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Kings Lynn Stars v Workington Comets
Young Shield (QF), 05 October 2005
Norfolk Arena, Kings Lynn

Kings Lynn 52
1Oliver Allen2332*3 ..131
2Ashley JonesR111. ..30
3Troy Bachelor0133. ..70
4Kevin Doolan232*1. ..81
5Tomas Topinka33332* ..141
6(g)Darren Mallett210.. ..30
7Jan Jaros1*2*010 ..42
Workington 42
1(g)Magnus Zetterstrom3222^1 ..100
3Kauko Nieminen1220. ..50
4Shaun Tacey3Fx2*02* 0.72
5James Wright1010. ..20
6(g)Richie DennisR0R1*. ..11
7Tomasz Piszcz13023 26^170

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

King’s Lynn welcomed back Troy Batchelor to the side after a long absence through injury and had Darren Mallett at number 6 in place of Tommy Stange. Injury-ravaged Workington had Magnus Zetterstrom at number 1 as a guest for Carl Stonehewer, used R/R for Scott Robson at number 2 and had Ritchie Dennis as a guest at number 6. Workington came with an eight point advantage from the first leg from last Saturday night.

Workington made a good start providing the winners of the first three races. Magnus Zetterstrom was first up beating Oliver Allen. With Ashley Jones suffering an engine failure, the Comets started with a 2-4. Tomasz Piszcz won the reserves race for a 3-3 then Shaun Tacey, returning to his former track, won heat 3 from Kevin Doolan. Kauko Nieminen passed Troy Batchelor so Workington took another 2-4 to lead by four points. However, Tomas Topinka and Jan Jaros scored a 5-1 in heat 4 beating James Wright in the process so King’s Lynn pegged the scores back to level on the night at 12-12.

Heat 5 took three attempts to run with first Troy Batchelor then Magnus Zetterstrom warned for moving at the starting gate. When it finally got underway, Kevin Doolan beat Magnus Zetterstrom with Troy Batchelor third for a 4-2 which put the Stars in front for the first time in the match. They doubled their two point lead with another 4-2 in heat 6. This time Oliver Allen won after an exciting race with Tomasz Piszcz who was taking his fourth ride in six heats. Ashley Jones finished third with James Wright at the back. Shaun Tacey had a nasty fall in heat 7 which resulted in the ambulance taking to the track to his aid. However he was soon up and back on his feet apparently none the worse. In the rerun with Shaun Tacey excluded, Kauko Nieminen passed Darren Mallett to follow Tomas Topinka home but King’s Lynn’s third consecutive 4-2 had them six points ahead on the night and only two behind on aggregate. Then they were pegged back by a 1-5 from Workington thanks to a fast start by Tomasz Piszcz and a good second place by Shaun Tacey ahead of Ashley Jones. This took the score to 25-23 and Workington were still very much alive in the match with only two points of their first leg lead eaten up and three Zetterstrom and Tacey rides to come. Their big worry was the lack of points from James Wright.

That worry was not eased in heat 9 when Troy Batchelor and Kevin Doolan took a 5-1 from James Wright to restore the Stars’ 6 point lead before the interval with the odds now beginning to favour the home side. After the interval King’s Lynn squared the aggregate score with a 4-2 from Oliver Allen, who beat Kauko Nieminen, and Ashley Jones. Ominously for Workington Shaun Tacey was tailed off at the back. Heat 11 saw a titanic battle between Tomas Topinka and Magnus Zetterstrom. Although Zetterstrom looked to have the advantage Topinka passed him on the last lap. With Ritchie Dennis taking the third place point at the expense of Darren Mallett the heat was shared. In heat 12 Troy Batchelor beat Tomasz Piszcz with Jan Jaros relegating Kauko Nieminen to last place and the 4-2 put King’s Lynn ahead on aggregate for the first time with the score at 41-31, 83-81 on aggregate. However this opened the door to the use of a TR by Workington.

Sure enough Magnus Zetterstrom was given a TR in heat 13 but he was faced by Oliver Allen and Tomas Topinka who had dropped only one point between them all match at that stage. Topinka and Allen made the gate and the 5-2 had Workington in trouble. King’s Lynn now had a five point aggregate lead and Workington needed a big result from heat 14. They got it, too! Tomasz Piszcz took a TR and lined up with Shaun Tacey against Kevin Doolan and Jan Jaros. Piszcz and Tacey got themselves out in front and team rode to keep Kevin Doolan at the back for the big 1-8 which took the score on the night to 47-41, and Workington were now two points ahead again going into the final heat needing three points to win through to the semi-finals. King’s Lynn needed a 5-1 for success and with Oliver Allen and Tomas Topinka out again were favourites to do it. Workington tracked Magnus Zetterstrom and Shaun Tacey. In the event the King’s Lynn pair made the gate for the 5-1 that they needed and that was that. Phew!

Match Report by Merlin