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Reading Racers v Newcastle Diamonds
Premier League, 16 May 2005
Smallmead Stadium, Reading

Reading 45
1Andrew Appleton3332*3 ..141
2Steve Masters111F. ..30
3Zdenek SimotaFFx... ..00
4Richard Wolff110X. ..20
5Matej Zagar336!33 2*.201
6(g)Tom Brown0F1.. ..10
7Mathieu Tresarrieu2102*F Fx.51
Newcastle 47
1Phil Morris22*F11 ..61
2Christian Henry0331. ..70
3Richard Juul2*1*22*. ..73
4Josef Franc322*0. ..71
5James Grieves2220. ..60
6Lubos Tomicek301*1*3 3.112
7Jamie Robertson102*.. ..31

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

Reading returned home following two defeats on the road at Workington and Glasgow to face Newcastle fresh from their triumph over Workington last night. The Racers had Tom Brown at reserve in place of Chris Johnson with Steve Masters making his home debut. Newcastle were at full strength.

An opening heat 4-2 to Reading with Andrew Appleton beating ex-Racer Phil Morris and Steve Masters taking third place may have lulled Reading into a false sense of security but it wasn’t long before they were in deep trouble against Newcastle. The Diamonds took heat 2 by 2-4 won by Lubos Tomicek then rattled in a 1-5 in heat 3 thanks to Josef Franc and Richard Juul with Zdenek Simota crashing into the fence at the end of the third lap. Reading hit back in heat 4 with a 4-2 from Zagar and Tressarieu separated by James Grieves. The score after heat 4 was 11-13.

Heat 5 saw the Reading middle pairing of Wolff and Simota concede another 1-5 this time to Christian Henry and Phil Morris. Simota fell again and retired from the meeting. Again Reading hit back with a 4-2 in heat 6. Andrew Appleton won for the second time from James Grieves with Steve Masters beating Lubos Tomicek for the third place point. Heat 7 was shared but Newcastle scored their third 1-5 success in heat 8 won by Christian Henry and Jaimie Robertson from Steve Masters and Mathieu Tressarieu. The score was now 20-28 and alarm bells were ringing loud and clear in the home camp.

In heat 9 Matej Zagar came in as a Tactical Substitute from 15 metres back for Zdenek Simota and had no difficulty blowing away the opposition for a fine win. However Richard Wolff finished behind James Grieves and Lubos Tomicek so Newcastle limited the damage to 6-3. This brought the Racers back to 26-31 not quite within touching distance.

Heat 10 was shared by a third consecutive Appleton win then Reading got right back into the match with a 5-1 from Zagar and Tressarieu as Phil Morris fell to close the gap at 34-35. Their joy was short lived as Tomicek and Juul responded in kind with their own 1-5 when Tressarieu fell to open up the five point gap again. Back came Reading with another 5-1 in heat 13 from the unbeaten pair of Zagar and Appleton to close to 40-41 with just two races to go.

It was clear that heat 14 would be pivotal. With the unbeaten Zagar and Appleton almost certain to appear in heat 15 it was clear that Newcastle had to take maximum points from heat 14 to stand a realistic chance of the win. They went one better and took a 0-5. In the first running of the heat Tressarieu fell and Wolff smashed into him. Tressarieu was excluded but in the rerun Richard Wolff brought Josef Franc down and he too was excluded. This left the two Newcastle riders only to complete four laps to win the match for the Diamonds. It was just as well because the expected 5-1 to Reading duly materialised from their big two in the last heat.

Match Report by Merlin