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Isle of Wight Islanders v Workington Comets
Premier League, 06 June 2006
Smallbrook Stadium, Isle of Wight
| 1 | Chris Holder | 3 | 3 | 2* | 3 | 3 | . | . | 14 | 1 |
| 2 | Jason Doyle | 2* | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2* | . | . | 11 | 2 |
| 3 | Krister Marsh | 2* | 1 | 1* | R | . | . | . | 4 | 2 |
| 4 | Krzysztof Stojanowski | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | . | . | . | 8 | 0 |
| 5 | Jason Bunyan | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | . | . | . | 8 | 0 |
| 6 | Chris Johnson | 3 | 0 | Fx | . | . | . | . | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | Nick Simmons | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | . | . | 4 | 0 |
| 1 | James Wright | 1 | R | 4^ | 0 | . | . | . | 5 | 0 |
| 3 | Ritchie Hawkins | 1 | 2 | 1* | 1 | 3 | R | . | 8 | 1 |
| 4(g) | Steve Boxall | R | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | . | . | 5 | 0 |
| 5 | Garry Stead | 3 | 2 | 4^ | 3 | 2 | 1 | . | 15 | 0 |
| 6(g) | Richie Dennis | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Aidan Collins | 2 | 2* | 1* | 1* | 1 | 2* | . | 9 | 4 |
* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).
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The Isle of Wight , with Krister Marsh returning to the side, were at full strength for this match. Workington were without Paul Thorp who was injured at Rye House on Sunday so they used Rider Replacement at number 2 instead. They were also without Tomasz Piszcz injured riding in Poland so had Rye House wonder reserve, Steve Boxall, at number 4 as a guest. The last time Boxall rode on the Island he scored 20+1 for Rye House! Richie Dennis rode at number 6 for the Comets as a guest reserve for Lee Derbyshire. Losing two 5-1s and a 4-2 in the opening three heats Workington had the proverbial mountain to climb to get back into this match. They might have thought that they had a potential matchwinner in Steve Boxall but he suffered an engine failure while at the back in the opening heat taking a R/R ride as Chris Holder and Jason Doyle produced their customary opening heat 5-1. Chris Johnson won the reserves race from Aidan Collins for a 4-2 then Krister Marsh celebrated his return by following Krzysztof Stojanowski home for a 5-1 in heat 3 ahead of Ritchie Hawkins to put the home side 10 points up. Workington hit back with a 1-5 in heat 4 as Garry Stead and Aidan Collins got out of the gate ahead of Jason Bunyan and were never challenged. This took the score after four heats to 15-9. The Isle of Wight recovered from this set back by winning heat 5 when Krzysztof Stojanowski headed home Garry Stead with Krister Marsh third as James Wright suffered an engine failure on the second lap. They added another 4-2 in heat 6 when Garry Stead split the Holder/Doyle partnership in an excellent race so the lead stretched to 10 points again. In heat 7 Jason Bunyan overcame a poor start by passing both Ritchie Hawkins and Steve Boxall to share the race then in heat 8 Garry Stead took the R/R ride and also a TR. He could only finish second to Jason Doyle who passed him on the second bend. With Aidan Collins taking third place Workington scored a 3-5 to pull back two points as the score went to 29-21. Garry Stead stopped Krzysztof Stojanowski’s winning run in heat 9 when he passed both Isle of Wight riders on the first two bends to share the race. At this stage Stead had scored exactly half of Workington’s total. It was Chris Holder’s turn to do the same to the Workington riders in heat 10 to join his partner, Jason Doyle, up front for a 5-1 to increase the home side’s lead to 12 points. James Wright was entrusted with Workington’s second TR in heat 11 but the result was the same as with Stead’s TR in heat 8. The race was rerun after Chris Johnson had fallen. In the rerun Jason Bunyan won the race but with Wright second and Aidan Collins finishing third it should have been a 3-5 to the Comets but unbelievably the referee, who should be thrown out for his interpretation of the rules, declared that since James Wright had not beaten an opponent he did not score double points!! It must have been clear to him that Wright was deemed to have beaten the excluded rider. By his logic the best way to nullify a TR is to go with only three riders and have your rider win the heat! It beggars belief that a licensed referee could be so ignorant. The net result was that the heat was declared a 3-3 as the Workington team manager justifiably lodged a complaint. In heat 12 Workington did pull two points back when Ritchie Hawkins won the heat when the race leader, Krister Marsh, suffered an engine failure with Nick Simmons second and Aidan Collins third so the score after heat twelve races was 42-32. In heat 13 Garry Stead split the home pairing of Chris Holder and Jason Bunyan for a 4-2 after a fantastic race between Holder and Stead. In heat 14 Steve Boxall suddenly shrugged off his poor form of earlier by passing Krzysztof Stojanowski who then fell in his efforts to retake the lead. With Aidan Collins promoted to second place the Comets took a 1-5 to narrow the gap to eight points at 47-39. The Islanders wrapped things up with a 5-1 in heat 15 through Holder and Doyle who beat Garry Stead as Ritchie Hawkins suffered an engine failure at the tapes. Match Report by Merlin |