Tai Woffinden wins Midlands Open

Golden boy Tai Woffinden gave a 24-carat display to win the jewellers-sponsored Midland Open Championship.

The 21-year-old took the Gary Peterson Memorial Trophy with a flawless 15-point maximum. It was Woffinden's third win in three stagings of the event at Monmore.

And while Wolverhampton jewellers Carats provided sponsorship and handsome trophies, Woffinden was the one who really sparkled.

A red-hot favourite beforehand, he justified the confidence by seeing off all-comers.

Going into the final race, he knew second place would be enough, while Coventry's Ryan Fisher needed victory to force a run-off with the fast and assured Danny King for runners-up spot.

It would have been easy for Woffinden to tuck in for the two points he required, yet he led out – and worked hard to stay there, occupying the wide line on the third lap as Fisher tried to build up momentum for a pass.

Woffinden laid the foundations for victory with two straightforward wins for openers, but heats 10 and 15 displayed his racing worth on an excellent track.

In the former, he was third from the gate but worked his way inside King with a pin-sharp cutback out of the pits turn.

Then he went wide of Barker off the fourth bend – with King trying to swoop round both before running out of space.

Even then Woffinden's work was far from finished, as he went to the tapes five races later level with Ty Proctor on three wins and with surprise package Ricky Wells only a point adrift.

The latter two made the early running but Woffinden's inside surge off the fourth turn left the three Wolves riders all side by side, with the pits turn looming ominously.

It was Woffinden who won clear and sped off while Proctor and Wells swapped places continuously, with the latter just holding off a spirited challenge in the run to the line.

That result and Proctor's relegation to third spot in heat 17 – a wheel-to-wheel struggle with Ludvig Lindgren – looked to cue up Wells for a second place run-off.

But, in his final outing, Wells could not pass Kenny Ingalls quickly enough to get in a real challenge to race leader Lubos Tomicek.

A last-heat win for Fisher would have left Wells out of the frame completely, but Woffinden's victory enabled them to contest the final podium spot in a run-off.

Wells, who had shown great resolution all evening, made a dream start and withstood everything that Fisher could throw at him.

Elsewhere, on a night of excellent racing, Lindgren was quick and confident for his double-figure score, joined on that mark by Birmingham's Ben Barker after a couple of late wins.

But Woffinden, not for the first time, was the class of the field.

By Tim Hamblin