Sunday 1 August 2004

CARMARTHEN DRAGONS 43

TEAM ARTDEANS SWINDON SPROCKETS 46

Conference League

Carmarthen won 90-88 on aggregate

CARMARTHEN

SWINDON

Programme changes:-

Ht 1: R/R Felton; R/R Andrews

Ht 4: Irwin replaced Frampton

Ht R/R Warwick; Meakins replaced Hunt in the second re-run

Ht 6: R/R Hatton

Ht 8: R/R Powell; R/R Holloway

Ht 9: Meakins replaced Hunt

Ht 10: R/R Jones

Ht 11: R/R Johnson

Ht 12: Meakins replaced Hunt

Ht 14: Hatton replaced Meakins

On a sun-drenched afternoon at the United Counties Showground, this was action-packed Conference League racing at it’s very best, with the meeting including just about everything bar the Christmas television guide! In the face of adversity, the Team Artdeans Sprockets dug deep to grab a narrow victory amid the strength-sapping conditions, with skipper Malcolm Holloway enduring a day he would want to forget as a matter of urgency.

The younger element of the side rallied to the cause, however, with the returning Chris Johnson producing a towering performance to net a paid 17-points. Meanwhile, Nathan Irwin marked the occasion of his first match as a fully signed-up asset of Swindon Speedway in style; his tally of a paid dozen representing his best-ever return in the Red and White colours. Added to that, there was the usual gritty ‘engine room’ showing from Danny Warwick, while both Daniel Harding and Jordan Frampton made useful contributions to the cause.

Wellie looked set for a win in heat one, but things started to go wrong when team-mate Marc Andrews got filled-in and fell entering the first bend of lap two. Then, with Holloway leading by the country mile, his engine blew at the beginning of the final lap, gifting Ben Powell and Dean Felton a 5-0 advantage. With Gordon Meakins leading the reserves’ race, some super action developed behind as Frampton and Irwin jostled for position with Darren Hatton. The action hotted-up on lap two, when Frampton came down on the fourth turn and shortly afterwards, Irwin bustled past Hatton to take up second position. The chasing Hatton subsequently lost control and fell on the fourth corner next time around, with the remounted Frampton having little option but to put his machine down. Referee Paul Carrington called it correctly and awarded the points, with the Swindon duo collecting a 3-3.

The third heat was quiet by comparison and initially saw Warwick cut across beautifully from the outside grid to lead the charge. However, Felton bundled his way underneath exiting the fourth corner and with Chris Hunt occupying third spot throughout, the Dragons collected a 4-2. Heats four and five took what seemed like an eternity to run, both needing three attempts to complete. The first running of the fourth heat saw three riders hit the deck on the first corner, but with a full complement permitted for the re-run, Frampton then found himself blown out on the two-minute ruling after running out of fuel. With Irwin replacing the unfortunate Poole-born youngster, Steven Jones came down unchallenged in the re-start, but remarkably there was no exclusion as ‘all four’ were again called back. Finally, it was Johno who trapped ahead, with Irwin taking a tidy outside line around the first corner to lead up the back straight. Four steady laps followed as the pair registered maximum points, leaving the score at 13-10 in favour of the homesters.

The events of heat five were to prove quite unbelievable. Holloway (now mounted on Trevor Harding’s steed) and Warwick got the best of the start, only for a re-run to be surprisingly called. As has happened many times before in these situations, it was the Carmarthen pairing of Felton and Hunt who moved clear at the second time of asking. The pressing Holloway drove inside Hunt entering the first turn of lap two, with the home skipper backing-off and falling. To those watching from a raised vantage point beyond the corner, there was clear daylight between the two riders, but the meeting official deemed Wellie at fault and on came the green exclusion light! Hunt unluckily suffered an arm injury in the incident and was ruled out for the remainder of the match, his place in the second re-run being taken by Meakins. This saw Warwick blast ahead, only to drift off-line on the second bend of lap three, with Felton nipping through for the win.

Swindon again clawed their way back into the match in heat six, when Johno and Irwin repeated their success of two races earlier. In what was almost a carbon copy, Johnson got the drop and Irwin again whipped around the outside to take up the lead. The resultant 5-1 reduced the Dragons’ lead to 18-17 and the battle was on. Jones impressively won heat seven in leg-trailing fashion after cutting inside the wide-riding Warwick, but with Harding steady in third position the points were evenly split.

Holloway belatedly got off the mark in heat eight, recording a huge victory in the fastest time of the afternoon. Behind, Frampton exchanged places with Powell over the first two laps, but took an unwanted inspection of the 242-metre circuit on the fourth corner. That meant another share of the points as the Team Artdeans Sprockets still trailed at 24-23. Irwin and Johno looked to again come up trumps in heat nine, but Felton rode a blinder and found the better line off turn two to sail away for a fine success.

With the tension mounting, Harding out-paced his fellow Australian, Powell, from the traps in heat ten and grittily held off all challenges for almost two laps. The greater experience of Powell eventually shone through, when the Dragons’ number one sped outside on the back straight. Matters got worse for Swindon one lap later when Warwick came down on the fourth bend and with the race stopped, the Welsh outfit were awarded a 4-2.

Following interval watering, Holloway and Johnson combined from the start to lead heat eleven, but what happened next just typified Wellie’s rotten luck on the day. The veteran racer was completely caught out on the slippery third bend and unceremoniously dumped from his bike. Thankfully, Johno limited the damage in the re-run, stylishly collecting the win from Jones and Meakins. With Swindon trailing by three-points, it looked ominous when Hatton and Meakins surged away to head heat twelve. While Hatton was never troubled on his way to the flag, Irwin sweetly picked off Meakins, with Harding following suit on a clever inside line for a 3-3.

The Team Artdeans Sprockets took the lead for the first time in heat thirteen through maximum points from Holloway and Johnson. The race wasn’t without incident though, as the chasing Powell appeared to cut across the grass on the second bend of the opening lap. Then, Johno was forced to repel a strong challenge from Jones on lap three, with the former Newcastle rider subsequently falling on the first bend of the final lap.

Warwick jetted away from the tapes to lead heat fourteen, with Frampton joining him up front after Felton had over-cooked the first corner. Next time around, Hatton attempted to dive inside Frampton, but sent the Sprocket sprawling after inadvertently making contact. In a cracking re-run, Warwick and Felton diced for the lead over the first couple of laps, but once the home man had got the better of the duel, the two Swindon representatives sensibly settled for an ever share-out of the spoils.  

The elongated match finally reached its conclusion, with Johnson skinning Powell around the first corner. Wellie then burst through to second place off the fourth turn and should the positions have remained constant, a run-off for the bonus point would have been required. However, in one final Alfred Hitchcock style twist, Powell shot past Holloway on the back straight of lap three and just held on for second spot for the remainder of the race.

Played out against a beautiful backdrop of the Welsh hills, this was one amazing spectacle and great credit must, as ever, go to the hard-working Meakins family for providing such a wonderful speedway theatre.

MATCH REPORT BY ROBERT BAMFORD