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Workington Comets v Newcastle Diamonds
Premier League, 13 August 2005
Derwent Park, Workington

Workington 58
1(g)Paul Thorp23321* ..111
2Shaun Tacey1*2*32*. ..83
3Scott Robson122*3. ..81
4Kauko Nieminen31*31. ..81
5James Wright33302 ..110
6Jamie Courtney3113. ..80
7Aidan Collins2*011. ..41
Newcastle 36
1Josef Franc334^23 0.150
2Kristian Lund0200. ..20
3Lubos Tomicek0T000 ..00
5James Grieves21113 ..80
6(g)Byron Bekker0000. ..00
7Jamie Robertson101*21 24^111

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

Workington had Paul Thorp at number one tonight as their guest for Carl Stonehewer while Newcastle had Kristian Lund back in the side after Richard Juul’s withdrawal. They also had Byron Bekker at reserve in place of Christian Henry and used R/R for Phil Morris who is still out injured. Newcastle were defending a 22 point lead for the bonus point.

A shared heat won by Josef Franc was followed by a 5-1 for the home side in the reserves race and a four point lead. Kristian Lund split the Nieminen/Robson pair for a 4-2 then James Wright beat James Grieves in heat 4 with Jaimie Courtney taking the third place for another home 4-2 and a heat 4 score of 16-8.

Josef Franc won for the second time in heat 5 but again the points were shared but a 5-1 from Paul Thorp and Shaun Tacey ahead of James Grieves in heat 6 had the Diamonds in trouble trailing by 12 points. Josef Franc took a TR in heat 7 but this time he finished second to James Wright. With Jaimie Robertson beating Aidan Collins, Newcastle took a 3-5 from the heat to cut the home side’s lead to 10 points. Workington increased it to 12 points again with a 4-2 in heat 8 from Tacey and Courtney resulting in a score after 8 heats of 31-19. There were now only 10 points in it for the bonus point.

James Grieves finished on the wrong end of a 5-1 again in heat 9 won by Nieminen and Robson then the Comets rattled home another 5-1 from Thorp and Tacey in heat 10 and a 4-2 in heat 11 when James Wright beat Josef Franc again with Aidan Collins third. Another 4-2 for the Comets in heat 12 stretched their lead to 24 points with the score at 49-25 and Workington were now in pole position for the bonus point leading on aggregate by two points.

However Newcastle weren’t finished. Josef Franc got back to winning ways in heat 13 beating Paul Thorp and James Grieves relegated the previously unbeaten James Wright to the back so the Diamonds scored a 2-4 from a heat Workington must have had high hopes of winning. This levelled the aggregate score which was now the main item on the agenda. In heat 14 Newcastle played their second TR card giving Jaimie Robertson the responsibility. From their point of view it was the wrong Jaimie who won the race – Jaimie Courtney – but Robertson took a valuable second place ahead of Nieminen for a 4-4 which kept the aggregate scores tied. They were still tied after heat 15 which James Grieves won. Newcastle were on an early 1-5 in this race but James Wright passed Josef Franc on the first lap then Paul Thorp followed suit on the last lap with Wright almost catching Grieves on the run in to the line.

This meant that, with the scores tied, a race-off for the bonus point was needed. Workington relied on James Wright while Newcastle handed the responsibility to James Grieves. Newcastle won the toss and Grieves opted for the outside gate but James Wright won the race in the fastest time of the night to send the Comets fans home happy.

Match Report by Merlin