HORSPATH Hammers ended their season on a high note by winning the British League’s prestigious Gold Cup.

It was an upset victory for the Hammers, who saw off league champions Newport, holders Exeter and Poole in a thrilling contest at Southampton.

They made a disastrous start, when Jake Neighbour was harshly excluded for a ‘coming together’ with Newport rider Jack Harrold.

Then Zac Payne and Will Jeffery suffered a 7-3 defeat after a first-bend collision, resulting in the Newport pairing storming clear.

However, a run of heat advantages including 7-3 wins from the Lukas Nowacki/Neighbour and Payne/Jeffery pairings, brought the Hammers right back in to contention.

At the halfway stage, they trailed favourites Newport by only four points.

The second half of the meeting saw the Hammers click in to top gear.

Thanks to some classic team riding, everything went to plan.

With four maximum heat advantages in their six races, the Hammers completed a great comeback to win the meeting by an impressive eight-point margin.

With experienced reserve Andy Johnson playing his part in the pits, the Hammers were thrilled at lifting the Gold Cup, which they last won in 2015.

Horspath scorers: Z Payne 22, L Nowacki 21+2, W Jeffery 14+3, J Neighbour 12+1.

The previous weekend, Horspath had to settle for second place behind hosts Newport in the British League play-offs.

The Hammers, superbly led by Nowacki and Payne, nearly pulled off a big shock.

With youngster Jeffery backing up the top duo and strong performances right across the team, they lost to eventual winners Newport by only seven points.

Horspath scorers: L Nowacki 19, W Jeffery 17, Z Payne 14, J Neighbour 12, A Johnson 11, J Ellis 7, D Liebermann 7, A Neighbour 5.