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Isle of Wight Islanders v Reading Racers
KO Cup (QF), 28 July 2005
Smallbrook Stadium, Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight 46
1Craig Boyce23331 ..120
2Steen Jensen1*02*0. ..32
3Krister Marsh1233. ..90
4Ulrich Ostergaard01*10. ..21
5Tomas Suchanek02*32*0 ..72
6Jason Doyle3301. ..70
7Glen Phillips2*13F. ..61
Reading 44
1Andrew Appleton32*31*0 3.122
2Zdenek SimotaR0122 ..50
4Mathieu Tresarrieu3R1*3. ..71
5Matej Zagar2*2212* ..92
6Chris Johnson01*0.. ..11
7Richard Wolff13102 1*2*102

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

It was an off-race night fixture for the Isle of Wight who went into this match as firm favourites against Reading . The Islanders were at full strength while Reading were back again using R/R for Steve Masters who was injured in the Racers’ home defeat by Rye House on Monday night.

What a shock the Islanders got tonight from Reading. The faster gating Racers took an early lead, were pulled back by the home side and found themselves 10 points down with two heats to go. However two 1-5s in heats 14 and 15 reduced the Isle of Wight’s winning margin to two points setting up a finely balanced second leg with the Racers strong favourites to reach the final.

The home side were given an early warning that this match was going to be no walk in the park when Andrew Appleton won heat 1 from Craig Boyce for a shared heat. It would have been a 2-4 but for an engine failure for Zdenek Simota coming off the last bend with third place in the bag. The Islanders’ reserves took a 5-1 in heat 2 but Reading handed out a double shock with consecutive 1-5s in heats 3 and 4. Tressarieu and Appleton gated to win heat 3 and Wolff and Zagar did likewise to win heat 4 taking the score to 10-14.

Andrew Appleton remained unbeaten in his third ride which he won for a shared heat in heat 5 then Craig Boyce won heat 6 which was also shared. The scores were levelled by a 5-1 to the home side in heat 7 from Doyle and Suchanek with Tressarieu having an engine failure at the start. Another 5-1 in heat 8 from Phillips and Jensen gave the Isle of Wight a four point advantage in heat 8 with the score standing at 26-22.

In heat 9 Krister Marsh beat Matej Zagar and broke the track record (67.7) in the process. With Ostergaard collecting third place the Islanders stretched their lead to six points. Heats 10, 11 and 12 won by Boyce (who equalled the new track record in the process), Suchanek and Marsh were all shared as Reading dug in to protect their position and the score after heat 12 was 39-33 as the interval arrived.

After the interval Boyce and Suchanek hit Reading with a 5-1 in heat 13 ahead of Matej Zagar and Andrew Appleton and the Islanders’ lead reached 10 points at 44-34 but the next two heats were a disaster for the home side. In heat 14 Mathieu Tressarieu and Richard Wolff took a 1-5 ahead of Jason Doyle and the off-form Ulrich Ostergaard to reduce the gap to six points then, in the last heat, Craig Boyce touched the tapes and had to go from 15 metres back. This was all the help that Andrew Appleton and Matej Zagar needed to land what could turn out to be a killer 1-5 for Reading as the Racers reduced the deficit to only two points for the second leg.

Match Report by Merlin