THERE was another busy week for Astley & Tyldesley's cycle speedway racers, which saw the talented group of riders pick up more silverware as the season reaches its business end of proceedings.

The Manchester League Senior Grand Prix Final was staged under the Gin Pit floodlights on Thursday evening. A & T's Polish star Przemek Binkowski was in a fast, determined mood all evening. He won his opening two rides, as did the defending champion, Terry Norman, of Tameside. The two main contenders met in heat 9, and Binkowski raced away to win convincingly, in the fastest time of the night. Both riders won their final races, so the title went to Binkowski, the first foreign rider to win in the event's 49 year history, and A & T's second winner of this event. Tameside's Chris Eaton finished 3rd, with a great performance by A & T's Jeff Radcliffe that saw him finish 4th and beat his personal best time.

The action moved to Bury on Sunday for the final round of the Northern Fours and Junior League series. Barring disasters, the Senior Fours League titles and Junior League titles were set to be clinched by Goshen and Sheffield respectively, and the expected outcomes were duly achieved.

Astley & Tyldesley went into their Northern Fours League match looking for their third successive win. In a very closely contested match, A & T led at the half way stage, by just 1 point from Heckmondwike. A solid second half performance looked to have clinched victory for A & T, but Heckmondwike came up with a surprise 7-3 win in the last heat over Stockport, to draw level with A & T. Przemek Binkowski raced unbeaten in this match and combined excellently with his younger partners. Despite an excellent second half of the season, A & T finished a disappointing 8th out of 9 teams in the final Northern Fours League table, and paid the price for a wretched start to the season.

Northern Fours League match score:

Stockport 38 Astley & Tyldesley Miners' Welfare / CTA Direct 41 Heckmondwike / DB Dental 41.

Astley & Tyldesley scorers:

Przemek Binkowski 15 (plus 1 bonus), Jeff Radcliffe 9 (2), Rob Longworth 8 (1), Becky Heslop 8, Chris Smith 1.

Astley & Tyldesley put in a great showing in the Northern Junior League match, and their score of 107 points would normally guarantee victory. However, on this occasion this score was surpassed by both Sheffield and Bury. Jeff Radcliffe scored his first ever maximum with some determined riding in the Senior Combination category, with Becky Heslop also unbeaten in the U-13 category. A & T finished runners-up in the final Northern Junior League table, out of seven teams.

Northern Junior League match final score:

Sheffield 124 Bury / Pedalsport 117 Astley & Tyldesley Miners' Welfare / CTA Direct 107 Hull 54 Tameside 28 Heckmondwike / DB Dental 26 Scotia / Lantis Leisure 14.

Astley & Tyldesley scorers:

Becky Heslop 16, Jeff Radcliffe 16, Roy Heslop 13, Mike Hack 13, Chris Smith 12, John Nuttall 11, Rob Longworth 10, Daniel Swales 9, Dylan Radcliffe 7.

In addition, three of the four Individual Grand Prix titles were still up for grabs, with only A & T's Mike Hack having clinched the Senior Combination category at Scotia last month. Having missed an early round, A & T's Becky Heslop had been playing catch up all season in the U-13 series. She started the day 2 points behind the series leader, Lewis Riley, of Tameside. Another immaculate 16 points maximum score to Becky saw her retain her Northern U-13 Grand Prix title, by just 2 points, as Riley finished the day with 12 points, to take 2nd place overall. Peter Pearson of Sheffield clinched the closely fought U-16 series, with Hull's Chris Cooke taking the U-19 series. A good performance by A & T's Roy Heslop saw him take 2nd place overall in the Snior Combination series.