 3, 1, 0, 2’, R, 2, 3 = 11+1

7. Nathan Stoneman (G) – 1, 2’, 0, 0 = 3+1

Heat Results

Heat 01 Re-Run: Barker, Bowtell, Nicholls, Starke 5-1, 49.59

Heat 02 Re-Run: Heeps, Morley, Stoneman, Coles (X) 2-4, 7-5, 52.69

Heat 03: Barker, Roynon, Heeps, Summers 5-1, 12-6, 50.81

Heat 04 Re-Run: Batchelor, Stoneman, Wright, Morley 1-5, 13-11, 51.34

Heat 05: Nicholls, Starke, Roynon, Wright 1-5, 14-16, 50.06

Heat 06: Bowtell, Barker, Batchelor, Heeps 5-1, 19-17, 50.78

Heat 07 Re-Run: Summers, Starke, Coles, Wright 1-5, 20-22, 51.15

Heat 08: Bowtell, Morley, Starke, Stoneman 5-1, 25-23, 50.97

Heat 09: Batchelor, Heeps, Bowtell, Roynon (F) 1-5, 26-28, 53.07

Heat 10: Barker, Summers, Bowtell, Heeps (R) 4-2, 30-30, 52.19

Heat 11: Nicholls, Wright, Coles, Starke (R) 3-3, 33-33, 51.96

Heat 12: Morley, Heeps, Roynon, Stoneman 4-2, 37-35, 53.31

Heat 13 Re-Run: Barker, Nicholls, Batchelor, Wright 3-3, 40-38, 50.93

Heat 14: Heeps, Morley, Summers, Roynon (F) 2-4, 42-42, 52.88

Heat 15: Barker, Nicholls, Batchelor, Bowtell 3-3, 45-45, 50.81

Courtesy of Speedway Updates

Image Credit: Jon Sproad