The London Loonies - better known as speedway stars Scott Campos (Isle of Wight) and Richard Andrews (Plymouth) – followed up their Best Pairs title from last year with a repeat performance at Smallbrook last night.
Six sponsored duos took to the track to contest this annual meeting with some sparkling individual performance eventually being countered by the solid team work of the Loonies. One of those individual highlights came from teenager Jason Edwards (Mildenhall) representing the Stamford Bridge Renegades who showed all the panache of a future top level star, whilst Leon Flint (Belle Vue Colts) representing Keen’s Warriors, a late replacement for illness absentee Warrior Georgie Wood, demonstrated all the flair that has earned him a place in GB’s Under 21 World Team Cup squad. Also in the big points was IOW skipper Ben Morley with just one defeat in six outings on behalf of The Three Amigos.
After the qualifying section of the meeting Campos and Andrews topped the score chart and set up a semi-final against Connor Coles (Stoke) and Chris Widman (IOW) on behalf of the Wight Spitfires and in a closely contested race Andrews passed Widman to join Campos in the minor places to secure progress to the Grand Final winning the heat 5-4.
The second semi final pitted Flint and Chad Wirtzfeld (IOW) against Morley and Connor King (IOW) and for much of the race it looked as if Morley and King were destined for the final but disaster struck King on the last bend as he went into the corner with too much speed and took a heavy fall. The resultant 5-4 win to Flint and Wirtzfeld saw them into the Grand Final.
The Grand Final was the two pair’s seventh race on the night and no doubt calling on their experience of last year’s final, Campos and Andrews had a clear strategy to avoid the dreaded last place. As the tapes rose Flint flew to the first turn but his partner Wirtzfeld had been out manoeuvred and found himself at the back of the pack and despite non-stop effort he could not make an impact on the holders who rounded off a consistent night with a 5-4 heat win to clinch victory.
After the meeting, winning Warrior Scott Campos said, “It’s great to win this for the second year. Rich and me knew it was important to avoid last places and to start off with a maximum heat win over Leon and Chad set us up nicely on the night. In the final we knew Leon had the set up and would probably make the start so getting second and third was the plan and I’m pleased we made it count”.