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Kings Lynn Stars v Edinburgh Monarchs
Premier League, 26 August 2006
Norfolk Arena, Kings Lynn

Kings Lynn 61
1Kevin Doolan2*32*2*0 ..93
2Troy Bachelor32*333 ..141
3Trevor Harding032*3. ..81
4Daniel Nermark22*33. ..101
5Tomas Topinka3323. ..110
6(g)James Brundle201*1. ..41
7John Oliver1*12*1. ..52
Edinburgh 33
1Theo Pijper12131 1*.91
2Daniele Tessari0000. ..00
3Matthew Wethers111*14^ 2.101
4Henrik Moller34^0RFx ..70
6Sean Stoddart0010. ..10
7Derek Sneddon30102 ..60

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

King’s Lynn were at full strength but Edinburgh were without William Lawson who was suffering from a back strain so they had to use R/R at number 5 instead..

King’s Lynn, riding their second home match in 24 hours, were hoping to emulate last night’s hammering of Newcastle. Edinburgh arrived on the back of a rained off meeting at Armadale last night hoping to avoid the same fate as most visitors to Saddlebow Road this season.

The score is no reflection of the quality of the racing as Edinburgh played their part in producing one of the best meetings seen at Saddlebow Road this year. In fact only Mildenhall and Somerset have produced narrower defeats in King’s Lynn’s Premier League home matches this season!

It looked all too easy for the Stars as Batchelor and Doolan raced off for an opening heat 5-1 but Derek Sneddon won the reserves race for a shared heat before Edinburgh pulled two points back in heat 3. Henrik Moller was fast away and never troubled in winning from Daniel Nermark but behind Trevor Harding passed Matthew Wethers only for the Edinburgh man to repass him on the last lap for the third place which gave the Monarchs a 2-4. A highly entertaining heat 4 saw John Oliver pass Derek Sneddon on the opening lap but up front Theo Pijper taking a R/R ride led from Tomas Topinka. Topinka hunted him down however and finally passed him on the third lap for a 4-2 to the Stars. This took the score after four heats to 14-10.

Heat 5 resulted in a 5-1 to the Stars but they had to work hard for it. Pijper was the early race leader but was passed by Trevor Harding on the first lap. Daniel Nermark then passed Pijper on the third lap only for Pijper to pass him back again before being repassed. Heat 6 produced a terrific race between Wethers and Batchelor as Doolan led from the tapes. Batchelor eventually pulled away from Wethers then had to hold on to second place as he developed a puncture. Nonetheless it was a 5-1 to King’s Lynn and the Monarchs now trailed by 24-12. In heat 7 Henrik Moller took a TR but things didn’t look good as Tomas Topinka and James Brundle led the race. Moller and Wethers both passed Brundle though so the race resulted in a 3-5 to Edinburgh which pulled the deficit back to 10 points. Heat 8 produced a 5-1 for the home side. Derek Sneddon passed John Oliver on the third lap only for Oliver to repass to join Troy Batchelor for the maximum heat win which took the score after eight races to 32-18.

In heat 9 Henrik Moller reared badly at the tapes as Nermark and Harding sailed off for another 5-1 and the Stars added another in heat 10 after Moller suffered an engine failure at the tapes. Theo Pijper got to the front in heat 11 and raced a good line to deny Tomas Topinka who challenged all race. This produced a shared heat then Matthew Wethers took a TR in heat 12. Trevor Harding won the race but Matthew Wethers came from the back to take second place for another shared race, this time 4-4, which took the score after twelve races to 49-27.

Heat 13 was a cracker of a race. Theo Pijper led from the tapes but Tomas Topinka passed him on the first lap. Kevin Doolan also passed him on lap three only to be repassed by Pijper. Doolan was not to be denied however and got by the Monarchs’ man again on the last lap so the Stars took another 5-1. Daniel Nermark passed Derek Sneddon to win heat 14 for a 4-2 then, in the last race, Batchelor and Doolan looked to be off for a 5-1 until Theo Pijper passed Doolan on the inside with Matthew Wethers coming through too to finish second. Doolan tried everything to get past Pijper for third place but couldn’t do it. The race was shared 3-3 and Edinburgh knew that, despite their league position and hefty defeat, they had contributed to a fine match.

Match Report by Merlin