Mike's Jottings:

Mike

Over the seasons, meetings between these two clubs have been tight affairs, with Sheffield holding sway at the Oak Tree Arena for many years, and this renewal proved to be another thriller. Many expected an easy home victory with the Somerset ‘Dickies’ Rebels buoyant after last week’s big win over Workington, against a Sheffield ‘Window Centre’ Tigers side, who had suffered a home defeat the previous evening against Birmingham, but as it often proves Speedway isn’t as simple as that. With Sam Masters in Poland, to contest the World U21 Championship round, the Rebels were forced to use rider replacement to cover him, against a full strength, if somewhat deflated Sheffield side. For the second week on the trot the Rebels introduced a new rider to their line up, as James Holder joined from Stoke to replace the injured Tommy Allen.

The home side appeared to have got off to a dream start as Lubos Tomicek led from the tapes in Heat 1, followed quicky by Ritchie Hawkins, but things got tight off the second turn, and Hugh Skidmore hit the floor. He stayed down as the field completed the first lap, and only made his feet as the riders approached on the next circuit. The referee had no choice but to stop the race to allow him to clear the track, and promptly excluded him. It was a different story in the re-run, and although Tomicek again made a good start, he was no match for Tigers skipper Ricky Ashworth, who blasted from the tapes to lead all the way, and share the points, with both Rebels unable to make inroads into his lead.

The reserve heat seemed to heading the Tigers way, as Paul Cooper cruised passed Rebels debutant James Holder at the end of the opening lap. Arlo Bugeja held third place after Mark Baseby had locked up badly, losing the third spot on the third bend. Cooper held the lead from a pressing Holder, until he suddenly lost power and slowed on the back straight of Lap 3, before picking up again, only for his machine to give up the ghost as he crossed the line in a distant last place. Baseby made up the lost ground, but just failed to grab a Rebels full house late on.

Shane Parker made a great start to get the better of Josef Franc in the opening turn, with Ritchie Hawkins close up. Josh Auty made a mess of the start, but quickly made up the ground, and came charging through the inside. He came through so hard, that not only did he pass Hawkins; he almost took out his partner, as he ran into the back of Franc’s machine. As Parker cleared off into the distance, Auty took up the chase, but try as he might he could never get on terms with the Rebels skipper, as the sides shared the points for the second time.

Heat 3 took two attempts to start, as referee Phil Griffin interpreted a Cory Gathercole lift at the tapes as early movement. In the re-start Arlo Bugeja led after a level break, with Gathercole close up. For two laps Gathercole stalked Bugeja with some big outside runs, before cutting back and storming up his inside as they started Lap 3. He cleverly ran wide, pushing Bugeja out and allowing Baseby through to take a maximum return. The pair soon had the race in their control, with Richard Hall coming through late to take third.

Three more shared heats followed, but they were by no means boring affairs, in fact quite the opposite. Ritchie Hawkins came to the tapes for Heat 5 but got no further as he machine expired on the line, causing him to miss the two minutes, and bringing James Holder into the line up. The Tigers pair made the best start with Ricky Ashworth leading at the turn. Shane Parker came flying down the back straight, hitting the deep stuff on the third turn and careering around the outside of Hugh Skidmore as the exited the final bend. He set off after Ashworth for two laps, chasing him down on the wide line, before making a nice cut back up his inside to lead at the end of Lap 3. Holder chased Skidmore hard but could not add to the Rebels total.

Lubos Tomicek made a great start in Heat 6 to lead early from Richard Hall. Mark Baseby nipped up the inside of Cooper to grab third place on turn three, before Cooper retired a lap later. Hall never let Tomicek get too far in front, running him down, and putting in his move as they came off the final bend. Once in front, Hall never gave the Rebels pair a sniff, as he ran out an easy winner.

Heat 7 proved to be expensive for the Tigers, but not in terms of points, but personnel. As the tapes rose Josef Franc led from the line, with James Holder on a wide line, and Cory Gathercole close up. Gathercole closed on Franc, and challenged on the fourth turn, as he delivered what appeared to be a telling pass, he caught some grip, and his machine straightened, clipping Franc’s bike in the process. The little Czech took an almighty tumble into the safety fence, and was down for some time. When he did eventually rise it was only to take the short walk to the medical room, where it was discovered that he had damaged his ribs, with a possible break, and he was forced to withdraw from the meeting, with Arlo Bugeja taking his place in the race.

The re-run took place with only one Rebels representative, as Gathercole was excluded as the cause of the stoppage, with Phil Griffin calling it for unfair riding. James Holder broke alongside Bugeja with Auty close up, but Holder dropped on the pair, clamping them to the kerb, and stopping their early progress. Auty took up the challenge, trying inside and out, but no matter were he went Holder had the answer, riding a superb race to hold him off the all action Mirfield man for all four laps.

Gathercole didn’t have time to brood on his exclusion as he was right back in the action, taking the rider replacement spot in Heat 8. The field broke level, but in a flash Gathercole was in front from Hugh Skidmore, but the young Australian’s second spot only lasted until the first turn, where Mark Baseby shot up his inside. Skidmore never gave up, and came storming round the outside of Baseby as they exited the second bend on the next lap. Baseby for his part wanted the full house, and stuck to Skidmore like a limpet, until he over cooked it, locking up and allowing Skidmore pull clear at the end of the lap.

Ritchie Hawkins form over the last few weeks has been sky high, however tonight he was experiencing the other side of the coin, but you can’t keep a good man down. Shane Parker broke quickly with Richard Hall in close attendance. As they approached the second bend a quick glance showed Parker that his partner was barrelling around the dirt line up against the fence. He cleverly stopped Halls run to allow Hawkins a clear run out wide, and he didn’t need a second invitation, blasting down the outside of the back straight to lead. Parker took up station by his side, and the pair team rode the Tigers out of contention. It was superb bit of quick thinking by Parker, giving the Rebels a 33-21 lead in the process.

Eric Boocock wasted no time in utilising the tactical option, sending out the useful Auty in the ‘Black and White’ for Heat 10, and it worked like a dream. From the level break the Tigers pair were soon on top, with only Mark Baseby in a challenging position. Lubos Tomicek floundered out on the outside gate, with the level break giving him no chance to get across to his favoured inside line. He retired on the third lap when well behind. Auty and his partner Paul Cooper soon had the measure of Baseby, and pulled clear to easily take the 1-8 advantage, putting the Tigers right back in the mix.

Heat 11 saw then further reduce the Rebels lead, but not before they had three attempts to start the race. The original running saw the referee pull it back after Cory Gathercole made a flying start, which he deemed unfair. In the next running Hugh Skidmore the victim of a very tight first bend, when he found himself on the outside as the field shuffled wide, and he was left no where to go but down. Start three produced a level break, with Gathercole grabbing the lead hard up the inside of Ricky Ashworth on the second bend. Ashworth hit back, cutting inside Gathercole around the final two turns of the lap. Once in front he held Gathercole well, never giving the Rebels man a chance to hit back. James Holder battled Hugh Skidmore, as the pair raced side-by-side for all four laps, with the young Tiger coming out on top.

Heat 12 saw the visitors nose in front, following a huge crash by Ritchie Hawkins. Hawkins was fast away, and led from the start. Paul Cooper was in close order, and soon challenged. He went by Hawkins on the back straight, but as he has shown already this season, Hawkins does not give up easily. He set about winning back the place, and was never more than inches behind, challenging up the inside for the next two laps. As they ran out onto the third lap, he switched his challenge to the outside, and came with a storming run on a very wide line. Coming off the second bend he pounced on a narrow gap by the fence, but ran out of space, appearing to clip the back of Cooper in the process. He came down in a huge crash, as the bike somersaulted high in the air, narrowly missing the prostrate Hawkins, as he bounced down the track. As he came to rest he lay very still for some time, as those close by feared the worst. Miraculously he was back on his feet after being attended by the medical staff, walking back to the pits, seemingly none the worst for his excursion to the dirt. The race was awarded, with the resulting 1-5 to the Tigers giving them a slender 1-point lead late in the piece.

Heat 13 passed with the Rebels unable to wrest back the lead. Gory Gathercole made the best of a level break with Ricky Ashworth to lead wide around the first turn. Inside Lubos Tomicek made a poor start, and could never get on terms with the Tigers pairing. Gathercole took an easy, with the points shared.

The Rebels were right back in it after Shane Parker took Heat 14. Leading from the off he headed James Holder for what appeared to be a full house. That was until Josh Auty slipped through at the end of the opening lap. He chased Parker hard, but could never get near the Rebels skipper. Holder held off the determined late challenge of Paul Cooper to bring the Rebels back to the lead by a single point and set up a last heat decider.

It was no surprise when Parker got the call for Heat 15, alongside Cory Gathercole. For the Tigers the ‘A’ team of Auty and Ashworth came to tapes. From the moment the tapes rose if was a full-blooded affair with some hard riding and racing from all four riders. The elbows were flying in the first turn, and it was Parker who proved to be the master as he emerged in the lead. Ashworth and Gathercole had there own battle on the back straight that saw Gathercole shuffled to the back, as Josh Auty materialized as the challenge to Parker at the front. Auty was soon in front, but Parker gave a real captains performance as the pair swapped placed on every lap, with Parker just getting the upper hand in the latter stages. With Parker making sure of the win the Rebels prevailed, and Ashworth’s late fall had no influence over the final result.

It was a superbly entertaining match, with fabulous racing throughout. One that prompted Tigers team manager, and former Rebels manager, Eric Boocock to say it was the best Speedway meeting he had witnessed for many years, high praise indeed. The Tigers might consider themselves unlucky in losing Franc at such an early stage, but who’s to say that he would have scored any more than the 6-points his replacements scored in his last three rides. Josh Auty was superb, top scoring with 14+1, ably backed up by Ricky Ashworth’s 10-point haul.

From the Rebels point of view, both reserves gave good performances, both scoring 7-points from their riders, with Mark Baseby adding a couple of bonus points, and James Holder contributing two wins. Ritchie Hawkins had a night he would like to forget, but he too had a heat win, and walked away unharmed from an enormous crash, so it can’t be all bad. Lubos Tomicek was another who would probably like to forget his night, as he could only manage two second places. Cory Gathercole posted 12-points despite being excluded, but the top spot went to skipper Shane Parker, who not only posted his second double figure score in as many weeks, but also recorded his first paid maximum in Rebels colours. It was super performance by the man the Glasgow fans christened ‘The Messiah’, and after this showing it is not hard to see why. It was a performance that won him the Rider of the Night award, from match sponsors, ‘Spearpoint Construction’, for the second week running.

The Rebels will have no time to rest on their laurels, as they move swiftly on to Loomer Road to take on the Stoke Potters, where no doubt James Holder will be looking to show the Chesterton outfit what they have lost.

Report courtesy Dave Thompson