ASTLEY and Tyldesley began their defence of all three Northern League titles with emphatic wins in each division, as they welcomed Stockport to Gin Pit on a fine and bright Sunday afternoon.

A&T had Steve Harris, Pawel Idziorek and Kamil Bielica all making their competitive debuts for Team Green against last year’s Division One runners-up.

The hosts opened with a 6-4 success in heat one, but Stockport took the lead with a 7-2 win in heat two, after Kyle Holland was excluded at the start.

A&T hit back, two 7-3 wins moving them into a 22-17 lead. And the home team controlled the match after this, banging in four more 7-3 heats to lead 88-61 going into the 16th race, which was the first of three nominated heats.

Stockport took a 7-3 win in heat 16, but A&T wrapped up the match with two 7-3 heat wins to make the final score 105-74.

In an impressive team performance Idziorek raced to a fine 20-point maximum score and recorded the fastest time of the match, winning heat three in 40.76 seconds.

Reece Pollitt scored 19, plus three bonuses, and Steve Harris and Bielica both notched up 17 with bonuses of three and two respectively.

In the Division Two match, A&T raced to a convincing 83-56 win against a Stockport team fielding just their four eligible riders.

Max Evans top-scored with 17 in a solid-scoring A&T outing, with all riders impressing, the only blot being a heavy fall for Charlie Burgess at the completion of heat 13.

There was a 122-0 whitewash win for A&T in their opening Division Three match.

Frank White and Aiden Green both dropped a point to each other in the u10s match, including an exciting fourth heat, when both riders fell and remounted to take first and second places, respectively.

John White raced unbeaten in the u13s to collect 16 points with Frank White and Green finishing with 15 points apiece.