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Exeter Falcons v Berwick Bandits
Premier League, 11 July 2005
County Ground, Exeter
| 1 | Mark Lemon | R | 3 | 3 | 1 | . | . | . | 7 | 0 |
| 2 | Lee Smethills | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | . | . | 8 | 0 |
| 3 | Seemond Stephens | 3 | 2* | 2 | 3 | R | . | . | 10 | 1 |
| 4 | Ray Morton | 2* | 3 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | 5 | 1 |
| 5 | Antonin Svab | R | R | 1 | . | . | . | . | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | Ben Barker | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | . | . | . | 5 | 0 |
| 7 | Pavel Ondrasik | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | Chris Schramm | 1* | 1 | 1* | 0 | . | . | . | 3 | 2 |
| 3 | Tom P Madsen | 0 | 2* | 0 | . | . | . | . | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | Scott Smith | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2* | . | . | 10 | 1 |
| 5 | Michal Makovsky | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2* | . | 13 | 1 |
| 6 | Adam Pietraszko | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2* | 3 | . | 13 | 1 |
| 7 | Carl Wilkinson | 2* | 2* | 1* | 2 | 1* | 3 | . | 11 | 4 |
* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).
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This was the seond home match for Exeter in four days as they faced the high-flying Berwick Bandits. Exeter were at full strength but Berwick were without Adrian Rymel injured at Newport yesterday and used R/R for him at number 1. What a shock for Exeter, tipped by many as one of the teams expected to challenge for the league title this year, as they followed their Premier Trophy exit on Friday with this crushing defeat at the hands of a Berwick side now making people sit up and take serious notice. As it turned out the Bandits coped more than adequately for their missing number one and, indeed, they would have still won the match if they had arrived only with riders numbered 4 to 7. A shared opening heat, 1-5 to Berwick in the reserves race, 5-1 to Exeter from Seemond Stephens and Ray Morton and 1-5 to Berwick from Michal Makovsky and Carl Wilkinson was the story of the first four heats which meant that the score after heat 4 was 10-14. Exeter squared the match with the fourth 5-1 in five heats from Morton and Stephens again then heat 6 was shared. Another maximum, this time a 1-5 for Berwick was the result of heat 7 from Smith and Madsen as Toni Svab suffered engine failure for the second time in two outings. Lee Smethills won heat 8 for a shared heat and the score was then 22-26. Adam Pietraszko won heat 9 from Seemond Stephens and with Michal Makovsky third the Bandits moved 6 points clear at 24-30 but a Lemon/Smethills 4-2 clawed two points back in heat 10. Ben Barker then had an excellent win over Michal Makovsky with Toni Svab third for another home 4-2 and the Berwick lead was down to 2 points at 32-34. Seemond Stephens won heat 12 for a shared heat as Exeter struggled to get back on level terms – then the roof caved in! Berwick simply ran away with the match by winning each of the last three heats 1-5 as the Falcons wilted. Exeter will reflect that they had the majority of race winners but Berwick’s strength lay particularly at reserve where Pietraszko and Wilkinson rattled up a total of 24+5 between them. Match Report by Merlin |