Heat by Heat Results - July 1980

July began at The Shay with a Saturday night challenge match with Leicester Lions. Kenny Carter was with the England WTC squad in Vojens for the Intercontinental Final, so the Dukes shuffled the pack, with Janke taking the number 1 race-jacket, and Stansfield, Sheard and Westwell all getting the chance to impress. Leicester's all-round strength showed, as they led the meeting from the very first heat, with Pole Huszcza only beaten by Janke in heat 12. Cartwright won 4 heats, but crucially was beaten into 3rd in heat 7 to restore the Lions' 8 point lead.

Two meetings on consecutive days as the Dukes squeezed in their home leg of the IL4TT on the Sunday afternoon. Already virtually assured of their place in finals day, the Dukes made no mistake, dropping only 6 points to the opposition. Carter, back from WTC duty, eased to a full house, with Pendlebury, Janke and Cartwright all in the points. Sheffield edged the Sigalos and Mauger-less Vikings into third place, but Hull had already done enough to book their place at Wolverhampton. Wayne Brown looked impressive for Berwick, although they were still outclassed by their British League opponents.

NB - the original programme for the rained-off meeting from Saturday 14/6/80 was used for this meeting.

A solid performance from a title-chasing Hackney side proved too good for the Dukes, who relied heavily on Carter, Cartwright and Pyszny, who scored all but 4 of their points. The Hawks were in charge from the start, with the Dukes top 2 relegated to the minor places in heat 1. Pyszny won heats 2 and 4, but once Petersen beat Carter in heat 5, the gap was up to 6 - and the Dukes never got nearer for the rest of the night. Cartwright frustratingly failed to get to the line in heat 9, and the 5-1 from Petersen and Jankowski effectively put the match out of reach.

Whilst The Shay was hosting the National League Pairs Championship, the Dukes took the trip down the M1 to Brandon. It was an off-night for Halifax, as the Bees hit a pair of 5-1s to start the night, and the Dukes never recovered. The gap was kept to 6 points going into heat 8, but the tactical substitution of Cartwright back-fired when he ran a last, and the Bees increased their lead. Although Carter won his TS ride in heat 9, it was his only race win, in a strangely subdued performance. Janke was the best of the Dukes, scoring paid 9 from his 4 rides, but the visitors had no answer to Shirra (12) and Olsen (11) for the Bees.

Five Dukes travelled to Wolverhampton for the 4s Finals Day. Halifax were drawn in Semi Final 2 against Hull, Eastbourne and Birmingham. The Vikings however were lacking Mauger, Sigalos and Beaton, and as a result were never in contention. The Dukes and Birmingham traded blows throughout the match, easing through to the final at the expense of the Eagles, a further 5 points back. The Dukes however were deprived of skipper Cartwright for the rest of the meeting after being brought crashing down on the first bend by Kudrna of Birmingham in heat 9. The Czech former world finalist was at it again in heat 14, resulting in complaints from the remaining teams, and was later missing from the final...

Without Skipper Ian Cartwright, the Dukes were never seriously in with a shout of the title, and so it proved, as both they and Birmingham trailed into the distance behind King's Lynn and Cradley Heath. Pyszny was promoted into the main 4, but Carter's 6 points was as good as the Dukes could muster, as they slumped to 4th place. The title went to a last heat decider, as Cradley pulled back an 8 point deficit with only 6 races remaining, and when Grahame won heat 15 with Hellsen last, the scores were tied. Bruce Penhall then beat Jessup (and Carter) in the final race to take the title for the Heathens.

With Ian Cartwright absent following his 4s finals day crash, the Dukes slumped to their heaviest defeat of the season at Wimborne Road. Carter managed their only race win in heat 11, with Pyszny getting 3rd place for a 4-2 - their only positive result of the night. Every other heat was either a 5-1 or a 4-2 to the Pirates as Halifax were simply torn apart. Apart from Carter and Pyszny, Janke was the only Duke to beat a home rider all night in heat 10. McKeon was off the pace, suffering an engine failure early on, and falling in his 3rd outing.

Kenny Carter smashed The Shay track record in heat 1, knocking 0.4 seconds from Peter Collins' previous best from the previous August. That paved the way for a surprisingly comfortable win against the Aces, for whom only Collins provided a consistent threat. Carter was only beaten by Collins in heat 6, but with backing from the remaining 5 Dukes, Halifax kept stretching their lead. Chris Morton put 2 disappointing rides behind him to feature in 5-1s for the Aces in heats 11 and 13 to make the score look closer than the visitors deserved. The Dukes only ran 2 last places in the whole meeting to run out convincing winners.