In saying this, however, the Rebels were not without their fair share of misfortune, mainly surrounding both Simon Walker and Emil Kramer. The former had a night to forget as in the first instance he had an engine seize during the pre-meeting warm up, only then to find that his second engine flatly refused to fire up. This meant that the 26-year-old was unable to take his place in the opening heat, and with Rye House's Chris Neath taking the chequered flag ahead of Somerset's Magnus Zetterstrom, the die was cast for the rest of the evening. The next setback for the Rebels came two heats later as Emil Kramer tangled with Tommy Allen as the riders headed into the first bend, causing the Swede to fall heavily. Although after what must have seemed an age to the visiting Somerset fans, he got back to his feet, it was obvious that Kramer was in some degree of pain and discomfort. Bravely Kramer not only came back to tapes for the re-run of the race, but also completed his four programmed rides despite being far from 100 per cent fit, which severely restricted his points tally at a track where he normally scores well. There were, however, some bright spots for the Somerset camp: an excellent performance from Tomas Suchanek, who posted two heat victories and a fighting display by reserve Jordan Frampton, who would have scored even more than his final five points but for a plug lead coming adrift whilst in a points-scoring position in the opening race. These performances, coupled with skipper Magnus Zetterstrom leading from the front as per usual, meant that, although the Rebels tasted defeat in their first competitive match of the season, they were certainly not disgraced. On this showing, they can look forward to the season ahead with some well-placed optimism. | 
