Miniacs Team Meeting with Scunthorpe Amateur Speedway

Miniacs – Team Minibike Race Report

The excitement around the first ever team minibike race was palpable with interest from riders and spectators alike and the teams from the DTRA and Scunthorpe Speedway were looking forward to some good racing.

The DTRA team of Adam Waller, Craig Smith, Lee Jordan, Skye Adams and George Hopper were ready to face Scunthorpe’s team, led by their own speedway legend, ex elite league rider, Wayne Carter. Simon Ellis, Lee Sanderson, Colin Willerton and Michael Smith completed Scunthorpe’s line up.

The race was contested over 6 heats of 4 laps with teams choosing which of their riders would roll out into pre-determined grid positions. Points were scored for the team based on each rider’s finishing position.

When the tapes went up in heat 1 Wayne Carter was in turn one before any of the other riders were off the line and easily took the heat win ahead of Colin Willerton with Adam Waller cutting through from row 2 to take third. With Scunthorpe locking out the whole front row for heat two it didn’t look like a great start for the DTRA but strong riding from Lee Jordan and Adam Waller, with an engine failure for Scunthorpe’s Lee Sanderson left the DTRA team trailing by only 6 points after the two heats.

With trackside spectators cheering the teams on Skye Adams capitalised on her front row starts and proceeded to challenge Wayne Carter, the first rider to do so. With two amazing rides she narrowly lost out taking second in both heats. Followed home in heat 4 by Lee Jordan and Adam Waller the DTRA took their first heat win 12-10 and going into heat 5 still trailing by only 6 points. Further down the order Mike Smith took his first points of the day ahead of his brother and DTRA rider Craig Smith

Reserve Rider George Hopper came in for Skye in Heat 5 and took the holeshot leaving Wayne Carter facing his first race defeat of the day. It was a fantastically strong ride from George bringing huge cheers trackside from the DTRA fans as they looked to close the scores. With DTRA riders taking places 3, 4 and 6 the club took a massive 14-8 heat win.

Both teams rolled out for the last heat level on 55 points each. With Craig Smith being substituted for Skye Adams and with George Hopper still in play things were looking good for the DTRA. When the tapes went up Skye and George did what was needed and left Wayne Carter and the Scunthorpe team in the dust. The other DTRA riders made a poor start off row two and despite pushing hard only managed 5th and 7th but it made little difference as the two young riders’ dominant display was sufficient to ensure an overall win for the DTRA 69-63