Saturday 26 June 2004
STOKE EASY-RIDER SPITFIRES 57
TEAM ARTDEANS SWINDON SPROCKETS 36
Conference League
STOKE
| Justin Elkins | 1* | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | - | 16(1) |
| Rob Grant R/R | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Darren Andrews | 1* | 2* | 2* | 1 | 2* | - | - | 8(4) |
| Luke Priest | 2 | 3 | 2* | 3 | 3 | 0 | - | 13(1) |
| Tom Brown | 2 | 2 | 3 | R | 1 | - | - | 8 |
| Jamie Nicol | M | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Jack Hargreaves | 3 | 1* | 2* | 3 | 2* | - | - | 11(3) |
SWINDON
| Malcolm Holloway | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | - | 10 |
| Chris Johnson | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2* | - | - | - | 4(1) |
| Mark Thompson | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1* | - | - | 11(1) |
| Danny Warwick | 0 | 1* | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | 2(1) |
| Steve Braidford | 3 | 0 | 2 | R | - | - | - | 5 |
| Nathan Irwin | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 3 |
| Daniel Harding | 1* | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 1(1) |
| Ht 1: (Re-Run) Holloway, Brown, Elkins (15 met), Johnson, 63.8 (CL Track Record) | (3-3) |
| Ht 2: Hargreaves, Irwin, Harding, Nicol (ex, 2 mins), 67.0 (3 Riders Only) | (6-6) |
| Ht 3: Thompson, Priest, Andrews, Warwick, 67.7 | (9-9) |
| Ht 4: Braidford, Brown, Hargreaves, Harding, 67.9 | (12-12) |
| Ht 5: Priest, Andrews, Johnson, Holloway (f,rem), 68.3 | (17-13) |
| Ht 6: Elkins, Priest, Irwin, Braidford, 68.4 | (22-14) |
| Ht 7: Brown, Thompson (TR), Warwick, Nicol, 69.8 | (25-19) |
| Ht 8: Elkins, Hargreaves, Johnson, Harding, 68.0 | (30-20) |
| Ht 9: Priest, Andrews, Braidford (TR), Irwin, 69.1 | (35-22) |
| Ht 10: Elkins, Thompson, Andrews, Warwick, 67.3 | (39-24) |
| Ht 11: Holloway, Johnson, Nicol, Brown (ret), 67.3 | (40-29) |
| Ht 12: Hargreaves, Andrews, Thompson, Irwin, 68.5 | (45-30) |
| Ht 13: Elkins, Holloway, Brown, Braidford (f,rem, ret), 67.6 | (49-32) |
| Ht 14: Priest, Hargreaves, Warwick, Harding, 68.3 | (54-33) |
| Ht 15: (Nominated) Elkins (r), Holloway (g), Thompson (y), Priest (b), 67.3 | (57-36) |
Programme changes:-
Ht 1: R/R Brown
Ht 6 R/R Priest
Ht 7: TR Thompson (Double points)
Ht 8: R/R Elkins
Ht 9: TR Braidford (Double points)
Ht 10: R/R Andrews
Ht 14: Hargreaves replaced Nicol
With rain lashing the country, Stoke was surprisingly dry as the Team Artdeans Sprockets arrived for this Conference League match previously postponed on 28 April. However, once the match started it didn’t stay dry for long, but while those present got a soaking, the riders from both sides deserved fulsome praise for simply getting on and racing without any negative comment. The Swindon lads held their own in the early stages, but any chance of an elusive first victory of the campaign seemed to disappear after effervescent skipper Malcolm Holloway had tumbled down in heat five. Indeed, the Spitfires seemed to go up a gear following that and pulled away for a handsome success.
The opening heat had to be re-run with Justin Elkins on a 15-metre penalty after the Salisbury-born racer had touched the tapes in his eagerness for a quick getaway. At the second attempt and with the rain tipping down, Holloway catapulted away and went on to win from Tom Brown, with Elkins filling third spot after catching Chris Johnson in the slime on the back straight of lap three. Amazingly, given the conditions, Wellie was clocked at a new CL track record time of 63.8 seconds; considerably faster than the previous best of 64.4 as clocked by Armadale’s Matthew Wethers on 25 May!
The reserves’ race was held up for some time after Jamie Nicol’s steed had stopped just behind the start line. Despite frantic efforts to rectify the situation, the machine failed to fire and the youngster fell foul of the designated time allowance. When the remaining riders finally got away, Jack Hargreaves posted an impressive tapes-to-flag win, with Nathan Irwin and Daniel Harding unchallenged in the minor scoring positions.
Mark Thompson got the drop in the third heat and despite pouring rain, rode a very tidy line to win from the home pairing of Luke Priest and Darren Andrews. A fourth successive shared heat then followed when Steve Braidford made light of the wet conditions to win from Brown and Hargreaves. With Swindon in the mix and looking good, things went drastically wrong in heat five. This saw Priest and Andrews make clean starts, with Holloway narrowly squeezed out by the back straight safety fence as he bravely attempted to sweep past both homesters. Wellie challenged again going into the third turn, but with next to no grip on the outside of the track, only succeeded in taking a close inspection of the slippery surface. While he remounted, it left the home boys to repel Johno for maximum points, thereby putting their side 17-13 ahead.
The Spitfires quickly doubled their advantage with another ‘fiver’ from Elkins and Priest, but at least it gave Team Artdeans Sprockets’ boss Martin Satchell the opportunity of a move in heat seven. Tommo was duly elected for a tactical ride and in a superb first turn, the recent acquisition determinedly rounded Brown to lead off the second bend. The Welshman wasn’t finished, however, and muscled by exiting the pits bend. No further positional changes followed, but with Danny Warwick occupying third spot, at least Swindon claimed a 5-3 advantage.
Priest and Andrews combined to stop Braidford from gaining anything more than a couple of points from a tactical ride in heat nine, before Swindon went further behind when conceding a 4-2 in the tenth heat. Slight respite came in heat eleven though, when Holloway returned to winning ways, with Johnson riding well to make it a 5-1. The meeting quickly returned to its normal pattern thereafter though, with Stoke collecting a brace of 5-1s either side of a 4-2 to move 54-33 ahead approaching the last heat. Remarkably, with the rain abating, the race had to be delayed to allow piercing sunshine to go down on the first corner! With the yellow peril gone, Elkins capped a fine showing with his fifth win of the match, while Swindon’s best pair of Holloway and Thompson easily split the points ahead of Priest.