BIRMINGHAM suffered a 48-41 defeat at the hands of the King’s Lynn Young Stars in the National Development Trophy on Monday.
The powerful opening duo, Tom Spencer and Arran Butcher, delivered a convincing 5-1, giving the Ductair Bulls the lead early on.
But Young Stars quickly returned the favour as reserve Cooper Rushen blasted out of the gate to deliver an impressive win in the second heat.
After the exclusion of Max Perry in Heat Three for exceeding the time limit, skipper Darryl Ritchings secured a win, cementing a split heat.
Heat Four saw reserve Eli Meadows emerge unscathed after sliding into the third bend giving Cooper Rushen the opportunity to seize his second win of the night.
Sam McGurk extended the Bulls’ lead with a win in Heat Five, closely followed by a split Heat Six from Spencer and Butcher.
A highly contested exclusion for Max James in Heat Seven made way for a Young Stars’ 5-1 as Senna Summers struggled to regain his lead in the re-run.
In Heat Eight, Rushen continued to impress with another heat win, closely followed by Butcher, who grasped an important two points for the Bulls after Meadows was forced to withdraw with engine failure.
Having now closed the gap to just one point, a split Heat Nine kept the teams within touching distance of one another.
Opening duo Spencer and Butcher once again fired the Bulls ahead with a crucial 5-1 in Heat Ten despite pressure from Max Perry.
Cooper Rushen and Jody Scott kept up the chase in Heat 11, executing a strong heat advantage that saw the teams move back within a point of one another at 33-32.
McGurk and Meadows kept the Bulls ahead with a vital 4-2 in Heat 12, but a smart ride from Scott and his partner Harrison finally pushed the Young Stars into the lead by the end of Heat 13.
🏁⏹️
The Ductair Bulls taste defeat.
There were double-figure displays from Butcher and Ritchings but an impressive showing from No.7 Cooper Rushen (15+2) seals the deal for the Young Stars.
🐂 41-48 🌟
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Rushen delivered his fourth win in Heat 14 despite a strong challenge from Ritchings to keep the Young Stars ahead.
In the Final heat, Ritchings and Butcher failed to overcome the speed of Scott as he grasped his third consecutive heat win, ending the meeting 48-41 to the King’s Lynn Young Stars.
Bulls team manager Laurence Rogers commended his team’s efforts but could not ignore the impact of James’ exclusion in Heat Seven.
He said: “It was a good effort from all of them, but in the end, I think it went down to one decision.
“Max Perry rode into the side of him, but the referee saw it the other way. Senna Summers was winning that race by quite a way, and it was re-run. I could never work that out either.
“The race should’ve been awarded to Senna as the winner. That made a big difference today as they pulled a 5-1 against us, which put them in a strong position that, although we tried, we couldn’t bounce back at.”
It is now over to Birmingham’s Premiership boys who head to Belle Vue on Monday (April 21) dinnertime (12 noon) with the return at Perry Barr later the same night (7.30pm).
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TROPHY
BIRMINGHAM 41: Arran Butcher 10, Darryl Ritchings 10, Sam McGurk 7+1, Tom Spencer 5+3, Max James 4, Senna Summers 3, Eli Meadows 2+1.
KING’S LYNN 48: Cooper Rushen 15+2, Jody Scott 12, Luke Harrison 9+1, Ashton Vale 7, Max Perry 4+1, Harrison Rogers 1, Calum Mitchell 0.
• REPORT: SAMANTHA TROMANS
