Post by Mr X on Jul 12, 2006 22:29:46 GMT
12 July 2006 Oxford Cheetahs 41 Wolverhampton Wolves 51 (ELA)
Wolves win the bonus point 104-78
Oxford Cheetahs 41
1. Todd Wiltshire 3 3 EF 1 3 10
2. Davey Watt 2* 1 2 2 7+1
3. David Howe 1 1 R 2 4
4. Adam Skornicki 3 3 1 4 1 12
5. Ales Dryml 3 Fx 3
6. Lubos Tomicek 2 1 0 1 4
7. Eric Andersson 0 F 0 1 0 0 0 1
Wolverhampton Parrys International Wolves 51
1. Peter Karlsson 1 2 3 3 9
2. Christian Hefenbrock R/R
3. Ronnie Correy 2 0 2* 4+1
4. Freddie Lindgren R 3 3 3 3 0 12
5. Billy Hamill 2 2 2* 2* 2 10+2
6. Tomas Suchanek 0 1 0 1 1 3
7. Magnus Karlsson 3 1* 1 3 2* 3 0 13+2
Oxford have won the toss and take gates 1 and 3. Lawt estimates the crowd to be no more than 500 outside with spaces at the front in the bars.
1. Wiltshire, Watt, PETER KARLSSON, SUCHANEK (RR) 5-1, 5-1
Wiltshire from the gate, Watt takes PK on the outside on back straight for an Oxford maximum.
2. MAGNUS KARLSSON, Tomicek, SUCHANEK, Andersson. 2-4, 7-5
Magnus makes a good start from gate 3. Andersson tries too hard to pass Suchanek and bounces off the fence on the 3rd lap. The flag marshal tries to give them a 5th lap but nobody is really fooled!
3. Skornicki, CORREY, Howe, LINDGREN 4-2, 11-7
Inside gates a big advantage at the moment. Freddie nowhere and fails to complete the race – bike problems?
4. Dryml, HAMILL, MAGNUS KARLSSON, Andersson(fell) 3-3, 14-10
Good start from Billy from gate 4 but Dryml pushes him wide on the back straight. Inside still the place to be. Andersson falls on the 4th bend in last place.
5. Skornicki, PETER KARLSSON, Howe, CORREY(RR) 4-2, 18-12
Excellent win from gate 4 from Adam. Dreadful start from the inside gates for Wolves. PK rounds Howe on the 4th bend. PK looks like he’s really struggling with his injury.
6. Wiltshire, HAMILL, Watt, SUCHANEK. 4-2, 22-14
From the gate, great start from Wiltshire.
7. LINDGREN, CORREY, Tomicek, Dryml (Fx). 1-5, 23-19
Dryml leads until the last bend when he straightens up and hits the fence. He bounces back into the track and Ronnie has no chance and hits him full force in the back. Dryml looks like he could be badly injured. There’s a long delay while Ales is attended to and taken to hospital.
8. LINDGREN (RR), Watt, MAGNUS KARLSSON, Andersson. 2-4, 25-23
Fine start from Freddie. Magnus takes Andersson wide and we’re on a 5-1. Watt recovers from a bad start and is too quick for Magnus and takes 2nd. Track is pretty rough, very hard work to ride.
9. MAGNUS KARLSSON, HAMILL, Skornicki, Howe (ret) 1-5, 26-28
Great start from Magnus who flies ahead with Billy behind him. David in 3rd place jarrs his knee and pulls out of the race injured. Ronnie pulls out of the meeting with double vision after his earlier fall.
10. LINDGREN, Watt, SUCHANEK, Wiltshire (EF) 2-4, 28-32
Suchanek replaces the injured Ronnie. Excellent start from Todd who has it wrapped up when his chain snaps! Oxford must have upset someone tonight…
11. PETER, MAGNUS, Andersson, Tomicek. 1-5, 29-37
With Dryml out, it’s a good start for the Karlsson boys, and an easy 5-1 over a poor home reserve pairing. PK says he’s really struggling with his injury tonight. Will both sides have enough fit riders to finish this meeting?
12. MAGNUS, Howe, SUCHANEK, Andersson. 2-4, 31-41
David gates but Magnus winds the power on and rounds him on the 2nd bend. Superb ride from Magnus who has ridden in 4 of the past 5 and is shattered! Vital 3rd place for Suchanek who holds off Andersson.
13. PETER, BILLY, Wiltshire, Andersson. 1-5, 32-46
Wiltshire is on a double but the Wolves pair make a fine start and wrap up the league points with an easy 5-1.
14. LINDGREN, Skornicki, Tomicek, MAGNUS. 5-3, 37-49
Adam in on double points and it looks like a maximum heat success for Oxford for 2 laps. However, Freddie has other ideas and rides a fantastic third lap right round the fence to take both home riders and a great win! Magnus is cream crackered.
15. Wiltshire, HAMILL, Skornicki, LINDGREN. 4-2, 41-51
Billy gates but Todd cuts inside on the 1st bend. Billy juts holds Adam off for 2nd place.
Verdict: A very strange meeting. Wolves were 8 points down and heading for a real thrashing until Ales crashed out. This seemed to change the meeting completely and Oxford fell apart afterwards. Wolves won 8 successive races – from a team who averaged 4 race wins per meeting over the past four defeats – but they weren’t without their own problems. Wolves finished with just five riders – two of whom (PK and Billy) were carrying injuries of their own. A battle of attrition if ever there was one!
Weather: Glorious sunshine.
Track: A decent amount of loose dirt, but this made the track rough and very hard to ride.
Attendance: Poor. A few hundred.
Wolves Performance: Showed great character to bounce back from an awful start, definitely helped by Oxford’s misfortune.
Entertainment: A very eventful meeting with a fair amount of passing.
Referee:
Man of the Match: Magnus Karlsson was the match winner.
Rider Ratings: (now on a scale of ten with 6 being the average expectation)
Peter Karlsson: 7 A gritty performance. Struggling badly with his injury on a rough track, PK produced a couple of vital wins when they were needed most.
Ronnie Correy: 6 A heavy fall in heat 7 put him out of the meeting.
Fredrik Lindgren: 8 Four heat wins away from home is a fine display.
Billy Hamill: 7 Teamed up with Magnus and PK for two vital 5-1’s.
Tomas Suchanek: 5 Beat Andersson twice and never far off the pace.
Magnus Karlsson: 10 WOW! Inspired riding, how can this be the same guy who has struggled so badly all season. Great to see him looking so happy after his struggles.
So Wolves grab a second league away win and go a little way to making amends for the shocking home loss to Swindon on Monday. We still have it all to do to get close to a playoff spot, starting tomorrow at Ipswich with what looks like an injury hit line up. Best wishes to Ales Dryml for a speedy recovery to what looked like a serious injury.
Mark Rowe.
