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Workington Comets v Stoke Potters
Premier League, 29 May 2006
Derwent Park, Workington

Workington 58
1Paul Thorp22*2*32* ..113
2Tomasz Piszcz032*3. ..81
3Ritchie Hawkins32*2*33 ..132
4James WrightR332. ..80
5Garry Stead3321. ..90
6(g)John Branney110.. ..20
7Aidan Collins3031*0 ..71
Stoke 38
1Mark Lemon316^21 ..130
2Trent Leverington101.. ..20
3Paul Clews1*211*. ..52
4Robbie Kessler21*06^0 ..91
5Alan Mogridge2Fx10. ..30
6Barrie Evans21002 1.60
7Luke Priest000.. ..00

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

Workington had John Branney at number 6 for the injured Lee Derbyshire while Stoke were at full strength.

Workington were keen to get back on the winning trail following their Knock-out Cup defeat at Newcastle the previous evening and Stoke were the target for them to redeem themselves by running up a big score.

Stoke took the lead in the opening heat with a 2-4. Mark Lemon won the race from Paul Thorp while Trent Leverington finished third as Tomasz Piszcz trailed in at the back. Workington threatened a 5-1 in heat 2 but Barrie Evans worked his way past John Branney for second place and the 4-2 levelled the scores again. Ritchie Hawkins won heat 3 passing Robbie Kessler in the process but with James Wright pulling up at the end of the third lap the heat was shared. Workington finally took the lead in heat 4 with a Garry Stead win from Alan Mogridge while Branney again beat Luke Priest. This 4-2 made the score 13-11 after four heats.

Then the flood gates opened! Workington scored five 5-1s over the next six heats to open up a 22 point lead. Mark Lemon could do nothing to prevent James Wright and Ritchie Hawkins take the first of them in heat 5 then Alan Mogridge fell while leading heat 6 to gift another to Piszcz and Thorp. The oasis in this desert was heat 7 which was shared by Paul Clews and Robbie Kessler as they followed Garry Stead home before Collins and Piszcz added another 5-1 in heat 8 to make the score 31-17.

A routine Wright/Hawkins 5-1 in heat 9 was followed by a more interesting 5-1 in heat 10 as Paul Thorp had some work to do to protect Tomasz Piszcz from the challenges of Paul Clews. Finally Stoke gave a TR to Mark Lemon in heat 11 and he obliged with his second race win of the match beating Garry Stead and Aidan Collins for a 3-6. He was helped to some extent by Barrie Evans who was in second place for over a lap keeping the Comets’ pair at the back while Lemon scampered off. Stoke followed this with a shared race in heat 12. Ritchie Hawkins won the race but Evans and Clews kept out Collins for the three points which took the score to 47-28.

Paul Thorp beat Mark Lemon in heat 13 while Garry Stead finished third for a home 4-2 but Stoke’s big success of the night came in heat 14 when Robbie Kessler took a TR and won in determined fashion from James Wright. Behind them Barrie Evans beat John Branney to give the Potters a 2-7 advantage but they lost a 5-1 in heat 15 when Mark Lemon trailed in behind Ritchie Hawkins and Paul Thorp.

Match Report by Merlin