Workington Comets roared back into competitive speedway with a convincing 53-37 win over Edinburgh Monarchs Academy.
An estimated 2,500 crowd enjoyed the new experience in the May sunshine with the restructured track and surrounding arena looking impressive.
Promoter Andrew Bain said: “It’s been an absolutely awesome day from start to finish – the weather, the racing, the crowd. We are really pleased with how it’s gone.
“We said our first target was to win the opening meeting and we’ve done that.
“Five of the team won heats and that’s good, and they showed signs of really starting to gel as a team.”
It hadn’t exactly been a dream start for the Comets as Edinburgh raced to a 5-1 in the opener with ex-Workington rider Kyle Bickley and Mickie Simpson gating and then being able to hold-off Connor Bailey and Ace Pijper.
But it proved to be the only setback for the Comets’ Australian number one as he then fashioned four straight heat wins.
He also equalled the track record – obviously set in the first race on the circuit – when he won heat six in 58.3.
Bailey, who rides Championship speedway with Redcar Bears, looked good the longer the meeting went on – but so too did Sam McGurk.
He collected two good wins in a match total of 12, plus a bonus, and looked every inch the exciting prospect he had been billed as.
Btrother Harry McGurk and reserve Elliot Kelly were the only Workington riders not to earn a heat won.
But Kelly was only out of the points once in five rides and he had a profitable afternoon eith four second places which earned him three bonus points.
Edinburgh looked dangerous early on when they established a 17-13 lead by heat five.
Their best moment came in the fourth heat after Australian Jacob Hook was excluded for touching the tapes.
Edinburgh took the option of sending him back in off 15 and he produced a great ride to come through and win from Comets skipper Luke Crang and his own team-mate Kyran Lyden.
Crang, who scored six from four rides, had to push home from half-way down the back straight to earn a point for third.
Bickley won the race but his teammate Simpson fell and Kelsey Dugard took second with Crang earning his point the hard way.
After their promising start Edinburgh rather fell away and their 4-2 advantages in heats three and four were never repeated.
Six of the last 11 heats were shared with the Comets bagging maximums from the other four.
Workington ride twice next weekend against Berwick Bullets – away on Saturday night and back at Northside on Sunday afternoon (3pm start).
Workington Comets 53
- Connor Bailey – 1, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 13
- Ace Pijper – 0, 2′, 3, 2′ = 7+2
- Sam McGurk – 2, 3, 2, 3, 2′ = 12+1
- Harry McGurk – 0, 0, 1′, 1′ = 2+2
- Luke Crang – 2, 3, 1′, 0 = 6+1
- Kelsey Dugard – 3, EF, 2 = 5
- Elliot Kelly – 2′, F, 2′, 2′, 2 = 8+3
Edinburgh Academy 37
- Kyle Bickley – 3, 2, 3, 1′, 0 = 9+1
- Mickie Simpson – 2′, 1′, 0, F = 3+2
- Alex Spooner – 3, 1′, 0, 1 = 5+1
- Adam Roynon – 1, 2, 1, 3 = 7
- Jacob Hook – 3, 1, 3, 2, 1 = 10
- Dayle Wood – 0, 0, EF = 0
- Kyran Lyden – 1, 1, 1, 0, EF = 3
Heat by heat
- Heat 01: Bickley, Simpson, Bailey, Pijper 58.3 1-5
- Heat 02: Dugard, Kelly, Lyden, Wood 60.2 5-1 6-6
- Heat 03: Spooner, S.McGuirk, Roynon, H.McGuirk 59.6 2-4 8-10
- Heat 04: Hook, Crang, Lyden, Kelly(Fell) 60.2 2-4 10-14
- Heat 05: S.McGuirk, Bickley, Simpson, H.McGuirk 59.1 3-3 13-17
- Heat 06: Bailey, Pijper, Hook, Wood 58.3 (Equals track record) 5-1 18-18
- Heat 07: Crang, Roynon, Spooner, Dugard(EF) 59.4 3-3 21-21
- Heat 08: Pijper, Kelly, Lyden, Simpson 59.1 5-1 26-22
- Heat 09: Hook, S.McGuirk, H.McGuirk, Wood(EF) 60.5 3-3 29-25
- Heat 10: Bailey, Pijper, Roynon, Spooner 59.3 5-1 34-26
- Heat 11: Bickley, Dugard, Crang, Simpson(fell) 60.7 3-3 37-29
- Heat 12: S.McGuirk, Kelly, Spooner, Lyden 58.9 5-1 42-30
- Heat 13: Bailey, Hook, Bickley, Crang 59.6 3-3 45-33
- Heat 14: Roynon, Kelly, H.McGuirk, Lyden(EF) 61.0 3-3 48-36
- Heat 15: Bailey, S.McGuirk, Hook, Bickley 59.0 5-1 53-37
