A close opening saw the scores level after the first five races, before a great ride from A & T's Trevor Hulton saw him pass both Fred Rothwell and Neil Howarth on the pits corner to join teammate Darek Kurkowski for a 7-3 heat win. Bury's Remi Burchardt clearly moved at the start in heat 7, but a re-run with all four was called, which he duly won. A & T's lead was still four points with three races remaining, before A & T's Polish pairing of Tomasz Wlodarczyk and Kurkowski stormed away from the start to record a maximum heat win over Rothwell and Paul Dyson, putting A & T eight points ahead with just two races left. Heat 17 was re-run twice, with the second attempt consisting of a farcical two laps, in which race leader Burchardt went round at a snail's pace, with riders stopping on the straights and taking to the grass, both on the inside and outside of the track. The referee called for a re-run with all four riders, and Bury were holding a 7-3 at one stage, before great riding, firstly by Hulton and then by Tomasz Szwajorek, split the Bury pairing and clinched the match for A & T. Bury took a consolation maximum heat win in the final race, to reduce A & T's final winning margin to four points.

This was a magnificent display of team riding at its best by A & T, who had to be at their very best to overcome a very good and determined Bury team, on a good racing surface. Kurkowski raced unbeaten by an opponent, with Wlodarczyk losing twice to Burchardt. However, it was the contributions of Szwajorek, Hulton and skipper Chris Finnigan that were crucial in severely limiting the heat wins recorded by Bury to just four out of 18 races. For Bury, Burchardt lost only to Kurkowski, with Scranage also in good form and Chris Parish winning two races. This was cycle speedway at its best, and credit goes to both teams on dishing up a hard fought, but very sporting contest.

Midlands/North League Division 1 Northern Section and Northern Alliance League match result

Bury 88 Astley & Tyldesley MWC 92

Bury: Remi Burchardt 19, Ben Scranage 18, Neil Howarth 13 (2), Chris Parish 12, Paul Dyson 8, Fred Rothwell 8, Michael Parish 6 (2), Tom Doyle 4.

A & T: Darek Kurkowski 19 (1), Tomasz Wlodarczyk 18, Tomasz Szwajorek 15 (1), Trevor Hulton 12 (1), Chris Finnigan 11 (1), Danny Hughes 7 (1), Mark Taylor 5 (2), George Hughes 5 (1).

Referee - Alan Farrell (Stockport).

A & T were beaten in the Combination Division match, 73-47. Veteran Mike Hack was A & T's only race winner. Michael Parish and Alex Collins both raced unbeaten for Bury.

Midlands/North League Combination Division match result

Bury 'B' 73 Astley & Tyldesley MWC 'B' 47

Bury: Michael Parish 16, Alex Collins 15 (1), Will Collins 13 (2), Chris Dyson 12 (2), Leo Brindley 12 (1), William Harrison 5.

A & T: Mike Hack 11 (1), Roy Heslop 10 (1), Joe Allen 7, Mark Taylor 6, Laura Allen 5(1), Charlie Keirl 5, George Hughes 3.