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Newcastle Diamonds v Glasgow Tigers
Premier Trophy (Group), 17 April 2006
Brough Park Stadium, Newcastle

Newcastle 53
1George Stancl33321 ..120
2Christian Henry02*3F. ..51
3Manuel Hauzinger1T12*. ..41
4Josef Franc33333 ..150
5James GrievesR22F. ..40
6Adam McKinna1001. ..20
7(g)Derek Sneddon322*13 ..111
Glasgow 42
1Danny Bird200!31 ..60
2David McAllan1*101Fx ..31
4Kauko Nieminen26^22F ..120
5Shane Parker3126^2 ..140
6Robert KsiezakFx00.. ..00
7James Cockle2Fx121* 1071

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

In the return match from yesterday afternoon Newcastle were again without the suspended Jaimie Robertson so again had Derek Sneddon as the ‘A’ grade reserve guest. Glasgow were without Lee Dicken following his heavy fall at Ashfield and used Rider Replacement in his stead..

Newcastle had a formidable task trying to pull back the 18 points by which they lost at Glasgow but they gave it a good go. George Stancl won the opening heat but at the back the Glasgow pair took second and third for a shared heat. Heat 2 looked as though it might result in a 1-5 for Glasgow as Cockle and Ksiezak led on the second lap. However Robert Ksiezak hit the fence on the back straight, fell and was excluded from the rerun. This time Derek Sneddon won comfortably while behind him James Cockle had a good tussle with Adam McKinna before securing second place. The 4-2 put the Diamonds in front and, in heat 3, they doubled their lead to four points. Josef Franc was never troubled in beating Kauko Nieminen while Manuel Hauzinger took third place for a 4-2. In heat 4 the Newcastle crowd were none too pleased when James Cockle fell and failed to clear the track as the Newcastle pair were on a 5-1. In the rerun James Grieves and Derek Sneddon again led from the start. Although Shane Parker passed Sneddon he never looked like reeling in Grieves. However Grieves suffered an engine failure on the third lap so Glasgow took a 2-3 with Parker winning the race. This took the score after 4 heats to 13-10.

Manuel Hauzinger demolished the tapes in heat 5 and was replaced by Derek Sneddon. Then David McAllan bumped into Derek Sneddon on the first bend with Sneddon in turn hitting Josef Franc with both Newcastle riders ending on the deck. The race was rerun with all four back and it resulted in another big win for Josef Franc. Derek Sneddon took third from David McAllan with Danny Bird stuck at the back. The 5-1 heat win increased Newcastle’s lead to 7 points and it stretched to 11 with another 5-1 in heat 6, this time from George Stancl and Christian Henry who won comfortably from Shane Parker. It was then TR time and in came Kauko Nieminen wearing the black and white helmet cover in heat 7. He won it too and it looked briefly as though the Tigers might respond with a big 1-8 but James Grieves passed James Cockle and chased Nieminen all the way to the line just failing to get up on Nieminen. This resulted in a 2-7 to Glasgow shaving 5 points from Newcastle’s lead. In heat 8 Christian Henry won from James Cockle with Derek Sneddon heading David McAllan home for a 4-2 to the home side which took the heat 8 score to 29-21.

Eight points down again, Glasgow took the opportunity to introduce Danny Bird as a Tactical Substitute in place of Robert Ksiezak in heat 9 from a 15 metre handicap to partner Shane Parker but Bird finished last to thwart Glasgow’s hopes. Josef Franc had another impressive win this time ahead of Shane Parker with Manuel Hauzinger third for a 4-2 to put Newcastle 10 points in front and now only eight down on aggregate. In heat 10 it looked as though Newcastle were going to pull back another 4 points as George Stancl and Christian Henry led for a 5-1. Henry fell though on the first bend of the third lap letting Kauko Nieminen and James Cockle through for three points and a shared heat. In heat 11 the disappointing Danny Bird finally won a race beating James Grieves in the process. Adam McKinna fell and David McAllan took third place for a Glasgow 2-4 but in heat 12 the Diamonds scored another 5-1. This time David McAllan taking the R/R ride fell on the second lap forcing the referee to stop the race. The referee decided to award the race to the two Newcastle riders, Derek Sneddon and Manuel Hauzinger, who comfortably led James Cockle at the time. This took the heat 12 score to 43-31 with the Diamonds now trailing by only six points on aggregate with three heats to go.

However Glasgow still had one throw of the tactical dice to make and Shane Parker took the TR in heat 13. James Grieves led the race from Parker with Stancl in third place so it looked like a 4-4. James Grieves then fell on the first bend of the last lap so Parker sailed through for the full six points from Stancl with Danny Bird picking up the gift point at the back. The 2-7 finished Newcastle’s hopes for the bonus point as their match lead was cut to 7 points while their aggregate deficit went to 11 points. Josef Franc continued on his wining way with another impressive win in heat 14. Kauko Nieminen took second place with McKinna third for a Newcastle 4-2 then in the last heat Franc completed his full maximum with another fine win. Behind them an excellent race developed between Parker and Stancl with the riders passing and repassing each other on the last two laps. Parker finally got the better of his former Glasgow colleague after Nieminen had fallen at the back.

Match Report by Merlin