South East division 1.
East London 67 .
Nicky Gunkel 16 (6), Steve Woodruff 14 (6), Richard Austin 13 (6), Dave Hughes 10+1 (6), Kevin Burt 8 (6), Adam Burt 6 (6) .
Ipswich Whirlwinds 113 .
Pierce Bacon 23 (6), Lewis Roberts 20 +4 (6), Ben Harvey 18 +5 (6), Leon Mower 18 +2 (6), Lauren Jacobs 18 (6), Harrison Bacon 16 (6) .
Ipswich made the long journey south to Silver town to face the experienced East London team; some of their riders were riding even before some of the Ipswich youngsters were even born, which is great testament to the lads of London .
On paper it always looked a miss match with the Whirlwinds in such fine form at this present time and high on confidence which is flowing through out the whole club from top to bottom, the Suffolk base side wasted no time in setting the tone for the rest of match taking the first four heats. In heat five Nicky Gunkel took the flag for the Londoners in a shared heat this alas was London only joy in the opening half as Ipswich stormed to an interval lead of 28 points.
With the match already wrapped up ,it was a chance to see the Whirlwinds up coming stars put to the test. Ben Harvey and Pierce Bacon who are forming a formidable partnership. In heat eleven they were seemingly out-foxed by Hughes and Gunkel and staring into a 7-3 reverse, but they both kept their cool and were able to force Gunkel into a mistake while under intense pressure and rescued the heat to take a share in the spoils. These two fourteen years olds are starting to make a impression in their first full season at this level, having now only dropped one heat in twelve outings together. While these two riders are making all the headlines let’s don’t forget the contribution from the other members in the shape of the more seniors riders who are more than willing to past on any good advise on where they can still improve on .
Today also saw Ipswich give a debut to twelve year old Harrison Bacon, in no way overawed by the occasion scoring a wonderful 16 points including two heat wins, and voted Whirlwinds’ Man of the Match .