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Workington Comets v Berwick Bandits
Premier Trophy (Group), 17 April 2006
Derwent Park, Workington
| 1 | Paul Thorp | 3 | 1 | 2* | 2* | . | . | . | 8 | 2 |
| 2 | Tomasz Piszcz | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | . | . | . | 10 | 0 |
| 3 | Ritchie Hawkins | 2* | 2* | 2* | 3 | 3 | . | . | 12 | 3 |
| 4 | James Wright | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | . | . | . | 12 | 0 |
| 5 | Garry Stead | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2* | . | . | 12 | 1 |
| 6 | Lee Derbyshire | 2* | 1 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | 3 | 1 |
| 7 | Aidan Collins | 3 | 0 | 2* | 1 | . | . | . | 6 | 1 |
| 1 | Adrian Rymel | R | 1 | 2 | 0 | . | . | . | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | David Meldrum | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | . | . | . | 3 | 0 |
| 3 | Lee Smethills | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4^ | R | . | . | 9 | 0 |
| 4 | Michal Makovsky | 0 | 2* | 0^ | 2 | . | . | . | 4 | 1 |
| 5 | Andreas Bergstrom | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | . | . | 7 | 0 |
| 6 | Danny Warwick | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Craig Branney | 1 | R | 0 | 1* | 1* | . | . | 3 | 2 |
* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).
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Workington had Paul Thorp back in the side after missing the match at Berwick on Saturday night through injury so the Comets were at full strength. Berwick , too, tracked an unchanged side. The score says it all. Berwick had one moment of triumph when they took a 1-5 in heat 7 but otherwise it was a bleak night for the Bandits. They were unlucky when Adrian Rymel suffered an engine failure while leading heat 1. Paul Thorp moved into first place with David Meldrum finishing ahead of Tomasz Piszcz for a home 4-2. This turned out to be Piszcz’s only defeat on the match. Lee Derbyshire came from the back to join his partner, Aidan Collins, for a 5-1 in heat 2 and James Wright and Ritchie Hawkins banged home another in heat 3 ahead of Smethills and Makovsky. A 4-2 in heat 4 won by Garry Stead from Andreas Bergstrom took the score after 4 heats to 18-6 and it looked like being a long night for the Bandits. James Wright and Ritchie Hawkins added another 5-1 in heat 5 but in heat 6 Tomasz Piszcz was pushed all the way by Andreas Bergstrom to win by the narrowest of margins on the line. Lee Derbyshire was third so the Comets took another 4-2 to pull 18 points ahead. Michal Makovsky then inflicted the only defeat of the match on Garry Stead in heat 7 to follow his partner, Lee Smethills home for a Bandits’ 1-5 to cut the gap to 14 points. It could have been even better if the Bandits had given Smethills a TR. Workington pulled away again in heat 8 with another maximum, their fourth of the match so far. This took the score after eight heats 33-15. Two more 5-1s went to Workington in heats 9 and 10. The second of them was particularly unfortunate for Berwick since Michal Makovsky fell while on a TR. Adrian Rymel split the Garry Stead/Aidan Collins pair in heat 11 for a Comets’ 4-2 then in heat 12 Lee Smethills took a TR. Although Ritchie Hawkins continued on his unbeaten way, Smethills took second place with Craig Branney third. This resulted in a Bandits’ 3-5 which took the score after 12 heats to 50-24. The former Hull top two of Garry Stead and Paul Thorp scored a comfortable 5-1 in heat 13 while James Wright completed his maximum by winning heat 14. Lee Derbyshire fell as the Bandits shared the race, the only shared race of the meeting. In the last race Lee Smethills had an engine failure at the tapes while Ritchie Hawkins completed a paid maximum by finishing ahead of his partner, Garry Stead, and Andreas Bergstrom for Workington’s eighth 5-1 of the match. Match Report by Merlin |