Two-times winners Quantock have crashed out of the KO Cup after suffering their second successive home defeat in the competition. The Coleridge Way loss to Manor at the semi-final stage last season was unexpected, but not wholly surprising, however this weeks defeat to Whitely at the venue will live long in the memory. It sees the top flight Rangers exit the KO Cup in the opening round for the first time in 11 years, against a side that had lost both their previous ties in the competition by a double figure margin. It has to be said the potential banana skin was always there given the Heathens strong start to SL25, albeit at the third tier level, that though looked to have been avoided by Quantock when they secured a first leg draw on their travels. Whitely however didn’t ‘roll over and die’ in the return as many expected, five wins in the first seven settling any nerves the visitors may have had, in fact with the aggregate scores still level at this point it was the home side that were beginning to doubt. Quantock looked to have seen off the danger when going six up with a 4-2 and 5-1 in quick succession, those results though allowed Darren Jones the opportunity to send a tactical substitute into heat 11 and from then on it was pretty much one-way traffic. The incoming Adam Roberts (13+2) finished second to Indrek Ratnikov (12) in that race, the Estonian’s win one of four in the last five from the league minnows, with the same pairing repeating the 5-1 in heat 13. Roberts secured the five point aggregate success with a last heat win over Jermu Ramo, Whiteley as a result in the hat for the second round.

Whiteley’s maiden KO Cup second round tie will be against Birmingham who claimed only their second win in the competition this week. The division two Lyons overturned a nine point first leg deficit at home in beating California by three on aggregate, the unbeaten Wlod Szczepanski (15) winning a decisive last heat 4-2 for the hosts. Three points was also the margin of victory for Nottingham as they overcame Buxton in round one, Jason Saunders scoring a best of 10+2 for the club as they held the Braves to a 46-44 home win this week. There was a closer finish than that however, on paper at least, with Wednesfield progressing into the last-16 with a two point aggregate win over Sankey thanks to a last heat victory for Michael Bennett (16) in the second leg at the Sharks. Wednesfield face Tottenham next, Nottingham meet Border. A shock somewhat at Brighton, where the division two hosts were eliminated by division three side London by three, the Jaguars—who meet Laceby next—holding the Bombers to just a 45-44 victory this week. Holders Denaby will face an all top-flight tie against Altrincham when they enter the competition in the second round, while last years runners up Manor will meet Ramsgate, who have already beaten high-class opponents in the form of Southampton in this years competition.

World number five Blake Watson became the highest ranked rider to fail to make it through to the second round of the SL25 World Championship. Watson—runner-up to Valeri Lach in the SL23 GP series—scored just seven in the qualifier in Prague won by Bolsover’s England star, Joseph Wall (11). British Champion’ Wall secured his eighth career WSO meeting victory with a race-off success over Jacek Wozniak. The second of this weeks tie’s was won by Tottenham’s Rubert Hanka (12).

Laceby climbed out of the division one relegation zone for the first time this season after a 42-48 victory at bottom side Altrincham. The Avenues second successive win at the home of the Panthers—who were promoted from division two alongside them last season—was completed when Leos Stich (13) followed up a heat 14 visiting side 5-1 by winning a last heat 4-2. A maiden away win of the campaign too this week for Ramsgate, who overturned an eight point deficit to beat Quantock, 43-47. The Rams scored three 5-1’s in the space of seven races, Bojan Kraka (13+1)—who was making his debut for the visitors following a recent switch from London—finished runner-up to second string Jacob Brady (9) in the first of those, and won the second four races later.

Buxton returned to the top of the division two table with a 39-51 victory at Wednesfield. They end the week a point clear of Brighton—who’d earlier claimed a third away win of the campaign at Hertford (43-46) thanks to a last heat Dale Bailey success (15)—and previous leaders Birmingham. Meanwhile Sankey’s losing league run shows no sign of abating, it extended to eight meetings with losses at Brighton (47-43) and at home to Wednesfield (44-46). In division three both California and Dudley picked up their first away victories of the campaign, beating Hull (42-48) and Newquay (44-46) respectively.