DOYLE CLAIMS SECOND TITLE

World Champion Jason Doyle returned to his old stomping ground and delivered a superb performance to win Britain's top league individual honours for the second time in his career.

The reigning world champion, who begins the defence of his world crown this weekend in Warsaw, stood head and shoulders above the opposition with only Poole's Brady Kurtz and Swindon's Troy Batchelor looking of any real threat to the Somerset Rebel during the heat, despite Sam Masters heading Doyle home as early as heat 2.

Whilst Doyle, the 2015 Elite League Riders' Champion,  just got better and better as the meeting progressed, Kurtz just couldn't maintain the solid form that he began the meeting in and had to negotiate the semi-final before he had a shot at the title.

Running a last place in his final programmed ride (heat 17 where he came up against Doyle)  robbed Kurtz of the right to go direct to the final, Batchelor's third straight win in heat 19 allowing him that right, but Kurtz wasted no time in claiming the repercharge victory with former Poole captain Hans Andersen hot on his heels to also book a place in the final.

Doyle though was well dialled in. He had made some superb wide sweeps on the second turn during the heats, but made certain he was in command in the final whilst Kurtz had to concentrate his efforts, unsuccessfully, in having to get by third place Andersen as Batchelor held second..

It was a miserable night for Pirates' skipper Josh Grajczonek who with just four thrid places from his five rides is still looking for his best form this term.

Doyle celebrated his success admitting "To get back on the top step and enjoy my racing again is a nice way to start the year, especially after a tough couple of weeks, I am trying to have fun but that hasn’t been the case, I have been putting too much pressure on myself to be the world champion and score as many points as possible.

“We had to rethink our strategy and focus on enjoying things"

1 J.Doyle 2, 3, 2, 3, 3 = 13+3

2.T.Batchelor 2, 2, 3, 3, 3 = 13+2
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3 H.Andersen 0, 2, 3, 3, 2 = 10+1
4 B.Kurtz 3, 3, 3, 2, 0 = 11+0
5 C.Harris 3, 3, 0, 1, 2 = 9
6 J.Thorssell 2, 3, 1, 3, 0 = 9
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7 M.Fricke 1, 1, 2, 2, 3 = 9
8 T.Proctor 1, 2, 1, 0, 3 = 7
9 N.Morris 3, 2, 0, 1, 1 = 7
10 C.Wright 2, 0, 2, 2, 1 = 7
11 S.Masters 3, 0, 3, 0, 0 = 6
12 N.Iversen 0, 0, 2, 2, 2 = 6
13 A.Ellis 1, 1, 0, 1, 2 = 5
14 J.Grajczonek 1, 1, 0, 1, 1 = 4
15 K.Newman 0, 1, 1, 0, 1 = 3
16 S.Nicholls 0, 0, 1, 0, 0 = 1

 Ht.1 C.Harris, T.Batchelor, A.Ellis, H.Andersen( 59.53)
 Ht.2 S.Masters, J.Doyle, T.Proctor, S.Nicholls( 59.56)
 Ht.3 N.Morris, C.Wright, J.Grajczonek, K.Newman( 59.47)
 Ht.4 B.Kurtz, J.Thorssell, M.Fricke, N.Iversen( 59.87)
 Ht.5 C.Harris, T.Proctor, J.Grajczonek, N.Iversen( (rtd) 59.81)
 Ht.6 J.Thorssell, N.Morris, A.Ellis, S.Masters( (rtd) 59.50)
 Ht.7 B.Kurtz, T.Batchelor, K.Newman, S.Nicholls( 60.16)
 Ht.8 J.Doyle, H.Andersen, M.Fricke, C.Wright( 60.69)
 Ht.9 S.Masters, M.Fricke, K.Newman, C.Harris( 61)
 Ht.10 B.Kurtz, C.Wright, T.Proctor, A.Ellis (60.88)
 Ht.11 T.Batchelor, J.Doyle, J.Thorssell, J.Grajczonek (60.81)
 Ht.12 H.Andersen, N.Iversen, S.Nicholls, N.Morris( fell exc) (69.63)
 Ht.13 J.Thorssell, C.Wright, C.Harris, S.Nicholls( NS) (61.35)
 Ht.14 J.Doyle, N.Iversen, A.Ellis, K.Newman( 60.97)
 Ht.15 T.Batchelor, M.Fricke, N.Morris, T.Proctor( fell 61.28)
 Ht.16 H.Andersen, B.Kurtz, J.Grajczonek, S.Masters( 61.6)
 Ht.17 J.Doyle, C.Harris, N.Morris, B.Kurtz( 61.13)
 Ht.18 M.Fricke, A.Ellis, J.Grajczonek, S.Nicholls( NS 61.38)
 Ht.19 T.Batchelor, N.Iversen, C.Wright, S.Masters( 61.22)
 Ht.20 T.Proctor, H.Andersen, K.Newman, J.Thorssell( 61.63)
 Ht 21 (SF) B.Kurtz, H.Andersen, J.Thorssell, C.Harris (60.87)
Ht.22 J.Doyle, T.Batchelor, H.Andersen, B.Kurtz( 61.06)

Picture: LES AUBREY