THE coach of Fife’s cycle speedway team is “over the moon” after his team finished third in their debut season.

Craig Masson has proudly watched his Fife Revolutions riders race their way to success this season in the British Cycling North and Scotland Division Two.

The team, who race at Queen Anne High School, ended their league campaign with a 90-60 victory over Edinburgh Falcons.

And after Sheffield beat Stockport 86-71, the Revolutions’ spot in the top three was confirmed with 10 wins, one draw and five defeats.

Craig, who is a guidance teacher at the school, praised his riders – including Hardie Bikes’ experienced cyclist Craig Hardie – after a superb maiden season.

He told Press Sport: “It’s a great achievement. We didn’t know what to expect as we never had a proper pre-season, we were just going to race and see how well we could do.

“Our main goal was to win all of our home games. We almost did that. We lost once but that was to the eventual champions who we ended up beating away. Our losses away from home were never by more than four points. We drew a lot of confidence from that. I’ve been delighted with what we have been able to achieve this season. The commitment has been phenomenal. I’m over the moon with them.”

The problem now for Craig and the team is building on this year’s success when the new season arrives again in March. “We’re still going to be holding training sessions during the close season and we will have challenge matches as well,” he said.

“Some boys are going to be going off to uni so they might not have the time to come back and be with us. Keeping this team together is going to be our only real downfall. We had lost some riders during the season due to their individual competitions, so to finish in third is a great achievement.”

Craig is “counting down the day” before the new season gets under way.

“We ended so well and with a lot of confidence. We’re all desperate to start again.

“Some teams have touted us as future champions and maybe favourites to win the league next year. That’s something the boys should be proud of.”

Craig was named Teacher of the Year at this year’s Press Community Champions and he has donated £150 supplied by the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust for winning the award to charity Kingdom Kids.

Fife Cycle Speedway are on the hunt for sponsors for next year and can be reached via their Facebook page.