Scorching Boxall storms to title in New Year Classic (From South Wales Argus)

Scorching Boxall storms to title in New Year Classic

6:40am Monday 4th January 2010

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UNATTACHED Steve Boxall put himself in speedway’s shop window at Hayley Stadium yesterday, when he landed the coveted New Year Classic title.

The 22-year-old former Newcastle Diamond and Poole Pirates ace held off the challenge of Australian ace Kevin Doolan, who was bidding for a hat trick of individual events at the venue following Prince of Wales Trophy and Wales Open Championship victories during the previous nine months.

Also lining up against the duo in the final were former winner and ex-Newport Wasp Brent Werner and defending champion Ben Barker.

Watched by a crowd approaching 2,500, all of whom braved freezing temperatures, Kent-born Boxall got the drop on his rivals as the tapes fizzed up.

And try as hard as he might, Doolan couldn’t quite get close enough to really worry a polished-looking Boxall, who took the chequered flag in 62.56 seconds, with Barker third and Werner fourth.

Boxall was a deserving winner, because with 14 points he had headed the 20-heat qualifying programme with Doolan a couple of points adrift.

In his five qualifiers, Boxall won four and was only beaten once – by former Wasp Niels Kristian Iversen in heat 13.

The meeting began with several locally based riders being drafted in because of late withdrawals, although Tom Brown, James White-Williams and Tom Young all struggled with the tacky conditions – especially on bends one and two.

Indeed, White-Williams withdrew from the meeting after completing only three of his scheduled five-race programme.

However, that’s not a criticism of the track because many people put in bags of effort to ensure this hugely popular out-of-season meeting went ahead. There was a massive plus point for Newport Wasps fans, who turned up to see recent signing Anders Mellgren make his competitive debut at the venue.

And the Swede didn’t disappoint. Although his nine-point total failed to carry him through to the grand final, it did include a heat success and a trio of second places, and he showed that his capture could well go on to prove to be something of a coup for the British Premier League outfit, which will begin its 2010 campaign in March.

Qualifying heats (all from five rides, unless stated): 1st – Steve Boxall, 14; 2nd – Kevin Doolan, 13; 3rd – Ben Barker and Brent Werner, both 12; 5th – Niels Kristian Iversen, 11; 6th – Anders Mellgren and Carl Wilkinson, both 9; 8th – Mads Kornelliussen, 7; 9th – Luke Bowen and Chris Mills, both 6; 11th – Tom Young, 5; 12th – Adam Roynon and Andrew Tully, both 4; 14th – Tom Brown 3; 15th – Daniel Henderson 3; 16th – James White-Williams 0(3). Reserve: Ben Hopwood 0(4).

Final: 1st Boxall (62.56secs); 2nd Doolan; 3rd Barker; 4th Werner.

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