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Rye House Rockets v Sheffield Tigers
Premier League, 25 March 2006
Hoddesdon Stadium, Rye House

Rye House 53
1Stuart Robson3222. ..90
2Jamie Courtney2*01*0. ..32
3Edward Kennett2*3232 ..121
4Tommy Allen311*2*. ..72
5Chris NeathFxR31*. ..41
6Luke Bowen3213. ..90
7Steve Boxall2*322*0 ..92
Sheffield 40
1Ricky Ashworth12X31 ..70
2Ben Wilson0032. ..50
3Emiliano Sanchez1330. ..70
4Kyle LegaultF111#. ..30
5Andre Compton1*36^03 ..131
6Paul Cooper1101. ..30
7Benji Compton02F0. ..20

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

On a cold wet night at Hoddesdon it was a full-strength Rye House team which faced Sheffield also at full strength for this match. Although the Rockets finished comfortable winners, Sheffield, as at Workington last week, produced a stirring fightback to pull back an early 14 point deficit after 5 heats to only 5 points after heat 10 before their challenge ran out of steam. You only have to look at the scores of the respective reserve pairings to see where the main difference lay. Luke Bowen and Steve Boxall scored 18+2 for the Rockets compared to the 5 scored by Paul Cooper and Benji Compton for the Tigers.

Sheffield made an appalling start as Rye House started with three consecutive 5-1s. Jaimie Courtney took Ricky Ashworth wide on the first two bends of the opening heat to follow Stuart Robson home then Steve Boxall swooped past the visitors’ reserves on the back straight of the opening lap of heat 2 to join Luke Bowen for another maximum. Edward Kennett passed Emiliano Sanchez in heat 3 and, when the Sheffield rider pulled a locker, his partner, Kyle Legault clipped his back wheel and fell. Result – another 5-1 to the home side. Steve Boxall led heat 4 but, as Chris Neath tried to pass Benji Compton to join him, he fell and was excluded with the race being awarded. This resulted in a share of the points and a heat 4 score of 18-6.

In heat 5, Edward Kennett won comfortably but the real action was at the back as Tommy Allen came through the field to get himself into second place before eventually losing out to Ricky Ashworth. The 4-2 increased the Rockets’ lead to 14 points but Sheffield came storming back. Andre Compton beat Stuart Robson in heat 6 and Paul Cooper came from the back to pass Jaimie Courtney for a 2-4 to shave two points from the Rockets’ lead. Then in heat 7 it was Emiliano Sanchez’s turn to make the gate and head Luke Bowen home. Chris Neath at the back pulled up and Sheffield took another 2-4 to cut the deficit to 10 points. Ben Wilson made it three Sheffield heat winners on the trot in heat 8 and it looked as though Sheffield might take a 1-5 with Benji Compton in second place but he fell so the points were shared. This took the score after 8 heats to 29-19.

Nothing daunted the Tigers then gave Andre Compton a TR which he duly won from Edward Kennett and Tommy Allen giving Sheffield a 3-6 and cutting another three points off the home side’s lead to 7 points. In heat 10 it was five Sheffield race winners in a row as another fast start from Emiliano Sanchez saw him head home Stuart Robson who just got up on the line to pip Kyle Legault for second place. Still it was another 2-4 heat advantage to Sheffield and the home support looked on uneasily as the Rockets, struggling on the greasy track, were now only five points to the good. In heat 11, however, there was some relief for them as they took a 4-2 in a rerun race. In the first running Ricky Ashworth, having been passed by Luke Bowen, took the Rye House rider off and was excluded for unfair riding. In the rerun, there was a ding-dong battle between Luke Bowen and Ben Wilson for second place behind Chris Neath. It ended when Bowen fell trying to pass Wilson but the Rocket got up to push home for the third place point. Then in heat 12 Edward Kennet and super-reserve Steve Boxall took the 5-1 ahead of Paul Cooper and Emiliano Sanchez which put the Rockets firmly in the driving seat. The score after heat 12 was 43-32.

Ricky Ashworth won heat 13 but Stuart Robson and Chris Neath relegated Andre Compton to the back for the shared heat which clinched the home victory. In heat 14 Luke Bowen took Kyle Legault wide leaving the space for Tommy Allen to come through and join him for a 5-1 to put some icing on the cake for the home side but Andre Compton and Ricky Ashworth looked like reversing this in the last heat until Edward Kennett passed Ashworth so Sheffield had to be content with a 2-4.

Match Report by Merlin