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Workington Comets v Redcar Bears
Premier League, 02 September 2006
Derwent Park, Workington

Workington 52
1Garry Stead2331R ..90
2Alan Mogridge1*32*31 ..102
4Rusty Harrison2*32*22 ..112
5James Wright33333 2.170
6(g)Tai Woffinden2002*R 01*52
7Aidan CollinsFn.... ..00
Redcar 42
1Gary Havelock324^21 ..120
3Kevin Little021R3 ..60
4Chris Kerr011*26^ 3.131
5Tomas Suchanek2110. ..40
6(g)Benji ComptonXFxR.. ..00
7Daniel Giffard31*1*01* 1073

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

Workington had Tai Woffinden at number 6 for Lee Derbyshire while Redcar were missing Mathieu Tresarrieu and used R/R instead at number 2. They also had Benji Compton as a guest reserve replacement for Jack Hargreaves.

There had been some doubt whether this match would take place because of heavy rain which had fallen throughout the day but after work on the track it went ahead. Workington had a difficult task trying to win the bonus point after losing by 23 points at Redcar last Thursday night but it became almost impossible when Aidan Collins was taken to hospital after a heat 2 crash.

Gary Havelock won the opening heat from Garry Stead and Alan Mogridge for a shared race before Workington suffered a bad blow when Aidan Collins had to withdraw from the meeting after falling in the reserves race. There was a delay to the proceedings when an ambulance had to be summoned. The referee considered that Benji Compton had caused Collins to fall so Compton was excluded from the rerun which now had only two riders. Daniel Giffard won from Tai Woffinden for a 2-3 which put the Bears a point in front. Workington hit back with a 5-1 in heat 3. Alan Mogridge (R/R) won the race with Harrison following him home ahead of Chris Kerr and Kevin Little for a three point lead. In heat 4 James Wright had to pull the stops out by coming from last to first passing Daniel Giffard and Tomas Suchanek after making a hash of the second bend. The race was shared and the score after four races was 13-10.

Heat 5 was raced with only three riders. Rusty Harrison, the Comets’ sole rider, won the race by passing Gary Havelock round the outside on the opening bends while Daniel Giffard (R/R) picked up the gift third place point so the heat was shared. Workington were heading for a 5-1 in heat 6 when Benji Compton fell on the fourth bend causing the race to be rerun. Justice was done when the Comets took the rerun 5-1 with Stead and Mogridge beating Tomas Suchanek to open up a seven point lead. James Wright produced another sparkling first/second bend ride to hit the front in heat 7 and win the race from Kevin Little and Chris Kerr for a 3-3. There was a real shock for the Bears in heat 8 though. Alan Mogridge made the gate and headed off to win the heat but behind him young Tai Woffinden got into second place and had no difficulty keeping his second place ahead of Kevin Little and Daniel Giffard! This resulted in another home 5-1 taking the score after eight races to 29-18.

The Comets banged home another 5-1 in heat 9 as James Wright (R/R) and Rusty Harrison saw off Tomas Suchanek. The home side’s lead was now 15 points and they trailed by just 8 points on aggregate although they still had to face Redcar TRs and cope with the absence of Aidan Collins. The Comets added another two points to their lead with a 4-2 in heat 10. Garry Stead won the race but Chris Kerr rode well to pass Alan Mogridge as Kevin Little retired at the end of the third lap. As expected Gary Havelock took a TR in heat 11. James Wright passed Havelock to win the race but, with Tai Woffinden suffering an engine failure at the gate, Daniel Giffard picked up the third place point to give the Bears a 3-5 heat advantage. The Comets’ chances of the bonus point then all but disappeared when Kevin Little beat Rusty Harrison (R/R) in heat 12 and Daniel Giffard finished third for a 2-4 which brought the score after twelve races to 43-30.

James Wright continued his unbeaten run by coming from behind to win heat 13 from Havelock. With Garry Stead third Workington took a 4-2 to lead by 15 points and now needed two 5-1s to tie for the bonus point. Chris Kerr took a TR in heat 14 and won the race from Rusty Harrison who seemed none to pleased about it. Tai Woffinden picked up another excellent point by beating Daniel Giffard so the Bears took a 3-6 advantage. In the last heat Redcar looked to be heading for a 1-5 when Chris Kerr gated with Gary Havelock but Havelock got out of shape on the fourth bend as James Wright slipped past him. Wright couldn’t catch Kerr though so just lost out on his maximum as Garry Stead retired on the third lap while at the back.

Match Report by Merlin