AYLESBURY Dux comprehensively beat Stevenage Scorpions seconds 113-52, in this top versus bottom league match.

The first quarter set the tone for the game, with Stevenage reduced to the odd breakaway into the Dux’s half of the court, Aylesbury intercepting their final pass, springing defence into attack and punishing the Scorpions with clinical finishing.

The first quarter ended 26-7 and the second quarter went the same way, with Aylesbury racking up the points to go into the half-time break winning 56-22.

The final two quarters became academic with Aylesbury keeping up the pressure and increasing their lead, while Stevenage’s discipline unravelled and with it any game plan they may have had, reducing them to chasing shadows, fouling and berating the referee in an effort of damage limitation.

The Dux play home games and hold training sessions at Aylesbury High School Sports Hall, Walton Road, Aylesbury. The team’s next game is away to Hatfield Magic on Monday the next training session on Sunday March 4, from 6-8pm.

Aylesbury Dux are always looking to welcome new players.

AYLESBURY racing driver Danny Watts and his Silverstone team Strakka Racing have taken their new car on its first test run ahead of the season curtain-raiser.

Strakka are set to take part in the Endurance World Championships, including the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours, which starts at the Sebring 12 hours, Florida, on March 17.

Danny and his teammates gave the new 3.4 litre Honda ARX-03a a test run at Snetterton, Norfolk, this week.

He said: “It’s great to be back in a race car after a few months away and what a car to come back to.

“It exceeded my expectations being back in LMP1. The conditions at Snetterton were cold and a little bit damp, so you couldn’t push too hard, plus it’s only the shakedown test, but the car did everything and more that I expected it to.”

EAGLE-EYED Aylesbury United fans watching Stevenage battle to a hard-earned 0-0 draw against Premier League side Tottenham in the FA Cup on Sunday would have noticed three familiar faces.

Pulling the strings for the plucky underdogs was none other than former Ducks midfielder Gary Smith, pictured.

Smith, who played 48 games for Aylesbury United in the mid-90s, took over as Stevenage manager last month after a successful spell in charge of American side Colarado Rapids.

Sitting next to Smith in the dug out were none other than former Ducks player-manager Gary Phillips, now goalkeeping coach at Stevenage, and former United centre-back Mark Newton, currently Smith’s assistant.

Vice-chairman of Aylesbury United, Ken Turnbull, said: “I couldn’t believe it when I was watching the game and I saw all three of them on the bench.

“It is such a coincidence. They must know each other from their days in pro football.

“What is even stranger is that Mark Jones, brother to current player Danny Jones, is part of the coaching staff at the academy there as well.”

The match, which was shown live on ITV, finished in a very respectable 0-0 draw.

AYLESBURY Rugby Club’s 26-14 loss to Grove saw them crash out of the Southern Counties Cup and, according to their chairman of rugby, effectively ended their season with more than six fixtures remaining.

The defeat means Aylesbury are out of all cup competitions and with a 15-point gap in the league, there seems very little remaining for the Ay’s to play for.

Chairman of rugby Phil Bowden said: “It was a good game played in the best spirit but we were very unlucky and it does mean the season’s basically over. We are comfortable in the league and won’t get relegated but the highest we can finish is sixth.

“But that’s rugby and we just have to dust ourselves down and get on with it.

“We have had a huge injury list this year, something like 18 to 19 long-term first team injuries.”

The Grove match was played in tough conditions with a strong wind and heavy rain making it difficult to handle.

Aylesbury had won their place in the competition earlier in the year with their triumph in the Bucks Shield but Grove had already beaten Ay’s twice in the league this season meaning the visitors were underdogs from the start.

The home side kicked the game off but a smart move from deep saw the Ay’s backs move the ball through several pairs of hands for Lenny Empson to create an overlap and Liam D’Almeida touched down in the corner. Gary Horne converted in tricky conditions to make it 7-0.

Captain Luke Gardner was sin-binned for not rolling away despite it seeming he was in fact trapped and Grove took immediate advantage of the extra man and forced the try.

Five minutes later the Grove number eight broke through a tackle and outpaced both full back and wing to score. The home side then had a man of their own sin-binned Ay’s took advantage with Empson cutting through the Grove defence to score near the posts. Horne converted to take Ay’s back into the lead 12–14 at half-time.

Aylesbury started the second half well and pressed the Grove try line time and time again to no avail. A clearance from a scrum 20 metres from the Aylesbury try line was charged down the kick and touchdown to score against the run of play.

Jack Garland replaced the hard-working Mark Jeffers but Ay’s were again playing from deep and had to make up lots of ground.

The visitors were still chasing the game as time started to run out and a promising move down the right wing saw a loose pass intercepted and Grove had an easy run to secure the game for Grove at 26-14.

Bowden said: “The score doesn’t reflect the game but that’s the way it goes.

“We had a bit of bad luck going into the final 20 minutes 14-12 up with the weather being bad it was difficult to handle and they got a pair of breaks.

“It’s been a bit of a disastrous season for us because of all the injuries. Last year we had a smaller squad that played regularly.”

Aylesbury are set to play Milton Keynes at home in Weston Turville on Saturday.

ASTON Clinton F1 star Mark Webber has laughed off rumours he plans to hang up his helmet at the end of this year.

Webber will hit the accelerator on his 11th season at the pinnacle of the sport next month, when F1 2012 gets underway in front of his home fans in Australia.

And while he is under pressure after being comprehensively outperformed by team-mate, Sebastian Vettel in 2011, the 35-year-old told the Australian press that he is ‘not contemplating’ retirement anytime soon.

“Not at all, (although) you know, I’ve been through enough on and off the track to know that nothing is forever,” he said.

“(According to the media) I was supposed to be replaced by Kimi (Raikkonen) four years ago!”

Despite talk of Webber planning to put the brakes on a life in the fast lane, The Stag at Mentmore co-owner is honest enough to admit 2011 was disappointing.

“I clearly got outperformed last year, there were areas where I could have done a better job,” he added.

“It was a tough start to the year I think, that makes it difficult to roll out of that mid-season and come to the end ... but, again, it’s those old lessons of operating at this level, you know you just have no choice, you’ve just got to get back on the horse, and get on with it.”

Finishing with victory in Brazil at the end of the last campaign sent Webber into the winter on a high and he says he is feeling the benefits.

“I think it’s one of the best breaks I’ve had. It was just a really good break and you know sometimes they don’t always go like that.

“Obviously, on the back of 2010 when I didn’t win the championship that was a different sort of winter getting your head around that, and then the previous winters before that I was having surgery on the leg.

“So this was a real first nice winter, saying, like, let’s pull it all together and come back refreshed, you just feel refreshed, that’s the most important thing,” he concluded.

Although feeling rejuvenated and fresh-faced ahead of the curtain raiser in Melbourne on March 18, Webber admits he slightly is less enthused by the look of his new RB8 car.

With new rules introduced this season, the F1 cars have taken on a distinctly different look with stepped noses proving all the rage.

But Webber thinks the noses are plain ugly.

“F1 cars should look beautiful.

“The stepped nose is not very desirable in my opinion but that’s how it is and that’s okay.

“Aerodynamically the concept is a bit different for sure.

“But I feel comfortable in the car and it goes, so we’ll see,” he added,

You can keep up to date with Mark Webber on Twitter. Go to www.twitter.com and follow

@AussieGrita

Despite temperatures dropping as low as -18 degrees, and equipment failing from the cold, 13-year-old freestyle snowboarder Becky Menday took first place in the second leg of the World Rookie Fest in France at the weekend.

Not only did Waddesdon teen Becky take first place in the under 14s category, she also had the highest female score of the competition – putting her in first place in the overall TTR Ranking.

As a result Becky has also moved into 1st place in the World Snowboarding Federation’s Rookie Rankings.

Becky who is an ‘Elite Junior’ on the GB Freestyle Team, had an outstanding fluid, scored 130 points for her winning run, a clear five points ahead of her next rival.

Becky said: “I was so pleased to be first, I was already really happy with my run, but too not only be on the podium but first overall was so exciting.

“I was disappointed to fall on my first run, so I just wanted to pull everything off on my second run.”

This fantastic result has seen Becky’s TTR World ranking move up to 50th place overall for women in slope style, guaranteeing a place in the World Rookie Fest finals in Ischgl, Austria in April.