Birmingham Monarchs stormed to the victory at the ICSF European Club Championships in Newport over the bank holiday weekend.
Birmingham have become only the second British club to win this competition, ending a run of Polish wins ever since Southampton won in 2001.
Birmingham raced into an early nine points lead, after a crucial heat five when Gniezno's Greg Gluchowski was excluded after clashing with Birmingham's Ben Mould. However, a mid match revival by Gniezno saw them close the gap to just one point after heat 12. Birmingham then regained control to run out winners by seven points ahead of Gniezno. Ipswich won the battle of the Suffolk teams to finish third ahead of Kesgrave.
How it happened
Birmingham raced to a convincing win in their round one match, with Torun and Southampton also taking wins on the opening day of competition on Saturday.
The Monarchs took their second victory of the weekend at East Newport on Sunday, qualifying directly for the semi-finals. Polish team Gnezio also scored a win on the small technical track, before Southampton, Torun, Kesgrave and Ipswich all qualified. The repechage matches saw Newport take the win, with Horpath’s second place enough to secure them the last qualifying place for the semi-final.
Monday’s semi-finals saw Birmingham and Kesgrave qualify for the finals, while Gniezno were the comfortable winners of the second semi-final. Ipswich joined them in the final after beating Torun in a closely fought encounter.
A dominant Birmingham took home the overall win after a fantastic final, with the victors scoring 61 points. Gniezno secured 54 points, Ipswich won 44 points and Kesgrave came fourth on 37 points.
The British riders will next race at the Home Internationals and Women’s Pairs on Saturday 1 June in Leicester.
