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Reading Racers v Edinburgh Monarchs
Premier League, 11 July 2005
Smallmead Stadium, Reading
| 1(g) | Jamie Westacott | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Zdenek Simota | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | . | . | 10 | 0 |
| 3 | Andrew Appleton | 1 | 1 | 1* | 3 | . | . | . | 6 | 1 |
| 4 | Mathieu Tresarrieu | M | M | 2 | 3 | . | . | . | 5 | 0 |
| 5 | Matej Zagar | 3 | 6^ | F | 3 | 3 | . | . | 15 | 0 |
| 6 | Chris Johnson | 1* | 0 | M | 0 | . | . | . | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | Richard Wolff | 2 | 1 | 2* | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 1 |
| 1(g) | Brent Werner | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | . | . | 13 | 0 |
| 2 | Kristian Lund | 1 | 2* | 2 | 2* | . | . | . | 7 | 2 |
| 3 | Cameron Woodward | 3 | 0 | 1* | 2 | . | . | . | 6 | 1 |
| 4 | Daniel Nermark | 2* | 1 | 2 | 2 | . | . | . | 7 | 1 |
| 5 | Rusty Harrison | 2 | 2* | 3 | 1* | 0 | . | . | 8 | 2 |
| 6 | William Lawson | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | 6 | 0 |
| 7 | Robert Ksiezak | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | 0 | 0 |
* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).
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Reading had hoped to welcome back Danny Bird in this match against Edinburgh but he was still not ready for a comeback. Unfortunately Reading had redeclared their team and were unable to use Rider Replacement for him. Instead they had Conference League junior, Jaimie Westacott, at number 1.Otherwise they were at full strength tracking a seven man team for the first time in months. Edinburgh were without Theo Pijper who was badly injured in a crash riding in Europe and had Brent Werner at number 1. They also welcomed back Robert Ksiezak to the side at number 7 following a lengthy spell on the sidelines from a broken leg. There was a long delay before this match started as the fire brigade had to be called in to assist with track watering on a very warm night. Then the starting gate failed and attempts to revive it were unsuccessful. The referee had a conference with the riders and starts were made via the green light. When racing did get underway, Reading made a miserable start not for the first time this season. Brent Werner made a fast start to win the opening race and Kristian Lund got past Jaimie Westacott on the third lap for an Edinburgh 2-4. William Lawson jetted from the gate to win heat two for a shared heat then Edinburgh struck again. Cameron Woodward and Daniel Nermark jettisoned from the start to leave Andrew Appleton in their wake for a 1-5 but Reading hit back with a 4-2 in heat 4 thanks to a Matej Zagar win to take the score to 10-14. Things went from bad to seriously worse for Reading as they lost heats 5 and 6 both by 1-5. In heat 5, Reading could only track one rider since Mathieu Tressarieu had been replaced in his opening ride and couldn’t get his bike going again and Brent Werner and Kristian Lund had an easy maximum against Andrew Appleton. Then in heat 6 Zdenek Simota jumped the start and had to go from 15 metres back. William Lawson and Rusty Harrison were untroubled as the Monarchs increased their lead to 12 points. In heat 7 Matej Zagar took a TR and made a fast start with his partner Richard Wolff to leave Daniel Nermark and Cameron Woodward well behind as the Racers took the big 8-1 to cut the Monarchs’ lead to 5 points. They followed that with a 4-2 in heat 8 when Zdenek Simota passed Kristian Lund with Richard Wolff third. This took the score after 8 races to 24-27 and the match was well and truly on. Rusty Harrison confortably won heat 9 for a shared heat then Zdenek Simota did likewise for Reading in heat 10 but the crucial heat of the evening turned out to be heat 11. In this heat Matej Zagar and Richard Wolff faced Brent Werner and Kristian Lund but it was Werner and Lund who made the start with Zagar playing catch up. Zagar was making little impression on Lund who, by blocking the Reading rider, had given Werner the chance to open up a big lead. In an act of desperation Zagar tried a cut back on the second corner of the third lap but overcooked it and had to withdraw from the race leaving the Monarchs to score a 1-5 and open the lead to 7 points at 31-38. In heat 12 Andrew Appleton finally burst into life to win the heat for a Reading 4-2 and Matej Zagar won heat 13 for a shared heat. It was Mathieu Tressarieu’s turn to score a win in heat 14 but Daniel Nermark took second place. The 4-2 closed the score to 42-45 leaving Reading needing a 5-1 in the last heat for a win. Although Zagar was fast away, Brent Werner had little difficulty taking second place to ensure that Edinburgh left with both league points. Match Report by Merlin |