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Isle of Wight Islanders v Exeter Falcons
Premier League, 06 September 2005
Smallbrook Stadium, Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight 60
1Craig Boyce3333. ..120
2Steen Jensen12*3F. ..61
3Krister Marsh3211*. ..71
4Ulrich Ostergaard2*1*333 ..122
5Krzysztof Stojanowski32*2FxR ..71
6Jason Doyle33Fx2*. ..81
7Glen Phillips2*2*2*2. ..83
Exeter 33
1Mark Lemon26^232 2.170
2Lee Smethills00R1. ..10
3Sebastien TresarrieuFx12^R3 1*.71
4(g)Shaun Tacey11020 ..40
6(g)Ben Powell0001*. ..11
7Pavel Ondrasik10101 ..30

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

The Isle of Wight were at full strength but Exeter used R/R for Seemond Stephens at number 5 while Shaun Tacey guested at number 4 in place of Ray Morton. The Falcons also had Ben Powell riding at number 6 in place of the injured Ben Barker. It seems that the stories concerning Exeter’s decision to dispense with the services of Sebastian Tressarieu after his non-appearance at Rye House on Sunday were premature as he took his place in the side at number 3. Exeter arrived on the Island with a slender 5 point advantage from the match at the County Ground in search of the bonus point but it wasn’t nearly enough.

A blistering first heat in which Craig Boyce caught and passed Mark Lemon on the line for an opening 4-2 was followed by some blistering scoring by the Islanders. The next three heats all resulted in 5-1s to the home side although Sebastian Tressarieu might have felt aggrieved by not being awarded second place in heat 4 on the line. The score after these four races was 19-5 and another massive home win seemed on the cards.

In heat 5 Mark Lemon took a TR and rode an excellent race to take all six points. However with Krister Marsh and Ulrich Ostergaard filling the minor places Exeter were restricted to a 3-6. After that it was business as usual for the home side with a 5-1 from Boyce and Jensen in heat 6 before Sebastian Tressarieu took a TR in heat 7. This was not a success as he finished behind Jason Doyle and Krzysztof Stojanowski for a 5-2. In fact when Tressarieu got out of shape on the last bend Shaun Tacey had difficulty remaining behind him to ensure the two points for the Falcons. Heat 8 was no better for the visitors as the Islanders scored their sixth maximum heat win in eight races to take the score to 37-15.

In heat 9 Mark Lemon finished second to Ulrich Ostergaard with Krister Marsh third for a 4-2 then Exeter looked as if they might take a heat advantage in heat 10. Sebastian Tressarieu led from the race but suffered an engine failure as Craig Boyce threatened to pass him. Steen Jensen then attempted to produce another 5-1 for the home side by joining Boyce at the front but fell trying to round Shaun Tacey so the heat resulted in a 3-2. In heat 11 Jason Doyle fell heavily on the opening two bends requiring the race to be rerun with Doyle excluded so the interval was taken with the score after 10 races 44-19. Steen Jensen had to go to hospital with a suspected dislocated shoulder and thumb.

After the interval, Exeter pepped up. The rerun of heat 11 brought them a rare success with Mark Lemon beating Krzysztof Stojanowski and Lee Smethills picking up the gift third place point for a 2-4. Sebastian Tressarieu won heat 12 for a shared heat then heat 13 was shared too. Krzysztof Stojanowski fell on the second lap and was excluded from the rerun. Craig Boyce won the rerun from Mark Lemon with Ben Powell remounting after a fall to claim the third place point. However this respite came to an end in heat 14 with a 5-1 from Ulrich Ostergaard and Jason Doyle who headed home Pavel Ondrasik and Shaun Tacey. In the final heat Ulrich Ostergaard took first place from Mark Lemon with Sebastian Tressarieu claiming the third place point after Krzysztof Stojanowski had retired to produce a shared heat.

Match Report by Merlin