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Newcastle Diamonds v Kings Lynn Stars
Premier League, 04 September 2006
Brough Park Stadium, Newcastle
| 1 | George Stancl | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | . | . | . | 6 | 0 |
| 3 | Christian Henry | 3 | 1* | 2 | 2* | 3 | . | . | 11 | 2 |
| 4 | Josef Franc | 2* | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2* | . | . | 12 | 2 |
| 5 | James Grieves | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | . | . | 13 | 0 |
| 6 | Adam McKinna | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Jamie Robertson | 0 | 1 | 1* | 0 | 1 | 1 | R | 4 | 1 |
| 1 | Kevin Doolan | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2* | 1 | . | . | 11 | 1 |
| 2 | Troy Bachelor | 2* | 0 | 3 | 1* | . | . | . | 6 | 2 |
| 3 | Trevor Harding | 1 | 1* | 0 | . | . | . | . | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | Daniel Nermark | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | . | . | . | 6 | 0 |
| 5 | Tomas Topinka | 1* | 3 | 1 | 3 | R | . | . | 8 | 1 |
| 6 | Chris Mills | 3 | 0 | 0 | Fx | . | . | . | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | John Oliver | 2* | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1* | . | . | 8 | 2 |
* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).
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Newcastle were without Manuel Hauzinger again and used R/R at number 2 in his absence. King’s Lynn were at full strength. Newcastle, having beaten Sheffield 47-46 at Brough Park last night, had King’s Lynn, another championship chasing side currently showing fantastic form, as their visitors facing a 31 point deficit from the match at Saddlebow Road in the battle for the bonus. This was King’s Lynn’s fourth match in a spell of nine fixtures in fifteen days in three different competitions. Newcastle soon got the message that they were in for a hard night when the Stars opened with a 1-5 from probably the best pairing in the Premier League – Kevin Doolan and Troy Batchelor – with George Stancl following them home for third. Doolan moved Stancl over on the first bend which allowed Batchelor through for second place. The Diamonds then lost another demoralising 1-5 in heat 2 when the Stars’ reserves, Chris Mills and John Oliver, gated to repeat the dose leaving Jaimie Robertson to pick up the third point scrap. Newcastle hit back in heat 3 though with a 5-1 of their own. Christian Henry and Josef Franc gated ahead of the King’s Lynn pair of Harding and Nermark to pull four points back. Heat 4 was settled on the first two bends when James Grieves took the lead followed by John Oliver and Tomas Topinka. This resulted in a shared race which took the score after four races to 10-14. The two top pairs met in heat 5 and the honours finished even. Kevin Doolan led from the start but was pressurised all race by Josef Franc. Franc couldn’t pass him though but Christian Henry ensured that the points were shared by keeping Troy Batchelor at the back. Heat 6 produced another 3-3. Tomas Topinka won the race from George Stancl but Jaimie Robertson won the battle of the reserves at the back by taking third place from Chris Mills. Heat 7 produced the fourth shared race on the trot. James Grieves rounded early race leader, Daniel Nermark, on the second lap but Trevor Harding passed Adam McKinna on the last bend for third place to retain the Stars’ four point lead. The lead stretched to six points in heat 8 as King’s Lynn broke the deadlock of the last four heats by scoring a 2-4. Troy Batchelor headed Christian Henry (R/R) from the gate while John Oliver passed Jaimie Robertson on the first lap for third. This meant that the score after eight heats stood at 21-27 but Newcastle were far from finished The Diamonds hit back in heat 9 with a 5-1 from their top pairing of Josef Franc and Christian Henry against Tomas Topinka. This cut the Stars’ lead to only two points and it was all square after heat 10. Daniel Nermark led the race until the start of the last lap when George Stancl passed him round the outside. Jaimie Robertson picked up the vital third place point from Trevor Harding for the 4-2 which levelled the score at 30-30 with five races to go. James Grieves kept his unbeaten run going by winning a crucial heat 11 from Doolan and Batchelor for a shared race and things were now looking much brighter for the Diamonds. King’s Lynn opted to go with both reserves in heat 12. In the first running of the race Chris Mills, leading the race, hit the fence on the second lap, second bend. While John Oliver was able to avoid him Christian Henry wasn’t and crashed into Mills. Chris Mills was excluded from the rerun in which the Diamonds took the lead for the first time in the match. Christian Henry was the race winner but John Oliver took second place from Jaimie Robertson for a 4-2 race result which gave the home side a two point lead with the score standing at 37-35. It was time for King’s Lynn, having gone from eight up to two down, to show what they were made of and they went about it in the best possible way by taking a 1-5 in heat 13 against Newcastle’s top two of George Stancl and the unbeaten till then James Grieves. This put Newcastle two points down again in a thrilling match. It stayed that way after heat 14. Josef Franc beat Daniel Nermark but John Oliver again produced a vital point at the expense of Jaimie Robertson who had a puncture when in last place. With the score at 41-43 it was all down to the last heat. It looked as though King’s Lynn were home and dry when Tomas Topinka hit the front but he had an engine failure on the second lap which allowed James Grieves and Josef Franc through for a match winning 5-1. Match Report by Merlin |