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Mildenhall Fen Tigers v Rye House Rockets
Premier League, 20 August 2006
West Row Stadium, Mildenhall

Mildenhall 44
1Brent Werner11*31. ..61
2Jon Armstrong02310 ..60
3Daniel King12232 ..100
4Jason King31*1*2. ..72
5Jason Lyons3Fx... ..30
6James Brundle3Fn... ..30
7Jordan Frampton2*122*1 1092
Rye House 48
1Edward Kennett336^33 ..180
2Lee Smethills2*002*. ..42
3Steve Boxall2Fx22. ..60
4Tommy Allen0303. ..60
5Chris Neath2332*1 ..111
6(g)Shane HenryFx00.. ..00
7Adam Roynon10101 ..30

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

Mildenhall welcomed Jon Armstrong back to the side after injury which saw them back at full strength . Rye House had newcomer Lee Smethills at number 2 replacing Ross Brady and had planned to have Ben Powell at number 6. However Mildenhall objected to Powell’s inclusion so Shane Henry took his place.

Mildenhall were doing well until a disastrous heat 7 in which Jason Lyons and James Brundle crashed out of the meeting leaving them short-handed for the remaining 8 heats. In the end they didn’t quite have enough to hold the Rockets but, rather cruelly for them, the ridiculous TR rule produced a sucker punch from Rye House whose failure was rewarded with a big 1-8 in a heat in which the Fen Tigers could only field young reserve Jordan Frampton.

Mildenhall suffered a 1-5 reverse in the opening heat won by Edward Kennett and followed home by his partner, newcomer Lee Smethills, with Brent Werner third. It took four attempts before the reserves race was completed. Firstly Adam Roynon fell heavily on the first bend after Frampton had pushed him wide, then Shane Henry touched the tapes and had to start from 15 metres back. At the third attempt Henry fell after Roynon had passed Frampton. Although the riders were on the third lap the referee decreed another rerun and this time the Fen Tigers got a 5-1 to level the scores. The King brothers scored a 4-2 in heat 3 with Jason winning from Steve Boxall and the home side added another 4-2 in heat 4 with Jason Lyons winning from Chris Neath to bring the score after 4 races to 14-10.

Edward Kennett had an excellent tussle with Danny King in heat 5 before winning the race for a share of the points then Chris Neath won heat 6 for another shared heat. Disaster was just round the corner for Mildenhall though. In heat 7 Jason Lyons smashed into the fence after his machine had lifted and although he was excluded from the race the even worse news for the Mildenhall fans was that he was out of the meeting. In the rerun Steve Boxall did the same thing as Lyons had done and collided with Frampton and Brundle which saw the end of the action for Brundle. This left two riders in the rerun in which Tommy Allen beat Jordan Frampton for a 2-3 cutting Mildenhall’s lead to three points. Armstrong and Frampton raised the home side’s hopes with a 5-1 in heat 8 from Roynon and Smethills to increase the Fen Tigers’ lead to seven points with the score at 27-20 but it was doubtful whether Mildenhall, without Lyons and Brundle, had enough resources left to see them home to victory.

In heat 9 Chris Neath beat the two Kings for a shared race then in heat 10 Brent Werner beat Steve Boxall with Jon Armstrong third for a 4-2 which put the Fen Tigers nine ahead but it was a bit of a Pyrrhic victory because it allowed Edward Kennett to take a TR in heat 11. With only Jordan Frampton in the race for the home side Kennett and Smethills took a 1-8 to cut the gap to two points but Mildenhall increased it to four points with a 4-2 in heat 12 when Danny King beat Steve Boxall with Jordan Frampton third. This took the score to 39-35 with three heats to go.

In heat 13 Mildenhall had to go with only Brent Werner to face Kennett and Neath but the Rye House pair had little trouble taking the 1-5 which levelled the scores at 40-40. It looked bad for the home side when Tommy Allen and Adam Roynon led from the start but Jason King passed Roynon to limit the damage to a 2-4 which nevertheless put the Rockets in front by two points with the last heat to come. In heat 15 Edward Kennett completed his five ride maximum while Danny King passed Chris Neath for second place and a closing 2-4 to the visitors which gave them all three points.

Match Report by Merlin