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Newport Wasps v Reading Racers
KO Cup (QF), 17 July 2005
Queensway Meadows, Newport

Newport 39
1Mads Korneliussen3.... ..30
2Tony Atkin12*212 ..81
3Neil Collins33231* ..121
5(g)Stuart Robson33322 ..130
6Lee Dicken2FRFx0 0130
7Karlis Ezergailis00000 0000
Reading 51
1Andrew Appleton21*1*1. ..52
2Zdenek Simota0232. ..70
3Steve Masters1232. ..80
4Mathieu TresarrieuFT... ..00
5Matej Zagar23333 ..140
6Chris Johnson1111*2* ..62
7Richard Wolff31*1*2*1 30113

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

Newport faced an 18 point deficit to pull back from the first leg of this cup tie and this week had Stuart Robson for the injured Craig Watson. They again used the R/R facility for the absent Michael Coles. Reading had reshuffled their team following their home defeat by Edinburgh. With Danny Bird still out through injury Steve Masters came back into the side at number 3 with Appleton and Simota forming the opening pairing.

There was good news and bad news for the Newport fans in the opening race. The good news was that Mads Korneliussen won it beating Andrew Appleton for a 4-2. The bad news was that Korneliussen fell after the race had finished and sustained a shoulder injury that caused him to withdraw from the meeting. Already tracking a six man team they were now down to five riders although with Karlis Ezergailis failing to score a point in his seven races it was effectively four!

In heat 2 the Racers equalised with Richard Wolff taking the race win from Lee Dicken but Newport took a four point lead with a 5-1 in heat 3 when Neil Collins and Tony Atkin outpaced Steve Masters after Mathieu Tressarieu had fallen at the back. A fine ride by Stuart Robson to pass both Richard Wolff and Matej Zagar earned the Wasps a share of the points in heat 4 after which the score was 14-10.

Although Lee Dicken fell in heat 5, Neil Collins took his second race win for another shared heat but Reading pulled two points back in heat 6 with a Zagar win from Atkin with Chris Johnson again beating Karlis Ezergailis for the third place point. In heat 7 Stuart Robson again came from the back to head home Steve Masters and Richard Wolff but in heat 8 Newport lost their lead and fell two points in arrears when Reading took a 1-5 from Zdenek Simota and on-fire reserve Richard Wolff. This took the score after 8 heats to 23-25 and already the aggregate victory was looking like a forlorn hope for Newport. It wasn’t all good news for Reading, however, as Mathieu Tressarieu withdrew with a shoulder injury.

It got worse for the Wasps when Matej Zagar won heat 9 with Chris Johnson beating Karlis Ezergailis for the third time for the third place point. The 2-4 gave Reading a four point lead and they increased it to six when Steve Masters beat Tony Atkin in heat 10 with Richard Wolff third for another 2-4. Stuart Robson won heat 11 but with Lee Dicken at the back the six point gap remained and there was no change in the next race when Neil Collins won from Steve Masters with Chris Johnson beating Karlis Ezergailis at the back for the fourth time in the meeting. The score after heat 12 stood at 33-39.

Matej Zagar finally ended Stuart Robson’s winning streak in heat 13 for another reading 2-4 while Richard Wolff and Chris Johnson took a 1-5 in heat 14 from the Wasps’ reserves to extend the Racers’ lead to 12 points. In the last race Matej Zagar wound things up by beating Stuart Robson and Neil Collins to end a sorry match for Newport.

Match Report by Merlin