REPORT: National Development Series (League Riders' Championship)

26/06/24

Sam Hagon added further silverware to his burgeoning collection after beating Middlesbrough's Jake Mulford in the National Development Series (League Riders Championship) held at Wimborne Road.

On the hottest Wednesday of the year plenty of water was required to mitigate the risk of too much dust with the pay off for that being a initial tricky surface to navigate, as Matt Marson witnessed when he slid off on the opening turn. In contrast though, start-of-season Pirate Max Perry enjoyed a very smooth ride following a good gate and received warm applause from the Poole faithful, most of whom had appreciated his Championship efforts for the Pirates. Those sentiments extended into heat two, when Perry's replacement in the Poole seven, Vinnie Foord stunned the pundits as he went under pre-meeting favourite, his Pirates' fellow reserve, Sam Hagon and then went on to win by a distance. Whilst most eyes were on the two leaders, Stene Pijper and Jamie Halder were playing out their own duel. There was no surprise to see late call-up Joe Thompson claim a tapes-to-flag win in heat three another former Pirate was unable to get their night off to a good start as Nathan Ablitt slid out in heat four, allowing Jake Mulford a relatively trouble free four laps.
A potential horror incident was remarkably avoided in heat five after Stene Pijper found himself in trouble leaving the tapes and veered towards the centre green. A grass track display saw him cut the first corner off and arrive at the apex of the north bend just as Ablitt and Sonny Springer were passing through it, with his brother following. With an unsatisfactory start ruled all four riders went again and Ablitt quickly took command of the race with the Pijper boys keeping Springer at bay. Perry was again providing the goods in heat six, this time holding out Hagon, but the British U21 champion was just able to produce the faster run to the line and snatched the victory from his former reserve partner. Another solid gate from Thompson was somewhat annulled as Ben Trigger made an outside pass and Foord sneaked up the inside whilst his Leicester team-mate was trying to cover the action on his right. Whilst Thompson was able to fight back on Trigger, he had no answer to a pretty happy Foord who now had two wins to his name. He was joined on six points in heat eight when Jake Mulford found some good drive round the first bend, the race coming to an early conclusion when second-placed Dayle Wood fell at the start of the third lap.
Heat nine saw Thompson having to take evasive action at the first turn as Mulford's rear wheel came across him. In the four man re-run, Hagon made a swift escape from the tapes and never looked back. If he had he would have seen Thompson chasing Mulford's back wheel throughout and the final one-to-three in this heat happened to be the order in which they would occupy the rostrum later on. Perry spent heat ten pushing Wood hard throughout before having to settle for another second place (7 points from 3 starts). Trigger was a runaway winner of heat eleven but there was no such thing in heat twelve after Foord missed the gate. He had plenty to make up, but wasted little time in going under Ablitt at end of first lap 1. There was an immediate comeback from Ablitt and the battle continued until, on the final lap, Ablitt locked up at the first turn and spun off, allowing Foord to record win number three for a perfect start to his meeting.
But things were to change for the ever-trying Foord immediately after the interval, as after a none-too clever start he spent the whole of heat thirteen trying to move Wood out of second as his Leicester buddy, Springer, led from the outside. Thompson was again on the deck following a tight opening turn in heat fourteen which again saw all four permitted back. Back on his machine after some desperately quick mechanical tweaks, he was way off in the distance, once the re-start got underway. Ablitt in second had to be on full alert throughout for he had Perry breathing down on him. Mulford and Trigger spent the first lap of heat fifteen trading places before Mulford took command to celebrate his third win from four. In heat sixteen, Marson looked quick out of the traps but Hagon was even quicker to match Mulford's tally.
Into the last batch of heats and Springer made it a strong finish to his night, producing his second win on the bounce, whilst behind him, Max James' problems with negotiating the track once again showed, but this time he stayed aboard (unlike in his previous two rides) despite riding the barrier on first turn of heat seventeen. Ace Pijper was a faller in heat eighteen, offering a reprise for Foord who had reared badly at the gate. In the re-start (this time with only three rides with Pijper disqualified) he was a fraction too static and conceded valuable ground to leader Mulford and Perry. Heading down the back straight Foord then lifted badly right behind Perry's rear wheel and took a spectacular fall and a costly disqualification, both in terms of the meeting and his fitness, damaging his hand in the incident. Perry was unable to make any impression in the 'match-race' re-run, which would have favoured his old team mage Hagon had he taken points off Mulford.
Instead, Hagon knew nothing other than a win would give him the chance of the title, and boy, what a way to deliver! Spectacularly, he kept the power wound on round the outside and in one wide sweep went from last to first within half a lap to ensure a run-off would be required to determine the meeting winner. Before that was to be resolved, Joe Thompson claimed his third win of the night to secure overall third, edging both Perry and Foord out of an extra battle that would have decided the final rostrum place.
But the one run-off that was required ended in an emphatic win for Hagon, a verdict that was warmly received by the enthusiastic crowd that had turned out for this special event.
Result:
1st Sam Hagon (Belle Vue)
2nd Jake Mulford (Middlesbrough)
after run off
3rd Joe Thompson

1. Sonny Springer (Leicester) 8 (2,0,0,3,3)
2. Max Perry (Edinburgh) 10 (3,2,2,1,2)
3. Ben Trigger (Middlesbrough) 7 (R,1,3,2,1)
4. Matt Marson (Belle Vue) 9 (1,2,2,2,2)
5. Stene Pijper (Scunthorpe/Sheffield) 4 (1,1,1,1,0)
6. Sam Hagon (Belle Vue) 14 (2,3,3,3,3)
7. Vinnie Foord (Leicester) 10 (3,3,3,1,FD)
8. Jamie Halder (Middlesbrough) 4 (0,1,1,0,2)
9. Ace Pijper (Scunthorpe/Sheffield) 4 (1,2,0,1,FX)
10. Connor Coles (Non Starter) (Edinburgh) 0 (NS,NS,NS,NS,NS)
11. Joe Thompson (Leicester) 12 (3,2,1,3,3)
12. Dayle Wood (Edinburgh) 7 (2,FD,3,2,0)
13. Nathan Ablitt (Scunthorpe/Sheffield) 7 (F,3,F,2,2)
14. Jacob Clouting (Oxford) 5 (1,1,2,0,1)
15. Max James (Leicester) 2 (2,0,F,F,0)
16. Jake Mulford (Middlesbrough) 14 (3,3,2,3,3)
Ht.1 M.Perry, S.Springer, M.Marson, B.Trigger(rtd) [63.06]
Ht.2 V.Foord, S.Hagon, S.Pijper, J.Halder [61.09]
Ht.3 J.Thompson , D.Wood, A.Pijper, C.Coles (Non Starter) [63.9]
Ht.4 J.Mulford, M.James, J.Clouting, N.Ablitt(fell) [62.13]
Ht.5 N.Ablitt, A.Pijper, S.Pijper, S.Springer [63.32]
Ht.6 S.Hagon, M.Perry, J.Clouting, C.Coles (Non Starter) [62.81]
Ht.7 V.Foord, J.Thompson , B.Trigger, M.James [62.38]
Ht.8 J.Mulford, M.Marson, J.Halder, D.Wood(fell disqualified) [awd]
Ht.9 S.Hagon, J.Mulford, J.Thompson , S.Springer [60.6]
Ht.10 D.Wood, M.Perry, S.Pijper, M.James(fell) [64.21]
Ht.11 B.Trigger, J.Clouting, J.Halder, A.Pijper [62.57]
Ht.12 V.Foord, M.Marson, N.Ablitt(fell), C.Coles (Non Starter) [awd]
Ht.13 S.Springer, D.Wood, V.Foord, J.Clouting [62.1]
Ht.14 J.Thompson , N.Ablitt, M.Perry, J.Halder [61.5]
Ht.15 J.Mulford, B.Trigger, S.Pijper, C.Coles (Non Starter) [61.97]
Ht.16 S.Hagon, M.Marson, A.Pijper, M.James(fell) [61.25]
Ht.17 S.Springer, J.Halder, M.James, C.Coles (Non Starter) [62.66]
Ht.18 J.Mulford, M.Perry, V.Foord(fell disqualified), A.Pijper(fell disqualified) [6213]
Ht.19 S.Hagon, N.Ablitt, B.Trigger, D.Wood [61.54]
Ht.20 J.Thompson , M.Marson, J.Clouting, S.Pijper [62.46]
Race off: 1st S.Hagon 2nd J.Mulford [61.34]