REACTION: HAGON TAKES TITLE AFTER RACE OFF

Poole's promising young reserve Sam Hagon showed true composure to underpin his pre-meeting favourite tag as he lifted the National League Riders' Championship at Wimborne Road.

The British U21 Champion didn't have it all his own way on the night and had to come through a race-off against Middlesbrough's Jake Mulford, before being crowned the winner, after both riders finished on fourteen points a piece, and the bubbly Hagon admitted
"To be fair after the first ride I thought I was completely out of it. You know it was everyone's sort of game and I was the one that fluffed it my first race. The track was good towards the end but at the start it was too wet. As you saw there were a lot of crashes and the leaders were miles in front and everyone else struggling at the back. Towards the end of the night it was brilliant and we kind of changed a couple of bits and it kind of showed where I was. Even in the last heat race I went from last to first in one corner which was really cool I have to say because I kind of didn't think I was going to get there. Nathan (Ablitt) didn't leave much room and I just managed to get there but it's racing and I was glad to get back on top.
I think I got a bit fortunate in Vinny (Foord) losing a couple but he beat me fair and square and he was going good until the track began to get better and unfortunately he got beat up a little bit. That is the good thing about these events. There are twenty heats and you don't often see riders max out especially at this level where we are all pretty young. So all I needed to do after my first one was to get some wins and to be fair to Max Perry he rode pretty good and I just got lucky in beating him to the line in my second race and that kind of kept me in it."

Poole promoter Dan Ford praised all the riders for putting on  good night's entertainment and candidly admitted "we kind of knew we had to sacrifice the first round of heats because we knew that we had to get as much water as possible into the track as there was a real threat that on such a lovely summer day, probably the best of the year, the track would dry out and get too dusty. I feel that we averted that and so a big thanks to the track staff for all their efforts. I was quite impressed with several of the riders on show and that has given me some food for thought for the future."

Those attending the meeting witnessed some entertaining racing not least from riders with Poole connections. Recently released Max Perry looked far more comfortable than he had during his early season spell with the Pirates, winning the opening heat before seeing a second victory snatched from under his nose by Hagon in heat six. The rider that replaced Perry in the Poole side, Vinnie Foord was leading the contest at the interval stage, with three straight victories under his belt, including a tight battle with 2022 Pirate Nathan Ablitt in heat twelve. Unfortunately for Foord his night ended with a damaged hand when he flipped his bike in his final ride, costing him a potential rostrum place.
Late call-up for the meeting, Joe Thompson, was the third occupant on the rostrum and he had an incident packed night, twice falling in first turn scraps.
Mulford was certainly a rider to be admired whilst Sonny Springer finished his night strongly.

Result:
1st Sam Hagon (Belle Vue)
2nd Jake Mulford (Middlesbrough)
after run off
3rd Joe Thompson

Sam Hagon (Belle Vue) 14 (2,3,3,3,3), Jake Mulford (Middlesbrough) 14 (3,3,2,3,3), Joe Thompson (Leicester) 12 (3,2,1,3,3), Vinnie Foord (Leicester) 10 (3,3,3,1,FD), Max Perry (Edinburgh) 10 (3,2,2,1,2), Matt Marson (Belle Vue) 9 (1,2,2,2,2), Sonny Springer (Leicester) 8 (2,0,0,3,3), Nathan Ablitt (Scunthorpe/Sheffield) 7 (F,3,F,2,2), Dayle Wood (Edinburgh) 7 (2,FD,3,2,0)
Ben Trigger (Middlesbrough) 7 (R,1,3,2,1), Jacob Clouting (Oxford) 5 (1,1,2,0,1), Jamie Halder (Middlesbrough) 4 (0,1,1,0,2),Ace Pijper (Scunthorpe/Sheffield) 4 (1,2,0,1,FD) Stene Pijper (Scunthorpe/Sheffield) 4 (1,1,1,1,0), Max James (Leicester) 2 (2,0,F,F,0), Connor Coles (Edinburgh) Non-Arrival (traffic)
 

Photo credit: Anthony Burchell