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Somerset Rebels v Swindon Robins
Challenge, 01 September 2006
Oak Tree Arena, Somerset

Somerset 39.5
1Magnus Zetterstrom1*4^323 ..131
2(g)Neil Collins21*20. ..51
3Stephan Katt0002. ..20
4Emil Kramer2134^0 ..100
5Glenn Cunningham1R10.5. ..2.50
6Simon Walker3101*. ..51
7Ben Barker001*1*. ..22
Swindon 54.5
1Leigh Adams3333. ..120
2Tomasz Chrzanowski02*32*. ..72
3Renat Gafurov12*1*3. ..72
4(g)Travis McGowan33232 ..130
5Lee Richardson331*0.51* ..8.52
6(g)Lewis Bridger2020. ..40
7Mads Korneliussen1*2*0R. ..32

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

Somerset were without Glen Phillips and had Neil Collins guesting in his place at number 2. Swindon had two guests in their side – Travis McGowan at number 4 and Lewis Bridger at number 6.

As expected, Somerset were no match for their Elite League visitors and lost by 15 points. In the opening race Magnus Zetterstrom had to go from 15 metres back after touching the tapes. Leigh Adams won the race but Zetterstrom managed to get through for second place after passing Tomasz Chrzanowski before the first lap had been completed. The race was shared as was the reserves race won by Simon Walker from Lewis Bridger and Mads Korneliussen but Somerset fell behind in heat 3 when Travis McGowan won from Emil Kramer with Renat Gafurov third from Stephan Katt. This produced a 2-4 for the Robins and they added a 1-5 in heat 4 through Lee Richardson and Mads Korneliussen which took the score to 9-15.

Leigh Adams and Tomasz Chrzanowski added another 1-5 in heat 5 from Kramer and Katt to put the Robins ten points ahead so Magnus Zetterstrom took a TR in heat 6. The race was won by Lee Richardson from Zetterstrom but Neil Collins took third place to give Somerset a 5-3 heat advantage. The Rebels hopes died though when Swindon rammed home another 1-5 in heat 7 from McGowan and Gafurov as Glenn Cunningham retired from the race. Tomasz Chrzanowski won heat 8 for a shared heat as the score progressed to 19-31 after eight races.

Wins for Emil Kramer and Magnus Zetterstrom in heats 9 and 10 produced shared heats but the Robins went further ahead with another 1-5 in heat 11. Adams and Chrzanowski did the damage and the Rebels found themselves trailing by 16 points. Heat 12, won by Renat Gafurov, was shared so the score now stood at 29-45.

Heat 13 produced a rare dead heat and the dreaded half point. Leigh Adams completed his full maximum by winning the race from Magnus Zetterstrom but behind him the referee declared a dead heat between Glenn Cunningham and Lee Richardson which produced a 2.5-3.5 heat advantage to the Robins. In heat 14 Emil Kramer took a TR but could only finish second to Travis McGowan. However Simon Walker finished third after Mads Korneliussen had retired so Somerset took another 5-3 advantage. Magnus Zetterstrom won the final heat but McGowan and Richardson shared the race by finishing ahead of Emil Kramer to deny the Rebels from hitting the 40 point mark by 0.5 of a point!

Match Report by Merlin