Former Monarch Barry Campbell ensured a place in the British Under-21 Championship at Armadale by winning the second semi-final held at the Isle of Wight on Wednesday night.
Barry scored a 15-point maximum on the big Smallbrook track to head Matt Read and the highly fancied Oliver Allen. Campbell also broke the lap record for the recently reshaped circuit. The other qualifiers are Matt Read (Arena Essex) on 14 points, Oliver Allen (Swindon) 12 points, Darren Groves (Workington) on 11, and Paul Clews (Reading) on 10 points. The reserve will be Gary Corbett (Arena Essex) who scored 9 points.
The leading non-qualifiers were local favourite Glen Phillips (Isle of Wight) on 8 points and the Reading pairing of Marc Norris and Shane Colvin on 7 points each. The result was probably as expected apart from the qualification of Darren Groves ahead of Gary Corbett. Groves is from Australia but is British qualified. He was a late entrant to the semi-final coming in as one of a number of replacements for injured and unavailable riders.
The fact that Barry Campbell and his Workington teammate Darren Groves have both qualified will be welcome news to the Edinburgh promotion as it should ensure a healthy contingent of the Cumbrian travelling fans will be at Armadale. If Barry can rediscover his old Armadale form he could be a contender for the crown.
The Northern tracks are well represented in the final with two qualifiers each from Edinburgh, Workington, and Sheffield plus one each from Newcastle and Glasgow. Berwick have no representation for obvious reasons! The full field in racing order is:
1. Chris Neath (Newport)
2. Ross Brady (Edinburgh)
3. Simon Stead (Sheffield)
4. Lee Richardson (Coventry)
5. Aidan Collins (Glasgow)
6. Paul Clews (Reading)
7. Barry Campbell (Workington)
8. Paul Lee (Sheffield)
9. Matt Read (Arena Essex)
10. Grant MacDonald (Newcastle)
11. Danny Bird (Isle of Wight)
12. Oliver Allen (Swindon)
13. Andrew Appleton (Newport)
14. Darren Groves (Workington)
15. David Howe (Peterborough
16. Blair Scott (Edinburgh)
The reserves will be:
Jamie Birkinshaw (Sheffield)
Gary Corbett (Arena Essex)
A fuller report will appear here when details are available.