Belle Vue Junior Championship

THE full line up for the ATPi Belle Vue Junior Championship on Wednesday, July 28 (not in riding order) is:

Jake Anderson (age 20, Australia, PL team Somerset, NL Dudley), Rob Branford (16, Australia, NL Buxton), Micky Dyer (19, Australia, NL Dudley), Richard Franklin (17, NL Dudley), Jason Garrity (16, NL Buxton), Jack Hirst (16, unattached), Gary Irving (21, NL Scunthorpe), Adam Lowe (21, NL King's Lynn), John MacPhail (22, Scotland, unattached), Gino Manzares (16, America, unattached), Ashley Morris (16, Dudley), Nick Morris (16, Australia, PL Glasgow, NL Buxton), Scott Richardson (21, NL Scunthorpe), James Sarjeant (16, unattached), Chris Widman (20 - NL King's Lynn), Steve Worrall (18, NL Scunthorpe). 

The organisers are extremely grateful to Ian Sinderson, of ATPi, for agreeing to become the meeting main sponsor. Thanks also to Greggs the Bakers, who have paid for a complete new set of race jackets for the meeting and sponsored a heat.

Other heat sponsors are E Park and Sons, Weston Motorcycles, Speedway Star, and Warburtons. Two anonymous supporters have backed races, as has Jason Done from BBC1 TV show Waterloo Road.

The youngest rider in the field is Australian Nick Morris, who turned 16 last month. The oldest is Scotland's John MacPhail at 22. The average age of the competitors is 18.

A lot of people will have an eye on American Gino Manzares, who turns 17 in August. He rode in a recent second half event at Belle Vue and raised eyebrows by clocking a fast time of 61.4 seconds.

Gino came to Britain at Easter with the touring American Dream Team and decided to stay on to get as much experience of British tracks as possible. He has to go home in mid-August when his six- month visa expires, but he wants to come back to the UK as soon as possible.

The local challenge comes from Jason Garrity (Droylsden), Jack Hirst (Middleton), and Steve Worrall (St Helens). Garrity, who is racing for Buxton, is a former British U-15 champion and knows the Belle Vue circuit well.

Steve Worrall has made huge progress after only taking up the sport a year ago when he switched from moto-cross. His twin brother, Richie, has now also taken up speedway and is likely to be a meeting reserve.

Admission has been reduced to £5 for concessions and £10 for adults. Children will be admitted free of charge.

Members of the Junior Vue Supporters' Club have the chance to enter a free competition by contacting Karen Pollard, the Junior Vue Co-ordinator.

Of the children who enter, 16 will be drawn out at random and allocated to each of the competing riders. They will walk out onto the track with their rider for the pre-meeting parade.

At the end, the youngsters allocated to the top three finishers will be able to join their rider on the rostrum and will be presented with a trophy.

Sunday 18th July 2010