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Rye House Rockets v Workington Comets
Premier League, 04 June 2006
Hoddesdon Stadium, Rye House

Rye House 49
1Edward Kennett22300 ..70
3Ross BradyFn.... ..00
4Tommy Allen1*F2*22* ..73
5Chris Neath32323 ..130
6Luke Bowen1Fn... ..10
7Steve Boxall332*33 33201
8(g)Danny Betson1*00.. ..11
Workington 41
1(g)Josef Franc3X1*32 ..91
2Paul ThorpRX... ..00
3Ritchie Hawkins1*2^1*1*. ..53
4Tomasz Piszcz232R. ..70
5Garry Stead13311* ..91
6(g)Matthew Wright00212 ..50
7Aidan Collins201*21 ..61

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

Rye House were without the injured Jamie Courtney and used Rider Replacement at number 2. They nominated Danny Betson as their number eight and, with the new averages kicking in they had Edward Kennett at number 1 with Ross Brady moving to number 3. Workington were missing James Wright who was practising in Germany for the World under 21 Team Cup Championship. They had Josef Franc as a guest and, in a rearranged team under the new averages, Franc rode at number 1 with Paul Thorp moving to number 2 and Tomasz Piszcz to number 4. They also had Mildenhall rider Matthew Wright as a guest at number 6 in place of the injured Lee Derbyshire. (I think that just about covers it!)

This match saw carnage the likes of which is rarely seen on a speedway track. In heat 3 Ross Brady and Ritchie Hawkins crashed on the first and second bends. Ross Brady was propelled through the second bend fence and, although he was able to walk back to the pits, he withdrew from the meeting with a leg ligament injury. Worse was to come in heat 5.

Luke Bowen replaced Ross Brady. Josef Franc and Paul Thorp came off and Luke Bowen ran into both of them on the second bend. The momentum threw him over the fence and he landed some 20 metres away on the dog track. Josef Franc got up and seemed to be OK but Paul Thorp looked to have suffered a broken leg and was placed in a protective cast. Worst of all was the condition of Luke Bowen who lay on his stomach in absolute agony. His neck was put in a brace and he has a suspected broken leg.

Rye House had a 28 point deficit to pull back if they had any hopes of the bonus point. Heat 1 was rerun after Paul Thorp came down on the second bend having run out of room. In the rerun Josef Franc led the way to win the heat on the line from Edward Kennett but the race was shared when Tommy Allen passed Paul Thorp on lap 3 as Paul Thorp drifted home last. Steve Boxall won the reserves race while Luke Bowen, after a poor start, passed Matthew Wright for third behind Aidan Collins for a 4-2. After Ross Brady’s fall in heat 3 Steve Boxall replaced him in the ‘all four back’ rerun and won the race. However Tommy Allen who seemed to be struggling slipped back from second to fourth before falling and causing the race to be awarded as a 3-3. Chris Neath and Steve Boxall took a 5-1 in heat 4 from Garry Stead to increase the Rockets’ lead to six points with the score standing at 15-9.

Then came heat 5 after delay of nearly and hour and a quarter. Having lost Ross Brady and Luke Bowen and, since they were already without Jaimie Courtney, Rye House were now down to four riders plus their number 8 and it seemed that the Rockets would only be able to track one rider in a number of heats. However with Paul Thorp excluded as the cause of the heat 5 stoppage and with Josef Franc also excluded for not being under power at the time of the stoppage, Workington had no riders in the rerun so Steve Boxall and Tommy Allen rode round for an unopposed 5-0 which gave the Rockets an eleven point lead. Garry Stead won heat 6 from Edward Kennett while Danny Betson beat Matthew Wright for a shared heat. In heat 7 Ritchie Hawkins took a TR as Chris Neath came out on his own for the Rockets. He picked a poor time to touch the tapes and had to go from 15 metres back. However he made up for it by making light of the handicap to pass Hawkins and was unlucky not to get the decision over Tomasz Piszcz on the line. This meant that Workington only gained a point with their TR as they took a 2-5 heat win. Steve Boxall won heat 8 for a shared race as Matthew Wright and Aidan Collins finished ahead of Danny Betson and the score reached 28-20 with Workington making heavy weather of trying to beat such a severely handicapped side.

Rye House went with just Tommy Allen in heat 9 and lost a 2-4 as Garry Stead won the race to cut the Rockets’ lead to six points. Heat 10 was rerun with ‘all four back’ after Edward Kennett hit the first bend fence as a result of a hard first bend from Tomasz Piszcz. In the rerun Edward Kennett won the heat but Piszcz and Hawkins took the minor places for a shared heat. In heat 11 Rye House again had to go with just Chris Neath. It was enough for a shared race as Chris Neath won after early race leader Josef Franc got completely out of shape on the second bend. There was another three rider race in heat 12 but Steve Boxall won for Rye House for another shared heat which took the score to 39-33.

Workington finally pulled two more points in heat 13 to get within touching distance when Josef Franc beat Chris Neath with Garry Stead taking third from Edward Kennett. This 2-4 took the score to 41-37 with just two heats to go. Rye House wrapped it up in heat 14 with a 5-1 from Steve Boxall and Tommy Allen who came from the back to join his partner. Chris Neath won heat 15 but Josef Franc and Garry Stead shared the points with Edward Kennet last. Full credit to Rye House for winning with such depleted resources. They actually would have won the match if only their top four had turned up. It was the second time this season that Steve Boxall at reserve had scored 20+1 from seven rides. Full credit to him but surely these ridiculous reserve rules have to be rethought!

Match Report by Merlin