Cycle Speedway Weekly Reports
Week Ending 5th April 2010 | Latest League Tables
Poole 86 Horspath 89 | Report and Images: Graham Sutton
Horspath clinched the league points after a last heat decider in another fine Premier League showpiece at Harbourside.
The margin was heading for a country mile at the interval stage with the defending champions twelve points ahead and seemingly in cruise mode. Poole had committed a series of errors between heats five and nine which gave the Hammers a 14 point advantge from five race wins but typically they clawed their way back to come within three points of an unlikely result.
Sean Rudman and Mark Boaler relegated the home duo to minor placings in heat five to take a 24-26 advantage and a costly exclusion for Marcin Paradinski cutting across on Mike Morgans looked to be penalised equally harshly with a 7 - 2 until Morgans got his marching orders for a foot on wheel offence. Heat seven was a crucial 7 - 2 to Horspath after Tom Colling slipped and accidentally brought down Mark Carmichael and there was worse to come for the hosts in the re-start when Gavin Wheeler slipped on the same turn four spot and gifted all the points to the opposition.
Rafal Dulinski replaced absent Matty Szymczak in the line-up and he proved the trump card at reserve when he came in for an extra ride in heat eight and lowered the colours of new Poole signing Greg Gluchowski for the only time in the match. Another win for Rafal over Torun clubmate Paradinski in heat 9 in a 6 - 4 win and the home side seemed dead and buried, or were they?
Three heat wins later with Young, Gluchowski and Wheeler taking the chequered flag narrowed the margin to 55 - 60 but the visitors steadied the ship with 6 - 4's in heats 14 and 16 to lead 74 - 81 with two heats remaining. The heat 16 win by Lewis Osborne ahead of hard charger Paradinski was crucial to the final outcome as Gav Wheeler and Pawel Cegielski outpowered the Morgans/Carmichael pairing in the penultimate heat for an unlikely 7-3.
In the last heat decider, Horspath had the double benefit of inside grids and their trusty Harris/Boaler match winning pairing but they had no answer to supercharged Gluchowski and were content to relegate home skipper Young to the back for a share of the spoils.
Horspath had the better 1-8 strength in depth and made just two mistakes when Morgans and Rudman picked up exclusions. The form of Greg Gluchowski was a revelation but the absence of Thomas Reed was the telling factor and tipped the balance of the match in favour of the Hammers.
POOLE 86 Greg Gluchowski 19 Gavin Wheeler 16 Pete Young 12 Marcin Paradinski 11 Pawel Cegielski 10 Tom Colling 10 Jake Williams 4 Sam Hearn 3
HORSPATH 89 Lewis Osborne 17 Rafal Dulinski 14 Mark Boaler 12 Steve Harris 12, Mark Carmichael 11 Sean Rudman 9 Chris Osborne 8 Mike Morgans 6
Referee - Robin Spicer
COMBINATION
POOLE 73 Arron Morgan 16, Leyton Glover 13, Dave Murphy 11, Matthew Mildon 10, Luke Armes 7, Dean Hook 6 Matt Elston 6, Harry Boucher 4.
HORSPATH 56 Mike Burgess 14, Wayne Clarke 12, Mark Janes 9, Zak Payne 8, Lee Clarke 5, Matt Coulter 4, Jess Lamb 4, Rachael Edge dnr
Referee - Pete Young
Birmingham 85 Leicester 94 | Report: Tim Jarvis
A superb pass by Lukas Nowacki over home number one Paul Heard in the opening heat gave notice of the visitor's intentions, and with Adam Stephenson relegating Dom Rycharski to the back, Leicester had taken a lead they were never to relinquish.
In the first half of the match only Heard and Chris Timms could manage to take the chequered flag for the home side, however Leicester didn't really capitalise on this as both Jarvis and Pike tasted the shale when in good positions and lost vital points.
Immediately after the interval Jarvis made amends for his previous rush of blood to take the victory in heat ten, and with the excellent Kev Burns taking third spot the visitors extended their lead to six points. Birmingham immediately hit back with a Wadhams/Mould 6-4 over Pike and Brooke and it was all looking very tight.
The real turning point came in the next two heats, firstly Lukas Nowacki rode a superb race to shepherd home Stephenson for a vital 7-3 over Timms and Pearce and in the very next heat Marchant and Burns repeated the medicine, effectively sealing the victory.
Nowacki rode superbly for his paid maximum whilst Burns had his best meeting at Birmingham for years, but all the Leicester riders, certainly after the interval, rode well as a unit.
Birmingham can feel a little disappointed by their performance, only being able to take two heat advantages all afternoon, this is probably not what their team manager expects on their home circuit, especially with a squad boasting so much talent.
Birmingham 85 (P Heard 15, C Timms 15+2, M Wadhams 15, D Rycharski 11, B Mould 10, G Pearce 10+1, N Groves 8+1, R Evans 5+2)
Leicester 94 (L Nowacki 19+1, D Pike 14, K Burns 13+1, A Stephenson 13, C Marchant 12+2, A Peck 9+1, C Jarvis 7, J Brooke 7)
COMBINATION
The combination match was a close affair although the home team always had the edge, no one could stop the flying Mick Skinner though, although the Winwood brothers also remained unbeaten for Birmingham. Both sides fielded separate teams.
Birmingham 69 (M Winwood 12, C Winwood 11+1, A James 10+1, P Bourgois 9+1, A :Lamb 9, P Timms 8, T Sensicall 5+2, N Timms 5)
Leicester 56 (M Skinner 16, N Whitehead 10, A Doughty 8, L Whitehead 7, M Whitehead 6+1, M Hartshorn 5, C Cooper 3, J Brooks 1)
