A very entertaining night (19/6) of amateur racing at Central Park saw former Dudley Heathens rider Adam Portwood spring a surprise by defeating local favourite Alex Spooner and maximum man in qualifying William O’Keefe in the final to take the 2017 Futurama title.
Emulating his namesake Adam Shepherd who won this title when staged in 2015, one really could barely ‘Adam and Eve it’ that a rider finishing fifth in qualifying after running in two thirds in his opening rides could come back so strongly to take the very impressive Aford Awards-produced winners’ trophy.
The meeting started as many had expected it to finish, with Kent homester Alex Spooner dashing to a heat one victory in the fastest time of the evening. O’ Keefe who like Spooner has cut a niche as one of the replacement three pointers of choice in this season’s Travel Plus National League [TPNL], showed his intent in heat two: an emphatic win in a time just a tenth of a second slower than his rival’s first race effort – Portwood was way off the pace in third behind the lively Andrew Palmer.
The second round brought the three riders destined to end up on the rostrum together with the fast trapping O’Keefe beating Spooner in the first surprise of the evening; Portwood was a barely noticed third and after two third places the rider from March in Cambs seemed way off the pace to even qualify for the latter stages.
Meanwhile Kent Code Kestrels’ hero from Friday night, Sandwich’s James Laker was enjoying a good start to his evening –following up a ride of the night pass of Rob Watts in the opening heat with a good win over the other Watts family member, Rob’s cousin Chris in heat six. Routine wins for O’ Keefe and the seemingly much faster Spooner followed, before it all turned around for Portwood in heat nine. The 21 year old absolutely flew from the tapes and left James Laker in his wake.
Qualification now secured, Portwood tucked in behind Spooner in a very hard fought heat 10 – but did enough to demonstrate that there were now three serious contenders for the title come semis and final time.
O’Keefe was entitled to regard himself as favourite though, when he completed a full house in wins in heart 11. A handy two points for Jamie Bursill seemed to have ensured him the final slot in the semis but a calamitous final heat for James Laker where he first broke the tapes then trying too hard off a 15 metres handicap saw him tumble off meant that veteran Dave Perkins grabbed a second place and matched Bursill on four points. A pits side coin toss saw the younger man through into the semis with Perkins joined racing debutants around Central Park Rhys Laker & Jamie Willis and Tom Meakins as the eliminated competitors.
The first semi pitched the unbeaten at this point O’Keefe against third in qualifying Palmer and Portwood. Storming from the tapes Portwood delivered in full ending O’Keefe’s winning run and ensuring he had bragging rights going into the Final. There were joined by Spooner who by virtue of his faster semi winning time had the pick of gate positions in the winner takes all showdown. Again it was Portman who trapped with O’Keeffe in closest pursuit and the two home riders Spooner and James Laker in the back marker slots. Spooner fought for a full four laps to try in vain to get past O’Keefe and one felt had he succeeded that maybe he could’ve then reined in Portwood but it wasn’t to be and the trophy went to the rider who briefly linked up with King’s Lynn’s ill-fated TPNL side this term and has now succeeded in putting himself in the shop window big time.
Qualifying heats 1st. William O’Keefe 3 3 3 3 12[M] 2nd. Alex Spooner 3 2 3 3 11 3rd. Andrew Palmer 2 3 2 3 10 4th. James Laker 2 3 2 F 7 5th. Adam Portwood 1 1 3 2 7 6th. Rob Watts 1 1 3 1 6 7th. Chris Watts 3 2 0 0 5 = 8th. Jamie Bursill 0 1 2 0 4 = 8th. Dave Perkins 1 0 1 2 4 10th. Rhys Laker 2 0 F 1 3 11th. Tom Meakins 0 1 0 1 2 12th. Jamie Willis F 0 1 0 1
Heat details 1. Spooner, J. Laker, R. Watts, Bursill 61.3 2. O’Keefe, Palmer, Portwood, Meakins 61.4 3. C. Watts, R. Laker, Perkins, Willis (fell) 66.5 4. Palmer, R. Watts, Bursill, R. Laker 65.3 5. (rerun) O’Keefe, Spooner, Portwood, Perkins (tapes offence – 15 m handicap) 61.9 6. J. Laker, C. Watts, Meakins, Willis (fell rem; fell rem.) 65.8 7. O’Keefe, R. Watts, Willis, R. Laker (fell) 67.4 8. Spooner, Palmer, Bursill, C. Watts 62.9 9. Portwood, J. Laker, Perkins, Meakins 64.3 10. Spooner, Portwood, R. Watts, C. Watts 61.7 11. O’ Keefe, Bursill, Meakins , Willis 66.6 12. (rerun) Palmer, Perkins, R. Laker, J. Laker (tapes offence – 15 m handicap) fell 67.1 Semi-final (1) Portwood, O’Keefe, Palmer, C. Watts (fell rem. ret.) 64.6 Semi-final (2) (rerun( Spooner, J. Laker, R. Watts, Bursill (tapes offence – 15 m handicap) 62.3 Final Portwood, O’Keefe, Spooner, J. Laker 62.9