With Milton Keynes bowing-out those quartet of league ‘ever-presents’ will become three next season. Spellbound Park close it’s gates for the last time having hosted Putney, the Magic however couldn’t go out in style, conceding a 5-1 to leave the meeting scores with the most successful club in the sport tied at 45 apiece. It was the Spitfires second drawn meeting of the week, with Kent holding them at Tibbetts Corner. Andy Roughton’s Magic have won ten club trophies, their most notable success coming way back in SL2, when the won the KO Cup. All their other nine pieces of silverware were won in the lower tiers. Newcastle will also not be back for SL36, they spent the first seven years in the league, before returning after a break of eight years in SL15.

For the second successive season the World Championship has been won by a rider that hasn’t won at GP in the series! Ruda Pala in SL34, Swanage’s Joshua Ward this time around, a rider who has only twice (2nd & 3rd) finished on the podium in a GP career now spanning 16 rounds! Ward (10) finished fourth in the final meeting of the campaign in Krakow after losing out in a race-off to Klement Kobza, however that didn’t matter one jot to the 27 year old Kiwi international, who’d overhauled Tommy Leinonen’s points tally to go top of the standings in his very first race of the Polish GP, and would remain there for the remainder of the meeting. Ward secured the title with a second place finish in heat 17 behind Michael Weber. Leinonen held on to take the runners-up spot ahead of bronze medallist Weber on count-back. Brighton’s Hobart Buus (12) took the meeting victory, the sixth of his 42 meeting GP career.

Putney’s Lukas Hofer (13) has become the fourth rider to win both the WU21 and 19 titles after landing the former in this years final at Brighton. The 20 year old Austrian topped the standings in the decider by a point from Valentin Koltsov (2nd), Davide Colombo (3rd) and 18 year old Brit, George Goldsmith (4th), who fought out a race-off for the minor podium places.

History made in the KO Cup as West Ham won the competition for a third successive season. A title clinching victory at Kent would be denied them later in the week, but there was a 44-46 success for Steve Hebden’s side at the Iron Ring in the second leg of the KO Cup final, a result which saw them clinch a fifth KO Cup triumph by 14 points on aggregate.

Desford will return to division one after a season away after securing the final promotion place. Despite losing to second tier champions Lane End on the final day, Rob Smith’s side finish third in the standings, a point clear of Wordsley who ended Bracklesham’s hopes with a 44-46 victory at the Rhinos. In division three a first ever piece of silverware for Tresco, who sealed the title in their 23rd season in the sport with a penultimate round win at Benfleet. Bilston—who’d moved into the promotion places for the first time in SL35 only last week—confirmed second spot with home and away wins, the former a 44-46 success at Witham, the side they had replaced in the top three. Ellon meanwhile caused the biggest shock in the lower divisions, a run of five straight wins—which included a 43-47 victory at Calne this week—taking them to a third place finish, the league rookies hadn’t been above fifth prior to their final day win over Benfleet.