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Exeter Falcons v Kings Lynn Stars
KO Cup (QF), 18 July 2005
County Ground, Exeter

Exeter 45
1(g)Shaun Tacey32322 ..120
2Lee Smethills1031. ..50
3Seemond Stephens2031. ..60
4Ray Morton1*22*21* ..83
5Antonin Svab23X0. ..50
6Ben Barker1*02.. ..31
7Pavel Ondrasik21*2*R1* ..63
Kings Lynn 45
1Tomas Topinka23333 ..140
2Ashley Jones0111. ..30
3Jan Jaros01*23. ..61
4Kevin Doolan320T. ..50
5Oliver Allen33T1R ..70
6(g)Barrie Evans0100. ..10
7Troy Bachelor3012*3 ..91

* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).

It was a strange way to encourage a feel-good factor among the fans by announcing before this important cup tie got under way that Exeter were unlikely to run next year. As it was, the Falcons were without their number one Mark Lemon who was unwell and had Shaun Tacey as a guest in his place. King’s Lynn had Barrie Evans as a guest at number 6.

On their last visit to Exeter on 2nd May in a Premier Trophy match, King’s Lynn scored the grand total of 29 points from 15 heats and 3 of them were extra points from tactical rides! So this result was quite an improvement.

The Falcons opened with a 4-2 thanks to a win from their guest Shaun Tacey who beat Tomas Topinka for his only defeat in the match. It looked as though King’s Lynn would pull the two points back in heat 2 but Barrie Evans, guesting for the Stars, had a puncture and was passed on the last bend by Ben Barker for a shared heat. Kevin Doolan and Oliver Allen won heats 3 and 4 respectively for the Stars but there was no support for them so those heats were also shared taking the score after 4 heats to 13-11.

King’s Lynn got back on level terms in heat 5 when Tomas Topinka beat Ray Morton with Ashley Jones third for a 2-4 and then went ahead with a repeat result in heat 6 from Oliver Allen and Barrie Evans which meant that the Stars had produced four consecutive race winners. Toni Svab won heat 7 for a 3-3 then Exeter wiped out the Stars’ lead to go ahead themselves with a 5-1 from Lee Smethills and Pavel Ondrasik in heat 8 which brought the score to 25-23.

Another home 5-1 in heat 9 from Stephens and Morton after Oliver Allen had broken the tapes saw Exeter move 6 points in front in their efforts to build a lead for the second leg and they stretched it to eight points with a 4-2 in heat 10 from Tacey and Smethills to take the score to 34-26. However with Topinka out in three of the last five heats this lead was looking a bit precarious and so it proved. A 2-4 from Topinka and Jones was followed by a 1-5 in heat 12 when Jan Jaros and Troy Batchelor took advantage of a shed chain by race leader Pavel Ondrasik on the last bend. The fight back was completed with another 2-4 from Topinka and Allen in heat 13 with the score now reading 39-39.

In heat 14 Exeter may have thought they could take the lead again when Kevin Doolan touched the tapes and was excluded but Troy Batchelor came to King’s Lynn’s rescue by beating Ray Morton and Pavel Ondrasik for a shared heat before Tomas Topinka secured the draw for the Stars by winning the last heat for another share of the points.

Match Report by Merlin