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Kings Lynn Stars v Redcar Bears
PL Playoff (QF), 27 September 2006
Norfolk Arena, Kings Lynn

Kings Lynn 63
1Kevin Doolan132*1. ..71
2Troy Bachelor32*332 ..131
3Trevor Harding3033. ..90
4Daniel Nermark2*22*3. ..92
5Tomas Topinka33331* ..131
6Chris Mills2*12*1. ..62
7John Oliver3102*. ..61
Redcar 32
1Gary Havelock26^R10 3.120
2Chris Kerr0114^R ..60
3Kevin Little02011 ..40
4(g)Trent Leverington12022 0.70
6Jack Hargreaves0010. ..10
7Daniel Giffard101*0. ..21

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

King’s Lynn were at full strength for this match but Redcar had two riders missing. Mathieu Tresarrieu was out with a broken metatarsal in his left foot sustained in a crash at Redcar last Thursday in the first leg while Tomas Suchanek had gone home to ride in his domestic league in the Czech Republic. Although it seemed contrary to the rules Redcar were given a facility to cover for Suchanek’s absence so they used Trent Leverington as a guest for Tresarrieu at number 4 and R/R to cover for the missing Suchanek at number 5.

Already trailing by four points from the first leg and having conceded 70 points on their last visit to King’s Lynn you would probably have got shorter odds on King Canute repelling the tide than Redcar winning through to the semi-finals in this match. However they did score 32 points which was ten points better than last time and also better than some other teams who have visited Saddlebow Road this season.

The Stars took the lead in the opening heat which was over 5 laps for some reason. Troy Batchelor was the winner but Gary Havelock took second place ahead of Kevin Doolan for a 4-2. The reserves race was pulled back after an unsatisfactory start and produced a 5-1 for the home side in the rerun won by John Oliver and Chris Mills from Daniel Giffard. The floodgates seemed to have opened and King’s Lynn scored another 5-1 in heat 3 with the only point of note being Trevor Harding’s pass on his partner, Daniel Nermark, as Leverington and Little finished at the back. Kevin Little took the R/R ride in heat 4 and split the home pairing of Tomas Topinka and John Oliver for a home 4-2 which took the heat 4 score to 18-6.

In heat 5 Gary Havelock took a TR and Redcar tasted success. Havelock got out ahead of Daniel Nermark and held on to win the race under pressure from Nermark. At the back Chris Kerr passed Trevor Harding so the race resulted in a 2-7 to the Bears cutting the Stars’ lead to seven points which meant that already Redcar were guaranteed to beat the 22 points they scored last time at Saddlebow Road. In heat 6 Chris Kerr took the R/R ride but finished at the wrong end of a Doolan/Batchelor 5-1 which put the home side 11 points in front again. Heat 7 looked like finishing all square as Trent Leverington and Kevin Little followed Tomas Topinka but Chris Mills passed Little to turn the result into a 4-2 increasing the lead to 13 points. In heat 8 Chris Kerr took Redcar’s second TR. It was a brave move considering that the unbeaten Troy Batchelor was in the heat but it did result in another heat advantage to the Bears. Batchelor won the race but Kerr finished second and Daniel Giffard picked up the third place point ahead of John Oliver for a 3-5 resulting in a heat eight score of 32-21.

Gary Havelock took the R/R ride in heat 9 but pulled up at the back as King’s Lynn got back on the 5-1 trail. Trevor Harding and Daniel Nermark scored the five points ahead of Jack Hargreaves. Batchelor and Doolan added another in heat 10 with Kevin Little in third place. In heat 11 the home side made it a hat trick of 5-1s and put the result out of Redcar’s reach. Chris Mills came from the back to join Tomas Topinka for the maximum with Gary Havelock third and Chris Kerr retiring with an engine failure. It became four 5-1s on the trot as Trevor Harding and John Oliver relegated Kevin Little to third place in heat 12 which took the score to a palindromic 52-25.

The big question now was whether the Bears could hit the 30 point mark. They got closer by taking two points in heat 13. Tomas Topinka won the race while Trent Leverington (R/R) passed Kevin Doolan for second place with Gary Havelock stuck at the back. The 4-2 took the score to 56-27. Trent Leverington did the job again for Redcar in heat 14. He led the race until passed by Daniel Nermark on the first lap but his second place behind Nermark and ahead of Chris Mills produced the 4-2 which guaranteed that the Bears would hit 30 points. Leverington then came out in heat 15 for his third ride on the trot but finished last. Gary Havelock burst into life again to win the final race from Troy Batchelor who came from the back to take second place while Tomas Topinka took third place for a shared race – the only one of the meeting.

Match Report by Merlin