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Newcastle Diamonds v Sheffield Tigers
Premier League, 03 September 2006
Brough Park Stadium, Newcastle

Newcastle 47
1George Stancl23R1*. ..61
3Christian Henry31*32*3 1.132
4Josef Franc2*2330 ..101
5James Grieves3202. ..70
6Adam McKinna101*1. ..31
7Jamie Robertson0312*2 0081
Sheffield 46
1Ricky Ashworth336^33 ..180
2Ben Wilson1012*2 ..61
3Emiliano Sanchez1332. ..90
5(g)Mark Lemon221#02* ..71
6(g)David Speight01*00. ..11
7Paul Cooper20001 1*1*52

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

Newcastle were without Manuel Hauzinger and used R/R at number 2 instead. Sheffield had Mark Lemon as a guest in place of the injured Andre Compton at number 5 and were also without Kyle Legault, riding in the Canadian Championships, so had to use R/R in his place at number 4. They made a third change to the side with David Speight replacing Benji Compton at number 6.

Newcastle had a mountain to climb to pull back the 28 points by which they lost at Sheffield in their quest for the bonus point. As it happened after racing into a 14 point lead they had a struggle on their hands to finish ahead of the Tigers.

Sheffield got off to a good start when Ricky Ashworth won the opening heat form George Stancl. Ben Wilson’s third place gave the Tigers an opening 2-4 but it was all square again when Newcastle scored a 4-2 in the reserves race won by Jaimie Robertson from Paul Cooper. Christian Henry and Josef Franc then took a 5-1 to put the Diamonds in front. James Grieves won heat 4 from Mark Lemon but David Speight took third place so the race was shared bringing the score to 14-10.

Ricky Ashworth won again in heat 5 from Josef Franc and Christian Henry for another shared race but in heat 6 Newcastle pulled further away with a 4-2 from George Stancl and Jaimie Robertson with Mark Lemon the meat in the sandwich. The lead had extended to six points and it stayed that way after heat 7 although Emiliano Sanchez was the race winner from James Grieves. Adam McKinna’s third place point shared the race. The Diamonds pulled away decisively in heat 8 when Henry and Robertson scored a 5-1 at the expense of Ben Wilson taking the score to 29-19.

Ten points adrift Sheffield gave Mark Lemon a TR in heat 9 but this was a failure when Josef Franc and Christian Henry scored another 5-1 to put some distance between the teams with 14 points now separating the sides. However any complacency was knocked out of the Diamonds as Sheffield clawed 9 points back over the next two heats. Emiliano Sanchez won again in heat 10 with Cooper taking third after George Stancl had an engine failure while leading, The 2-4 cut the lead to 12 points but the Tigers then gave Ricky Ashworth a TR in heat 11. He won the race with Ben Wilson passing McKinna on the last bend for second place for the big 1-8 over McKinna and Grieves cutting the home side’s lead to 5 points. It stayed that way after a shared heat 12. Christian Henry won the race but Ben Wilson and Paul Cooper finished behind him for a 3-3 taking the score to 40-35.

In heat 13 Mark Lemon was penalised under the two minute rule and had to go from 15 metres back but the inspired Ricky Ashworth passed both Stancl and Grieves to win the heat, his fourth consecutive victory. In heat 14 Josef Franc clinched the match for the Diamonds by winning from Sanchez and Cooper for a shared race and it’s just as well he did because in the last race Sheffield scored a 1-5 from Ashworth and Lemon which meant the Newcastle had won by a single point!

Match Report by Merlin