Somerset vs Leicester 18/04/18

[EnglishRoundabout 1,752]

First meeting of the season and it pretty much had everything I reckon. Some close tight racing (albeit a slow start, the first 4 heats being from the tapes). After the first track grade, the meeting exploded into life!

After their collision in heat one, Allen and Newman continued with their shindigs with a brilliant race  in heat6 with Allen charging hard under Newman on the third bend. The race ended with Newman snapping at Jake”s heels as they crossed the finish line. For some reason Ref Dave Robinson awarded third place to Newman, which baffled the crowd and caused much programme altering, before the score was adjusted several heats later.  What happened after the race was truly inexcusable, as Newman, clearly irked by the young Aussies hard riding, rode him out to the fence, causing Allen to take avoiding action  Not to be outdone, Allen took his revenge by intentionally swerving his back wheel towards Newman’s front tyre, dumping the former Rebel and his machine onto the track  No action ensued from the Ref, but certainly tempers were raised in the pits, with several people being restrained by officials 

As the track became more to the Rebels liking, they slowly got back into the match with some determined riding from the aforementioned Allen, Charles Wright and BWD, who was most unlucky to be excluded in heat 8  surely this trio are going to be an exciting spectacle this season at the OTA   Wright was a revelation, riding defensively in heat 9 to keep Andersen in third, allowing Holder his first win in Rebels colours at his new track, then team riding with BWD in heat 12 for a vital 5-1  Not often seen by Wrighty , certainly from this poster!

For the Lions, Pieszcek was most impressive, looking perfectly at home on a track he has probably never seen before  Hans Andersen was good value too for his paid 8 points, once again using his track guile and experience to either assist his colleagues, or to keep opponents at bay   Newman had his best meeting at the OTA for many a year, and looks like he won’t be in the reserve berth for too long  

 

This Leicester side has an impressive look about it even without their number one, and I expect them to be in the mix at the end of the season  

A new era for Somerset with the Wednesday night meetings, and certainly the crowd looked pretty decent to me  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2018 by EnglishRoundabout
Additional words at end of report not required

[IronScorpion 1,407]

Christ we've only had 2 meetings! That's the sort of post I would come to expect from someone like Shovlar and not yourself! I'm certainly giving him the benefit of the doubt after a big crash in Poland only recently.

It's not a criticism. For example, why bust a gut in heat 15 if the match is already won and there's no longer anything to gain by winning by more than 6.

 

Only 8 points up & meeting won but a 3-3 would have stopped Leicester getting a consolation point.