Sunday 11 July 2004
BOSTON N.C. WILLIAMS & SON BARRACUDA-BRAVES 43
TEAM ARTDEANS SWINDON SPROCKETS 47
Conference League
(Staged at King’s Lynn)
BOSTON
| Richard Hall | 3 | 3 | 2* | 1 | 3 | - | - | 12(1) |
| Richie Dennis | R | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | 6 |
| Robert Hollingworth | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1* | - | - | - | 2(1) |
| Darren Rolph | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 9 |
| David McAllan | 2 | 1 | 1* | 0 | - | - | - | 4(1) |
| James Cockle | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1* | - | - | 8(1) |
| Simon Lambert | 1 | 1* | 0 | - | - | - | - | 2(1) |
SWINDON
| Malcolm Holloway | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1* | - | - | 11(1) |
| Danny Warwick | 1* | 1* | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | 5(2) |
| Mark Thompson | 3 | 2* | 0 | 3 | - | - | - | 8(1) |
| Simon Walker | 2* | 3 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | 9(1) |
| Trevor Harding | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2* | 2 | - | - | 11(1) |
| Daniel Harding | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| Nathan Irwin | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 3 |
| Ht 1: Hall, Holloway, Warwick, Dennis (ret), 62.3 | (3-3) |
| Ht 2: Cockle, Irwin, Lambert, D. Harding, 65.5 | (7-5) |
| Ht 3: Thompson, Walker, Rolph, Hollingworth, 64.5 | (8-10) |
| Ht 4: T. Harding, McAllan, Lambert, Irwin, 63.1 | (11-13) |
| Ht 5: Rolph, Holloway, Warwick, Hollingworth, 62.2 | (14-16) |
| Ht 6: Hall, T. Harding, Dennis, D. Harding, 62.5 | (18-18) |
| Ht 7: Walker, Thompson, McAllan, Cockle, 63.6 | (19-23) |
| Ht 8: Warwick, Dennis, Irwin, Lambert, 64.4 | (21-27) |
| Ht 9: Rolph, T. Harding, Hollingworth, D. Harding, 63.3 | (25-29) |
| Ht 10: Dennis, Hall, Walker, Thompson, 63.2 | (30-30) |
| Ht 11: Holloway, Cockle, McAllan, Warwick, 63.5 | (33-33) |
| Ht 12: Thompson, Cockle, Hollingworth, Irwin, 63.7 | (36-36) |
| Ht 13: Holloway, T. Harding, Hall, McAllan, 62.0 | (37-41) |
| Ht 14: Walker, Rolph, Cockle, Irwin, 63.6 | (40-44) |
| Ht 15: (Nominated) Hall (r), T. Harding (y), Holloway (g), Rolph (b), 62.8 | (43-47) |
Programme changes:-
Ht 12: Cockle replaced Lambert; Irwin replaced D. Harding
Second-half:-
| Race 1: (Re-Run) Wayne Dunworth (r), Steve Oakey (b), Carl Downs (g; ret), Dean Wilson (y; ret), 70.7 |
| Race 2: Mark Richardson (g), Daniel Blake (r), Adam Lowe (b), Dean Wilson (y; ret), 67.6 |
| Race 3: Wayne Dunworth (r), Daniel Blake (g), Steve Oakey (b), Adam Lowe (y; ns), 67.1 (3 Riders Only) |
| Race 4: Carl Downs (b), Wayne Dunworth (g), Mark Richardson (r), Daniel Blake (y; ret), 65.4 |
| Race 5: Simon Lambert (r), Daniel Harding (b), Mark Richardson (y), Dean Wilson (g), 65.9 |
| Race 6: James Cockle (g), Richie Dennis (b), Carl Downs (r), Daniel Harding (y), 64.2 |
After eight successive defeats, the Team Artdeans Sprockets raced to their first Conference League points of the season. To make the victory that little bit sweeter, the two-points were gained courtesy of an away win against the high-flying Boston Barracuda-Braves.
With grey skies drawing in and drizzle in the air, the parade was abandoned and heat one commenced quickly. Boston’s Richard Hall duly took the chequered flag, passing Malcolm Holloway on bend one of lap two after the Mad Wellie clipped the white line and allowed the homester to pass. At the back, Richie Dennis was comfortably in front of Danny Warwick, only for his bike to expire on the third lap and allow the Swindon man through.
James Cockle stormed to victory in heat two, while Simon Lambert just edged out Daniel Harding on the line for third spot. That gave Boston a slender two-point lead, before the fast-gating Sprockets’ pair of Simon Walker and Mark Thompson banged in a third heat 5-1.
New signing Trevor Harding flew from gate four and raced to an easy victory in heat four, with the home pairing filling the minor scoring positions to split the points. Warwick led to the first corner in heat five, only for the impressive Darren Rolph to overtake down the back straight. Warwick then let Holloway through to take up the chase, but it was to no avail with another 3-3 the outcome.
Quick gating Simon Walker led from the start in heat seven, and with Mark Thompson following, a 5-1 was on the cards until Cockle sped past Tommo on the home straight of lap two. However, Thompson wasn’t done and charged around the boards in an effort to reclaim the position. Entering the final bend, the Essex-born racer gave it one last blast and as he came out of the turn, Cockle had an engine failure, which nearly threw him into the speeding Sprocket. Thompson did very well to avoid a collision and moved through to gain second. More importantly, this earned Swindon a welcome fiver as they opened up a four-point lead.
The advantage widened to six-points in heat eight, when Warwick and Nathan Irwin claimed a useful 4-2 over Dennis and Lambert. Heat nine saw Trevor Harding make a bad start after lifting at the line. Then, an untidy entry to the first bend allowed the Boston pairing a chance to get away from Harding. The Sprocket didn’t let this mishap affect him though, as firstly he passed his brother, Daniel, before mounting a challenge on the home riders. Showing great determination, the elder Harding sped past underneath Robert Hollingworth on the second bend of lap three, but unfortunately ran out of laps in his chase of Rolph.
The unbeaten pairing of Thompson and Walker came out in heat ten, but it was the Boston duo of Hall and Dennis who turned the tables to record a 5-1, thereby levelling the score at 30-30. Heats eleven and twelve came, and the teams still couldn’t be separated, with Holloway and Thompson respectively winning the heats as the score moved on to 36-points apiece.
With three heats to decide the outcome of the meeting, Swindon did their chances no harm in heat thirteen by hitting Boston with a 5-1, courtesy of the Mad Wellie and Trevor Harding. Both Sprockets made good starts, but Hall lifting at the start undoubtedly helped their chances. The home number one did try to get into contention, but could make little impression on the flying visitors.
Walker and Irwin came to the tapes for the penultimate heat knowing that a 4-2 would seal Swindon’s first league points; and that a 3-3 would clinch at least a draw. Walker didn’t disappoint and took a tapes-to-flag victory, however, with Irwin at the back, the Sprockets had to await the outcome of a last-heat decider before they could celebrate a first victory of the campaign.
The heat thirteen combination of Holloway and Trevor Harding came out for the crucial race, knowing a 4–2 reverse would be enough for a well-earned win. Hall made the gate and with Harding lying second, that would have been enough for the win, but Holloway wouldn’t settle for that and dived under Rolph on the third bend of the opening lap, prior to team-riding with Harding to the flag.