Tai Woffinden wins Midlands Open

Tai Woffinden retained the Midlands Open Championship with a super-smooth 15-point maximum.

The Wolves captain dominated the event's second staging to lift the Gary Peterson Memorial Trophy once more last night.

Such was his command at Monmore Green that seemingly the only obstacle to his winning the prize in perpetuity is age - the event is staged for younger riders.

But the Grand Prix rider turned 20 only a matter of days ago so he could be planting the silverware on his mantelpiece for another four or five years yet.

Woffinden was the class act but for much of the evening it looked as if teammate Nicolai Klindt would match him step for step.

The Dane reeled off three victories for openers, including a fourth to first stunner in heat nine when he rounded Joe Haines and the admirably consistent Matt Wethers in one swoop before giving chase to Ty Proctor. He overhauled the Aussie, too - though not without a tense wheel to wheel struggle.

It was a battle that left Wolves fans delighted by the calibre of entertainment on offer but concerned at the prospect of one or both of their favourites coming to grief at a time when the club has one eye very much on the post-season play-offs.

That race left the heat 20 clash between Woffinden and Klindt looking like a straight shootout title decider, but Ryan Fisher had something to say about that.

The American, en route to a double-figure haul, made a sharp gate against Klindt in the 14th and parked himself resolutely on the Wolves man's preferred outside line to take the win.

Fisher had served notice of his ability as early as the sixth race with a classic battle against Proctor in which the lead changed hands by half a wheel or so no fewer than four times, before the latter switched from the inside line to land the decisive blow round the boards off the final turn.

Victory for Klindt in the last race would have given him a title run-off at worst, but Woffinden made no mistake.

German star Kevin Wolbert had looked quick all night and took a vital win in heat 18 - a virtual podium run-off against fellow heavy scorers Fisher, Wethers and Newcastle's Kenni Larsen.

Larsen - surely an Elite League rider next season - got the worst of the first bend bumping in a very even break from the tapes and was relegated to the back.

Wolbert's reward was a run-off for second spot with Klindt in which he made just enough of a good start to block his rival and get the higher step on the rostrum.

A feisty night's racing on a well-prepared circuit became even more charged when Proctor, always in the thick of the action, carved his way through on the inside of Sam Masters in the penultimate heat, missing his front wheel by a whisker.

The volatile 19-year-old made his feelings known by cutting across Proctor at the end of the race, remonstrating and then bumping the Wolves man off his bike, an action that brought a prompt £100 fine from referee Graham Reeve.

Back in the pits Masters also took something of a swing at his fellow countryman - a gesture which had minimal effect given that Proctor still had his crash helmet on - and got a disdainful shove in return for his pains.

The moment soon passed. Woffinden's domination of this event is likely to remain.

By Tim Hamblin