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Reading Racers v Workington Comets
Premier League, 04 July 2005
Smallmead Stadium, Reading

Reading 49
1Andrew Appleton11321 ..80
3Zdenek Simota221*1*2* ..83
4Mathieu Tresarrieu01*020 ..31
5Matej Zagar23303 ..110
6Chris Johnson2*1*0.. ..32
7Richard Wolff332*2*3 30162
Workington 44
2Shaun Tacey2*3012* 2.102
3James Wright32001 ..60
4Scott RobsonT11*31* ..62
5Carl Stonehewer33236^ 1*.181
6(g)Barry Burchatt000.. ..00
7(g)Chris Mills1R100 2.40

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

Apart from again using Rider Replacement for Steve Masters at number 2, Reading were at full strength. Workington used Rider Replacement for Kauko Nieminen, retained Barry Burchatt at number 6 and had Chris Mills as a guest replacement for Kevin Little at number 7.

On a wet track this was a close run affair in the early stages. Reading got off to a bad start yet again when they lost the opening heat to a Stonehewer/Tacey 1-5. They squared matters with a 5-1 in the reserves race from Richard Wolff and Chris Johnson then heats three and four were shared with Workington providing the winners of both. James Wright beat Zdenek Simota in heat 3 and Carl Stonehewer beat Matej Zagar in heat 4. The score after the opening four heats was 12-12.

Workington were back in front again with a 2-4 from Shaun Tacey and Scott Robson in heat 5 but again Reading levelled the match one heat later with a 4-2 from Richard Wolff who beat Carl Stonehewer and Andrew Appleton. Matej Zagar won heat 7 for a share of the points but Reading took the lead for the first time with a 5-1 from Appleton and Wolff from Chris Mills and Shaun Tacey in heat 8 as the rain became very heavy. The score was now 26-22.

In heat 9, Carl Stonehewer won from Mathieu Tressarieu for a shared heat then in heat 10 Scott Robson did likewise as the score went to 32-28. In heat 11 the Racers struck a crucial blow when Matej Zagar won the heat with Richard Wolff fighting his way into second from last place to take a 5-1 win ahead of Shaun Tacey and James Wright which doubled Reading’s lead to eight points at 37-29. When Reading added another 5-1 in heat 12 from the unbeaten Richard Wolff and Zdenek Simota from James Wright to give the Racers a 12 point lead at 42-30 it looked all over for Workington. Even the bonus point was looking a possibility for Reading as they trailed by 6 points on aggregate with three heats to go.

However, Carl Stonehewer took a TR in heat 13 and, along with Shaun Tacey, scored the big 1-8 over Andrew Appleton and Matej Zagar to reduce the gap to only five points and put a different complection on things. Richard Wolff came to the rescue by winning heat 14 and remaining unbeaten for the 3-3 which made the match points safe for the home side. In the last heat Matej Zagar won from Shaun Tacey and Carl Stonehewer so the Comets went home with the bonus point. They also wrecked Richard Wolff’s attempt to score a seven ride paid maximum by relegating him to last place.

Match Report by Merlin