HEATHENS hero Tom Perry secured the finest result of his career with a brilliant second place in Tuesday’s British Under-21 Final at Monmore Green.
Perry finished runner-up to Wolverhampton asset Joe Haines with Workington’s Kyle Howarth third after an incident-packed meeting full of thrills, spills and top racing.
The Dudley youngster kicked off in fine style with an exciting chase and pass of Howarth in Heat 1, and he always looked capable of reaching the closing stages of the meeting – finishing on twelve points from his five rides, which was enough to take him straight into the Final along with Richie Worrall.
There was drama in the semi-final with former Heathen Kyle Newman disqualified after a spectacular pile-up into the third bend which also involved Steve Worrall, with Haines and Howarth coming through in the re-run.
And then in the Final, Richie Worrall demolished the tapes and was excluded, which led to the race being started by a bungee cord as the starting gate was too badly damaged!
Perry worked his way past Howarth into second place and looked to be reeling in Haines, but Haines rode a clever final lap to hold off the challenge and clinch his second title – a remarkable story in itself as he has fought back from serious injuries.
A delighted Perry said: “I’m over the moon with that, I didn’t even expect to make the Final so I’m absolutely delighted.
“Joe covered me off pretty well in the Final, but he’s a good rider and so is Kyle, so after missing the gate I’ve got to be happy to come through to second.
“The reaction I got from the fans on the rostrum was amazing, and I couldn’t ask to be riding for a better team.”
Perry’s Heathens team-mate Ashley Morris had a less straightforward evening and finished with five points, including a crash in his last ride, but he did win his fourth outing.
Heathens chairman Nigel Pearson said: “We’re really proud of Tom for such a fantastic result, and my congratulations also to Joe Haines for the win and Kyle Howarth for his third place.
“It was a great honour for the club to stage the event and it was certainly an exciting night. We’d like to thank everyone who turned out to watch it – I know there was some quite heavy rain locally before the meeting but thankfully we escaped the worst of it and we had a good meeting.”
SCORES: Richie Worrall 12, Tom Perry 12, Kyle Howarth 11, Joe Haines 11, Steve Worrall 11, Kyle Newman 9, Stefan Nielsen 8, Robert Branford 7, Jerran Hart 7, Jason Garrity 7, Ashley Morris 5, Joe Jacobs 5, Ben Morley 4, Ben Reade (res) 3, Marc Owen 2, Adam Wrathall 1, James Sarjeant 0.
