Cobras Bucked By Buccaneers
Rye House 42 Bournemouth 48
(National League, Saturday July 24th 2010)
The Kart Raceway Cobras fell to their first home League defeat of the season at the hands of the defending National League champions – but only after a brave and battling effort. Already without the injured Jamie Smith and Marc Owen, and with Kyle Hughes committed to the Silver Ski Rockets at Workington, their cause was further disrupted by the early loss of Ben Morley, who aggravated an ankle injury suffered at Newport.
Throw in a number of lost point opportunities and you can see where this one was always headed. Morley was holding third place in Heat 3 when forced to withdraw with his injury, while guest Jerran Hart locked up on the second bend of Heat 8 to quickly relegate himself from first to last.
Lee Strudwick appeared en route to inflicting what would have been James Brundle’s only defeat of the night in Heat 13, only for the visitors’ Danny Halsey to fall and cause the race to be stopped. Brundle made no mistake in the re-run. Shane Hazelden also suffered two exclusions to mar an otherwise exceptional performance.
Special mention should be made of regular No.8 Tom Stokes, who stepped into a reserve slot for the night. The 16 year old won Heat 2 and finished the night with 4 points, a total which belies his underlying contribution and 100% effort.
An awarded 5-1 secured by Hazelden and Lee Strudwick after race leader Danny Halsey had fallen in Heat 4 gave the Cobras an early 14-10 advantage, but thereafter never more than 2 points separated the sides until after the final race. The Cobras led 40-38 heading into the penultimate heat, but a third bend fall by Hazelden left them on the wrong end of a 5-1 as the Buccaneers re-took the lead.
The Cobras woes continued into the finale. Needing a maximum of their own to sneak the victory, their hopes were quickly dashed when Strudwick was penalised 15 metres for exceeding the two minute allowance. Brundle then made a trademarked lightning start, with partner Halsey joining him at the front ahead of Hart and Strudwick to wrap up a Buccs’ success.
Rye House scorers:
Jerran Hart (guest) 10 (6 rides)
Kyle Hughes R/R
David Mason 8+2 (5)
Ben Morley 1+1 (2)
Lee Strudwick 8+2 (6)
Tom Stokes 4 (5)
Shane Hazelden 11 (6)
Bournemouth scorers:
James Brundle 15 (5 rides, maximum)
Mark Baseby 3+1 (4)
Karl Mason 7+1 (4)
Kyle Howarth 7+1 (4)
Danny Halsey 7+1 (5)
Aaron Baseby 7+3 (5)
James Sarjeant 2 (4)
Match points: Rye House 0 Bournemouth 3
|