Match Report: Swindon Robins vs Stoke Potters - 30/08/01 - Premier League


Swindon Scorers
1.Claus Kristensen : 3,3,3,3 = 12 (full max)
2.Martin Dixon : 2',2',3,2',2' = 11+4 (paid max)
3.Alan Mogridge : f/r0,2',1',2 = 5+2
4.Oliver Allen : 3,3,2,3 = 11
5.Paul Fry : 2,3,2',2',3 = 12+2
6.Alun Rossiter : 3,2',3,2' = 10+2 (paid max)
7.Ritchie Hawkins : 2',1',1,0 = 4+2

Stoke Scorers
1.Paul Pickering : 1,1,1,1,x/t,1 = 5
2.Mark Burrows : ef,ret,ef = 0
3.Tony Atkin : 2,1,ef,3,ef,0 = 6
4.Jon Armstrong : 1',0,1,1 = 3+1
5.Jan Staechmann : 3,1,3,ef = 7
6.Will Beveridge : ef,ef,ret = 0
7.Tommy Palmer : 1,0,2,0,1 = 4

All riders present and correct early, the juniors were out on the track when I arrived at 
6:45 including one who I'm told was Olly Allens brother, he looked very impressive and I 
think he will have maybe a couple of conference league promoters in for him soon..Rosco 
making his usual amount of noise in the before the meeting, challenges Ritchie to be the one
who has to look over his shoulder to see his partner coming out of the second bend in heat 
2..Ritchie looks embarrassed as everyone laughs! :D 

Threatening rain results in the abandonment of the parade, Paul Pickering wins the toss and 
chooses gates 1 and 3 for heat 1. 

Heat Details.

Heat 1
Kristensen, Dixon, Pickering, Burrows(ef)    5-1 [5-1]
Clausy blasts from the gate and goes on to victory, Mad Dog finishes some way behind him, has
some brief attention from Burrows but when Burrows grinds to a halt the result is put beyond
doubt.

Heat 2
Rossiter, Hawkins, Broadhurst, Beveridge(ef) 5-1 [10-2]
Rosco away from the tapes and into the lead, Ritchie decides that he is gonna try and take 
Roscos earlier jibe about "lets see u look over your shoulder for me tonight" literally and 
spends 4 laps trying his butt off to get past Rosco, twice nearly having them both in the 
fence!! 

Heat 3
Allen, Atkin, Armstrong, Mogridge(f/rem) 3-3 [13-5]
Bit of a melee on the 2nd bend but the Robins come out with Olly leading and Moggo in second,
Moggo looks very unsteady for the whole second lap until he slides off on the car park turn,
gifting the Potters a 3-3.

Heat 4
Staechmann, Fry, Hawkins, Beveridge 3-3 [16-8]
Ritchie and Fryer gate side by side with Jan, but Staechmanns experience shows as he eases 
Fryer wide on the first bend and then drives around the outside of Ritchie to take the lead,
 Fryer gains on him and spends the last two laps giving him a right go, but to no avail, 
good win for Jan.

Heat 5
Allen, Mogridge, Pickering, Burrows(ret) 5-1 [21-9]
Pretty much tapes to flag, with Burrows again suffering engine trouble, Pickering gives Moggo 
a race for a lap or so but finishes quite a distance behind.

Heat 6
Kristensen, Dixon, Staechmann, Beveridge  5-1 [26-10]
Clausy again blasts from the gate and never looks like getting beaten, Steachmann holds off
the attentions of Mad Dog for 3 laps before his engine gives out so the Robins take another
5-1. Staechmann coasts until most of the way down the back straight and then has to push 
home as Beveridges chain had snapped as the tapes rose meaning he only managed about 30 
yards!

Heat 7
Fry, Rossiter, Atkin, Armstrong 5-1 [31-11]
Fryer from the gate, Rosco off gate 3 goes around Atkin on the first two bends and powers 
away for a paid win.

Heat 8
Dixon, Broadhurst, Hawkins, Burrows 4-2 [35-13]
Mad Dog flies from the gate and takes the victory, Broadhurst suprisingly outgates Ritchie 
and though Ritchie gives him stick for the whole race he can't pass. Burrows sad at the back,
not sure if his engine gave up or he did. 

Heat 9
Staechmann, Allen, Mogridge, Beveridge(ret) 3-3 [38-16]
Epic battle for 4 laps between Staechamnn and Allen, they gate together and have a back and 
forth duel for the whole race with Olly holding it until he locks up on the 2nd bend of the 
last lap, allowing Staechmann to draw up alongside hime, they stay like this around the final
2 turns but Jan the Man just snatches it on the line, best race of the night.

Heat 10
Kristensen, Dixon, Armstrong, Atkin(ef) 5-1 [43-17]
Tapes to flag, Atkin ef whilst 3rd.

Heat 11
Rossiter, fry, Pickering, Broadhurst 5-1 [48-18]
From the tapes, doesn't look like there is much fight left in Stoke, Pickering not looking
his normal Blunsdon self. 

Heat 12
Atkin, Mogridge, Pickering, Hawkins 2-4 [50-22]
Atkin from the gate to beat off a below par Moggo, Pickering is as a tac sub holds off 
Ritchie for the Potters only heat advantage of the evening.

Heat 13
Kristensen, Fry, Broadhurst, Staechmann(ef) Pickering(ex/tapes) 5-1 [55-23]
Pickering rolls into the tapes and is excluded, Broadhurst in as a replacement. The Robins
again fly from the tapes and this time Staechmann has no answer, and his engine packs up 
again whilst 3rd on the 3/4th bends of the final lap.

Heat 14
Allen, Rosco, Armstrong, Atkin 5-1 [60-24]
Atkin in as a tac sub but thats a watse of effort as the Robins again obliterate the Potters
from the start. Atkin again suffers engine trouble (at least, thats what he would have us 
believe) and the Robins go above 60 points for the first time sice the 70-20 annahialation
of Glasgow back in May!

Heat 15
Fry, Dixon, Pickering, Atkin 5-1 [65-25]
Pickering went all out for two laps to snath Dickos forst ever 5 ride max for Swindon from him,
but it was not to be as Mad Dog rode him out and followed Fryer home for the Robins 10th 5-1
heat advantage!! 65-25 the final score and puts the aggregate score on 109-71 to Swindon.

This was a thrashing and Stoke had no answer to Swindon, hopefully the Robins can repeat this 
performance against Sheffield this Sunday. Heavy rain started falling at around heat 7 so the 
meeting was rushed through to heat 12, by which time it had stopped raining, so the track was 
re-graded and the meeting went through to completion.

Swindon
Claus : 4 gates, 4 wins - a devastating max.
Dicko : 11+4, first ever 5 ride max for Swindon, say no more!
Moggo : Fell again whilst on a comfortable paid win, looked slower than usual.
Ollie : Was superb from the gate, dropped his only point in the race of the night with 
Staechmann, no shame in that!!
Fryer : Pushed wide by Staechmann in his first heat and nearly came back, after that untroubled.
Rosco : 2nd max for Rosco, signed off at reserve with a great performance.
Ritchie : Nothing to complain about here, the kid looks such a good prospect, just has to learn
how to slide into turn 3 without shutting off all the time and he will be all the better for it.

Stoke
Pickering : Not good, usually formidable at Blusdon, don't know what went wrong.
Burrows : Lord was he having bike trouble.
Atkin : Only race winner other than Staechmann but wasnt impressive..
Armstrong : Picked up the odd lucky point here and there, but never at the races.
Staechmann : Won two heats, but blew two engines, quite unlucky night..
Beveridge : Don't recall him completing a lap.
Broadhurst, only troubled once when he beat Ritchie in heat 8, other than that quiet. 

Final Score : Swindon Robins 65(109) Reading Racers 25(71) 

Thanks to Stuart Watt for the match report.

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