Speedway and Motorsport

You quite often read match reports which state the fact the final scoreline does not reflect the meeting; well this isn’t one of them as the ‘Sharp’ Rebels took apart what was a very poor Newport side.

The home side's 32 point winning margin emphasises their domination over the Wasps, who battled gamely but had no answer to this powerhouse of a Somerset performance.

This match was over as a contest well before the half-way stage and it was just a case of whether or not the Rebels would better the record home score they posted against Newport earlier in the season.

Already trailing by fourteen points after first six heats, the visitors resorted to the ‘black and white’ tactical ride in heat 7. Tony Atkin, who had looked lively enough in his first ride, was given the responsibility of trying to get the Wasps back into the match.

The move, however, went the way of everything else for Newport as Jordan Frampton rode a superb first couple of laps to thwart Atkins’ moves to get into the lead. The Newport skipper then found himself pushed back to third place as Ritchie Hawkins took advantage of Atkins running the wide line to cut up the inside and join his partner for yet another maximum heat win for the Rebels.

Frampton went on to post his best meeting to date for Somerset, a well deserved maximum being denied when a slight lack of experience saw him keep to the inside line to pass Newport’s Burchatt for second place in heat 14, only to have his run blocked which allowed Atkin into third place in the dash for the line.

Such was the Somerset domination that saw them record seven maximum heat wins and provide thirteen out of the fifteen heat winners, that they could afford to allow their ‘Super Swedish’ duo of Zetterstrom and Kramer a night off from heat 15 duties. Hawkins and Warwick got the nod, the latter in recognition for another excellent performance from the reserve berth.