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Isle of Wight Islanders v Rye House Rockets
KO Cup (1st Round), 16 May 2006
Smallbrook Stadium, Isle of Wight
| 1 | Chris Holder | 3 | 2* | 3 | 2* | 3 | . | . | 13 | 2 |
| 2 | Jason Doyle | 2* | 3 | X | 1 | . | . | . | 6 | 1 |
| 3 | Krister Marsh | 1 | 2* | 1 | 1 | . | . | . | 5 | 1 |
| 4 | Krzysztof Stojanowski | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | . | . | . | 11 | 0 |
| 5 | Jason Bunyan | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2* | . | . | 12 | 1 |
| 6 | Chris Johnson | 1* | 0 | Fx | 1* | . | . | . | 2 | 2 |
| 7 | Nick Simmons | 2 | 1* | 1 | 0 | . | . | . | 4 | 1 |
| 2 | Jamie Courtney | 0 | 1 | 2* | . | . | . | . | 3 | 1 |
| 3 | Edward Kennett | 1 | 2 | 2^* | 0 | 3 | 1 | . | 9 | 1 |
| 4 | Tommy Allen | 0 | R | 2 | R | . | . | . | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | Chris Neath | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | R | . | 7 | 0 |
| 6 | Luke Bowen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Steve Boxall | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6^ | 1 | 2* | 3 | 20 | 1 |
* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).
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The Isle of Wight were at full strength for this first round match but Rye House were without Ross Brady who injured his ankle at Hoddesdon last Saturday night. They used Rider Replacement at number one in his absence. If Rye House thought they could repeat the seven point win they managed on the Island a few weeks ago in the Premier Trophy they were in for a rude awakening. With their team now at full fitness, the Islanders showed that yet again they are going to be a formidable proposition round their own track. Only another high-scoring night from reserve, Steve Boxall (did the powers that be foresee this sort of thing when they invented the reserves rules?), and the use of TRs, which are allowed this year in this competition, saved the Rockets from a heavier defeat. Wins from Steve Boxall in heats two and four, both for shared heats, stopped the Islanders from making greater progress than they did with a heat one 5-1 and heat three 4-2. Chris Holder and Jason Doyle did the damage in the opener with both of them passing Jaimie Courtney and Edward Kennett while Krzysztof Stojanowski won heat 3 from Edward Kennett with Krister Marsh third for a 4-2. In heat 4 Chris Neath was excluded under the two-minute rule and went from 15 metres back. The Rockets had run four last places at this stage with the score standing at 15-9. The Isle of Wight scored two more 5-1s in heats five and six from Stojanowski and Marsh then Doyle and Holder to romp into a 14 point lead but Rye House, or rather Steve Boxall, put the brakes on their progress in heats seven and eight during which they pulled back eight points thanks to the nonsense of the TR rule. In heat 7 Edward Kennett took the TR but with Boxall chasing Jason Bunyan so hard, Kennett was too far behind him for the two Rockets to sort out their finishing order. As a result the heat ended as a 3-4 with Kennett third behind Bunyan and Boxall. In heat 8 it was Steve Boxall’s turn to take the TR. This race was awarded with the Rye House riders in first and second when Jason Doyle clipped Jaimie Courtney’s back wheel causing Courtney to fall and be removed from the track by ambulance. With Doyle excluded the Rockets took a big 1-8 to cut another seven points from the home side’s lead. Although early indications suggested that there was no serious injury from the fall, Jaimie Courtney was taken to hospital for a check up leaving the Rockets with just five riders. The score after eight races was 29-23 but the Islanders were relieved to have the two TRs out of the way although they still faced the prospect of facing Boxall three more times in the last seven heats. The Isle of Wight now had to rebuild their lead and started with a 4-2 in heat 9 with Krzysztof Stojanowski winning from Chris Neath and Krister Marsh third. They added another in heat 10. Chris Holder won the race while Tommy Allen did well to withstand the challenge of Jason Doyle to limit the damage. The Islanders now led by 10 points but Chris Neath took the R/R ride for the Rockets in heat 11 to join Steve Boxall against Jason Bunyan and Chris Johnson. Chris Johnson fell in the first running of the heat while challenging Boxall for third place so the race was rerun. Chris Neath won the race from Bunyan with Boxall taking third so Rye House pulled two points back. Steve Boxall was out again in heat 12 replacing Luke Bowen to partner Edward Kennett and they took a 1-5 against Krister Marsh to reduce the home side’s lead to four points as the score was now 40-36. The Islanders doubled their lead to eight points in heat 13 with a 5-1 from Chris Holder, who passed Chris Neath in fine style off the fourth bend, and Jason Bunyan but it was Steve Boxall time again in heat 14. He won the race ruining Stojanowski’s maximum in the process but the heat was shared as Tommy Allen suffered an engine failure. In the last heat the home side repaired some of the damage done by Boxall by taking a 5-1. Chris Holder completed his paid maximum while Jason Bunyan followed him home ahead of Edward Kennett with Chris Neath suffering an engine failure for a 12 point lead to take into the second leg. Match Report by Merlin |