IT was "Double Gold" for Bury at Heckmondwyke last Sunday, when both juniors and seniors triumphed in the Northern Alliance Cup Finals.

After many years of Northern domination by Tameside and Heckmondwyke, the balance of power has shifted to Bury and Scotia (Edinburgh) and these two met in what was expected to be a tough semi final and would have been most pundits choice for the final.

On the day, a solid workmanlike performance by the Bury team produced a 104-73 victory and a place in the final later in the afternoon. No rider of either team was unbeaten, but Bury had the strength in depth as indicated by the consistent scoring right through the team.

Paul Dyson 17+1, Neil Howarth 17+1, Fred Rothwell 16, Dave Morgan 12+3, Steve Muff 12+2, John Whiting 11+1, Robert Pearce 10+2, Ben Scranage 9+2.

After Tameside had beaten locals Heckmondwyke 90-83 in the other semi-final, the scene was set for the juniors to take centre-stage for their final against Hull. Having taken 6-4 in the opening heat, Bury received a shock when Hull hit back with 7-3 in the second and 6-4 in the fifth, and it was obviously going to be no easy ride. A couple of regulars were clearly struggling with the circuit, Tom Doyle and John Olijnyk suffering unexpected last places in their opening rides, and with newcomers Luke Muff and Dave O'Callaghan junior in the line-up it was going to be a tough battle. Fortunately team manager, Pete Ward, had placed high scoring Robert Pearce at reserve, partially to save energy for the senior final to follow and was able to use him tactically to plug any weaknesses as the heats unfolded.

Mainly through the efforts of the 'Big Three' Robert, Ben Scranage and Scott Jarman, Bury achieved a six points lead by the interval and with the others, particularly Tom Doyle, improving the match result was achieved, although Hull made them fight for every point and the final score of 79-71 was a lot closer than expected as Bury retained the trophy they had won last year.

Scott Jarman 18+1, Tom Doyle 15, Ben Scranage 13+2 (four rides), Robert Pearce 11+1 (three rides), John Olijnyk 8, Dave O'Callaghan junior 7+2, Luke Muff 7.

Having been to seven previous senior cup finals in various leagues and lost the lot, Bury were in no mood to slip up this time, especially against Tameside, who always seem to put one over them in the past. The match got underway tentatively with a couple of 5-5's before Bur broke the deadlock with two successive 7-3's and a 6-4 for a lead they never lost and built up steadily.

Although no rider of either team was unbeaten, Paul Dyson was in brilliant form for Bury, dropping just one point to Tameside's top scorer Brian Eaton in heat eight and scoring 19 points.

National coach Fred Rothwell indulged in his usual team riding with partner Robert Pearce as the third pairing, Rob scored 17+2, dropping his only point to Eaton, and Fred scored 15+1, Neil Howarth added a captains 15+1; Ben

Scranage 14+2, Dave Morgan 10+1, Steve Muff 10, Scott Jaman 8+2

The final score of 108-72 and victory at the eight attempt in the twentyeight year history was very satisfying particularly for club founder Tony Mann, but it was in his capacity of Northern Cycle Speedway Alliance chairman that he happily presented the trophies and gold medals to the Bury junior and senior teams.

The finals completed a busy week-end for many of the Bury party having camped out at the York Cycling rally on Friday and Saturday evenings, taking part in a demonstration of the sport on grass, and the usual "socialising" in the evenings. It is no surprise that the racing was hard work for some of them.

The Northern Alliance junior individuals are at the Stockport track on Saturday starting at 1pm, and the Northern Fours and junior leagues are at Heckmondyke on Sunday, 12 noon start.

Two time terrors!