Heat by Heat Results - October 1985

Into the final month of the season - and the Dukes' title hopes were finally ended with a home capitulation to local rivals Sheffield - who now became Oxford's only challengers for the title. And it was Shawn Moran - who had predicted the Dukes as potential title winners at the start of the season - who led the demolition. Only Neil Evitts and guest Simon Wigg were able to win races, and the last places and problems from earlier in the season returned. Sheffield's Martin Hagon was leading heat 4 when he fell, otherwise the damage would have been worse. Evitts passed both Busk and Nikolajsen in heat 6 for his win, but the Dukes 100% home league record was gone.

The meeting with Swindon was quickly re-scheduled for the following week - and the Dukes laboured to a 10 point victory, despite being 15-3 up after 3 heats, and lost the bonus point to the Robins. Rod Hunter raced to his best performance of the season, but was denied a maximum when guest Morton was excluded, after crashing trying to pass Bo Petersen in the final heat. In the re-run, the Dane gated, and Hunter was unable to find a way past. The Robins were unhappy with the damp track early on, and slipped 16 points behind, but performed better once the track dried out. Swindon guest Peter Collins was actually appearing as a guest at The Shay for the very first time.

The Yorkshire Open Championship, postponed in August, was re-staged as the season drew to a conclusion - and a popular 1-2-3 of Dukes stood on the podium at the end. Neil Evitts recovered from a surprise 3rd place in heat 1 to record 4 wins and 13 points. He was joined by team-mate Eric Monaghan, who beat Evitts in the first race but then dropped 2 points next time out. Evitts defeated Monaghan in the run off to take the title and the £200 prize. Kurt Hansen excelled in the conditions to grab 3 impressive wins, including defeats of Peter Collins, Chris Morton and Peter Ravn, to finish 3rd. Ravn withdrew from the meeting after blowing his engine in heat 12. Doug Wyer was a late call-up, replacing Preben Eriksen.

The Dukes gave one of their better performances at Ipswich in recent memory, eventually slipping to an 8 point defeat - but securing the bonus point. The Witches had tried to boost their top 5 with the sensational return of Dennis Sigalos for the last month of the season, but the former World number 3 was still clearly struggling following his serious ankle injury, and rode borrowed machinery after blowing an engine in his second ride. Halifax clung to the Witches largely due to the efforts of guest Bo Petersen and skipper Evitts, who between them had their only heat wins. Doncaster and Cook were both unbeaten for the home side, but Petersen's win in the final race clinched the bonus point for the Dukes.

Halifax completed their league campaign - and thought of what might have been - as they lost by 16 points in an entertaining match at Belle Vue. Peter Collins ended the season with a maximum, whilst brother Neil was an excellent choice of guest for the Dukes, grabbing 3 wins in his 11 points, with Neil Evitts unlucky to not score more than his 8 points. Eric Monaghan won heat 2 but was lucky to escape injury after a coming together with Kenny McKinna in heat 8 - the Scot suffering a broken collar bone. Two heat victories in the last 2 races made the score-line look worse than it should have been, but Halifax by then had run out of steam.

The 1985 season ended at The Shay with the Northern Threes - a 3 Team Tournament featuring the Dukes and their biggest rivals, Belle Vue and Sheffield. The Aces narrowly came out on top courtesy of a vintage 13 points from Peter Collins, although Neil Evitts for the Dukes and Les Collins for the Tigers were all good value. Kurt Hansen had a good couple of second places filling in for Sheffield, but it was mostly a typical end of season show. There were no fireworks at the end of the meeting, due to the expense, and the crowd drifted away to hopefully return next March...