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Location: Stockport, Cheshire
Event: 7 April 2013
Report: Steve Whitaker/Snowdon Sports
Stockport overcame the absence of leading rider Ben Higham to squeeze out visitors Bury 94-83 in the battle of the top two Northern League teams.
Bury had travelled to Stockport hopeful of finally winning a match at Webb Lane, but their own errors cost them dearly.
The match started off with a re-run Heat 1 which eventually ended in a 6-4 for the visitors.
The home side responded well with a Jake Read and Matt Lush 6-4 before Heat 3 was re-run three times with Stockport trying to ride a tactical heat. Unfortunately for Bury, at the third time of asking Damian [i]Zareba received a tapes exclusion on gate one and Jack Lush rode an excellent race to secure a 7-2 over Joe Allen.
A shared heat followed before Bury pulled back to within a point in heat 5, Steve Whitaker showing his experience in getting young Owens round and shepherding him home in from of hard-chasing Phillips for a maximum score.
Shared heats followed up to the interval with the exception of heat 7 where a Bury 6-4 saw them take a 45-43 lead into the second half.
Disaster followed for the visitors, however, in heat 10, when Ben Scranage fell off before the first turn trying to gate over the impressive Phillips and the Stockport duo raced away for a maximum score.
Heat 11 brought more problems for the visitors where Zareba held gate 1 easily but slowed too much as he looked for his partner which allowed Read to blast from 4, knocking Zareba off balance, and race away with Matt Lush for victory.
Stockport now led by six and they all but shut the door in a run of shared heats with the highlight being a superb pass by Jack Lush on Chris Parish in heat 13.
Stockport effectively sealed victory in heat 15 with another maximum score, and with Bury looking to finish strongly in the final race, they were denied when Whitaker was excluded for excessive force as he performed a pass on Matt Lush.
Bury were left to reflect on silly mistakes which cost them what may have been their best chance to beat Stockport at Webb Lane, while for the home side Jack Lush was superb.
Final score: Stockport 94 Bury 83
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