Thirty three riders from nine upwards to sixteen years of age converged on Beaumont Park yesterday to take part in Round 5 of the British Youth Championship.
It was a feast of speedway and the show was super slick with thirty-seven races completed in just less than three hours.
The racing was competitive as the future stars of tomorrow battled it out in each of the four sections to earn a place in the finals.
The senior section ended with Jordan Jenkins winning the final ahead Kyle Bickley and Tom Brennan, who between them had won each of the previous four rounds of the competition, and Luke Woodhull. Jenkins had previously dropped a potential three points in the qualifying section after he was excluded for being the primary cause of a stoppage but in the final he showed a clean pair of heels ahead of Bickley and Brennan who were having their own private contest for second place with Brennan just snatching it on the finishing line.
In the 250cc category Leon Flint, who had accumulated the most points in the qualifying races, was a comfortable winner from the gate.
The line-up for the 150cc class part of the meeting included Nathan Ablitt. He was the rider to beat having won each of the previous four rounds at Glasgow, Scunthorpe, King’s Lynn and Rye House without dropping a point. Ablitt continued his winning sequence with an unbeaten score in his qualifying heats and final to extend the sequence at Leicester to twenty-five straight wins.
The field for the 125cc engine capacity numbered the most competitors, fifteen in total and Leicester’s two mascots the Thompson twins Joe and Dan finished top of the leader-board with twelve and eleven points respectively ahead of Mickie Simpson and Jordan Palin.
With the Thompson twins and Jordan Palin in the final it was almost a replica of the British 125cc Championship at Berwick with the exception of Mickie Simpson. This time it was Joe who led home his brother to claim the top step on the rostrum ahead of Simpson and Palin.
BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP Round 5, Leicester
500cc
1 Jordan Jenkins
2 Tom Brennan
3 Kyle Bickley
4 Luke Woodhull
250cc
1 Leon Flint
2 Drew Kemp
3 Jason Edwards
4 Arran Butcher
150cc
1 Nathan Ablitt
2 Kieron McCoy
3 Jamie Bursill
4 Mason O’Rourke
125cc
1 Joe Thompson
2 Dan Thompson
3 Mickie Simpson
4 Jordan Palin
OFFICIAL REFEREE SCORECARDS
British Youth Championship - Round 5 (125cc), Leicester
British Youth Championship - Round 5 (150cc), Leicester
British Youth Championship - Round 5 (250cc), Leicester
British Youth Championship - Round 5 (500cc), Leicester
Pictures: MARK HALL
