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Rye House Rockets v Newcastle Diamonds
Premier League, 08 September 2006
Hoddesdon Stadium, Rye House

Rye House 69
1Edward Kennett3332*3 ..141
2Lee Smethills02*31. ..61
3Steve Boxall312*3. ..91
4Tommy Allen2*333. ..111
5Chris Neath32*332* ..132
6Adam Roynon312*1. ..71
7(g)Ben Powell2*32*2*. ..93
Newcastle 21
1George Stancl221#0. ..50
2(g)Glen Phillips1*1010 ..31
4Josef Franc0Fx221# 0.50
5James Grieves21111 ..60
6Adam McKinna0100R ..10
7Jamie Robertson10000 ..10

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

Rye House were at full strength but Newcastle were without Christian Henry with a swollen hand resulting from his crash at Brough Park with Chris Mills on Monday. They were also without Manuel Hauzinger who has been deemed to be withholding his services. As a result the Diamonds used R/R for Christian Henry at number 3 and had Glen Phillips as a guest for Manuel Hauzinger at number 2.

Newcastle in desperate need of points for a final push towards the play offs had a five point lead from the match at Brough Park in aid of the bonus. However the Diamonds were pulled apart at the seams by a rampant Rye House for whom four riders completed paid maximums. Newcastle couldn’t provide a single race winner in what must be one of their most dismal displays ever.

Little did Newcastle think that the shared race they managed in the opening heat would be the only race all match they did not lose. Edward Kennett passed early race leader, George Stancl, and the Diamonds guest, Glen Phillips, passed Lee Smethills for the third place point resulting in an opening heat 3-3. Then the floodgates opened as Newcastle conceded ten 5-1s and four 4-2s! Two easy 5-1s in heats 2 and 3 were followed by a 4-2 when Chris Neath had to pass James Grieves on the first lap before heading off for the win and a 4-2 which made the score after four races 17-7.

George Stancl managed a second place in heat 5 behind Tommy Allen after passing Steve Boxall on the opening lap for another 4-2 but Kennett and Smethills beat Grieves for another 5-1 in heat 6. In heat 7 Josef Franc was taken wide on the second bend and fell. He got up and remained on track, hands on hips, defying the referee to exclude him. The referee did though and that was another 5-1 in the bag for the Rockets. An excellent ride from Adam Roynon saw him work his way past Glen Phillips on the last lap to join Lee Smethills for another 5-1 in heat 8 which took the score to 36-12.

Another 5-1 in heat 9 was followed by a rare second place by a Diamond. This time it was Josef Franc who managed the feat behind Edward Kennett after he had made a lightning start. Kennett caught and passed him on the third lap as Newcastle’s misery continued. In heat 11 George Stancl took a TR for the visitors and was humiliated by being beaten by young Rye House reserve, Ben Powell, who in turn followed Chris Neath home for yet another 5-1. Josef Franc managed another second place in heat 12 after Boxall had passed him on the third lap for a 4-2 which took the total to 54-18.

Neath and Kennett added another 5-1 in heat 13 before it was Josef Franc’s turn for humiliation. He took a TR for the Diamonds but, like Stancl in heat 11, he was beaten into third place by Powell who completed four unbeaten rides as Tommy Allen, the race winner, also completed a paid maximum. The last heat resulted in yet another 5-1 as Kennett and Neath became the third and fourth home men to go through the card unbeaten by an opponent.

Match Report by Merlin