Post by Pieman on Aug 2, 2006 18:49:16 GMT
READING 43 WOLVES 47, ELITE LEAGUE A, WEDNESDAY 26TH JULY
Bulldogs (allegedly):
Greg Hancock 2 3 1* 1 3 =10+1
Travis McGowan 0 1 3 2 =6
Janusz Kolodziej 1 2* 2 1 =6+1
Charlie Gjedde 3 3 1* 2 X =9+1
Matej Zagar 2 1 0 =3
Glenn Cunningham 1 0 1 =2
Sam Simota 3 R 1 3 0 0 =7
Parry’s International Wolves:
Peter Karlsson 3 1 3 3 2 =12
Christian Hefenbrock 1 0 2 2* =5+1
Ronnie Correy 0 2* 3 0 =5+1
Freddie Lindgren 2 3 0 3 1* =9+1
Billy Hamill 3 2 3 2* =10+1
William Lawson 0 0 0 =0
Magnus Karlsson 2 1 0 2 1 =6
Wolves win 95-88 on aggregate.
WOW! Where to start? There were two huge shocks from this match: firstly, the unbelievable result (who would have predicted that before the start?), and secondly the way in which Wolves achieved it. This was a performance that we had been waiting for for months, as Wolves finally seemed to really desire a victory, gelled together as a team, and rode their hearts out in order to achieve all three points in an amazing gutsy display of superb speedway. Even Will, who failed to score, was right in there mixing it with the Bulldogs.
Before the start, everyone’s concern was whether a three point lead from the first leg at Monmore would be enough for the bonus point. No one ever expected this result at any stage!
Wolves won the toss and took gates one and three – some believed that this would be the only thing Wolves won all night!
Heat 1: P Karlsson, Hancock, Hefenbrock, McGowan, 60.20. 2-4, 2-4.
For half a lap it was a Wolves 5-1,and although Hancock passed Christian he could not catch PK.
Heat 2: Simota, M Karlsson, Cuningham, Lawson, 61.21. 4-2, 6-6.
Simota led all the way, while Will initially held second before slipping back as the outside line began to work early.
Heat 3: Gjedde, Lindgren, Kolodziej, Correy, 60.17. 4-2,10-8.
From the gate, with JK third having recovered from his Monday bout of “Polish disease”.
Heat 4: Hamill, Zagar, M Karlsson, Simota (ret), 60.86. 2-4, 12-12.
From the gate once again, with Simota retiring on lap two.
Heat 5: Gjedde, Kolodziej, P Karlsson, Hefenbrock, 60.64. 5-1, 17-13.
PK tried the outside line on Gjedde, but went a bit too wide and JK found grip on the inside to pass.
Heat 6: Hancock, Hamill, McGowan, Lawson, 60.92. 4-2, 21-15.
From the gate, with Will briefly heading McGowan on the first lap.
Heat 7: Lindgren, Correy, Zagar, Cunningham, 61.14. 1-5, 22-20.
Both Wolves made great starts (what’s happening here?) and held off Zagar to the line.
Heat 8: McGowan, Hefenbrock, Simota, M Karlsson, 60.89. 4-2, 26-22.
McGowan led all the way, but all eyes were on Christian who fought a superb side-by-side battle with Simota, finally winning through at the close.
Heat 9: Hamill, Kolodziej, Gjedde, Lawson, 61.45. 3-3, 29-25.
Will made a superb gate but it was Billy who came out in the lead. Will then fought a huge three-abreast battle with the two Racers (oops!) before unluckily losing out late on.
Heat 10: Correy, McGowan, Hancock, Lindgren, 61.24. 3-3, 32-28.
Reading made the gate in this one, but Ronnie produced one of the moves of the season to blast around the outside (yes, the OUTSIDE!) of both home riders on turn two! He went on to a memorable win to the cheers of the ecstatic Wolves fans, while Freddie briefly won third from Hancock on lap three but had to give best to the American.
Heat 11: P Karlsson, Hefenbrock, Cunningham, Zagar, 61.26. 1-5, 33-33.
Wolves made yet another great gate and levelled the scores, with Grand Prix rider Zagar unable even to catch Premier League guest Cunningham – explain that one!
Heat 12: Simota, M Karlsson, Kolodziej, Correy, 61.77. 4-2, 37-35.
The inside line was used a little more here, with JK and Magnus battling hard for the first three laps, Magnus just taking the place.
Heat 13: P Karlsson, Hamill, Hancock, Simota, 61.86. 1-5, 38-40.
Wolves fans were left in complete disbelief as their pairing gated yet again and hung on in front for the four laps to defeat Hancock and take the lead!
Heat 14: Lindgren, Gjedde, M Karlsson, Simota, 61.58. 2-4, 40-44.
Freddie brilliantly passed Gjedde on the inside on the second lap only to lose out second later to the Dane, with Freddie retaking him for the win at the death. With Magnus third, it left Reading needing a 5-1 in the last heat to win.
Heat 15 (rerun): Hancock, P Karlsson, Lindgren , Gjedde (f.exc), 60.86. 3-3, 43-47.
Hancock gated with Gjedde going for broke around the outside of PK, and into turn three down went the Dane. Was there contact, or did Gjedde lay it down to try and get PK excluded? Whatever the motive, the race was stopped, and after a few moments Gjedde was excluded from the rerun – game, set and match to Wolves! The rerun saw the Wolves gate but it was Hancock who led them home, but this mattered little to the Wolves fans who were already celebrating!
Comment/Summary:
Weather: Unbelievably hot and sticky.
Track: Did not look too good at the start, but a variety of lines appeared as the meeting progressed.
Attendance: Not too large, but swelled by a large party of Wolves fans.
Wolves Performance: Absolutely incredible – Wolves’ best meeting of the year by far. Gating, passing, team riding – this one had it all!
Entertainment: Very close racing all night.
Referee (Paul Carrington): Called everything correctly in my eyes.
Man of the Match: It could have gone to any of the side in this one, but I have decided to award it to Billy Hamill for a big improvement in form, and while apparently carrying an illness as well – great stuff.
Rider Ratings: (now on a scale of ten with 6 being the average expectation)
Peter Karlsson: 9 Two defeats of Hancock capped his evening.
Christian Hefenbrock: 6 Great ride in heat eight.
Ronnie Correy: 7 Truly stunning move in heat ten will long be remembered by all who saw it.
Fredrik Lindgren: 8 Some superb gating all night.
Billy Hamill: 9 Only dropped one point.
William Lawson: 6 No score, but massive effort as usual.
Magnus Karlsson: 7 Much better away form than of late.
A big thankyou must go to the Wolves team for their superb performance, and a special thankyou to all the Wolves fans present for a very enjoyable evening. The only downside was the childishly stupid reactions of some of the Reading fans at the end of the match – clearly they are unable to take a home defeat. (Also, this was my maiden visit to Smallmead, and how that stadium was chosen to host the World Cup final is beyond me!)
Once a Wolf, always a Wolf
Dave Goddard a.k.a. Pieman.
Bulldogs (allegedly):
Greg Hancock 2 3 1* 1 3 =10+1
Travis McGowan 0 1 3 2 =6
Janusz Kolodziej 1 2* 2 1 =6+1
Charlie Gjedde 3 3 1* 2 X =9+1
Matej Zagar 2 1 0 =3
Glenn Cunningham 1 0 1 =2
Sam Simota 3 R 1 3 0 0 =7
Parry’s International Wolves:
Peter Karlsson 3 1 3 3 2 =12
Christian Hefenbrock 1 0 2 2* =5+1
Ronnie Correy 0 2* 3 0 =5+1
Freddie Lindgren 2 3 0 3 1* =9+1
Billy Hamill 3 2 3 2* =10+1
William Lawson 0 0 0 =0
Magnus Karlsson 2 1 0 2 1 =6
Wolves win 95-88 on aggregate.
WOW! Where to start? There were two huge shocks from this match: firstly, the unbelievable result (who would have predicted that before the start?), and secondly the way in which Wolves achieved it. This was a performance that we had been waiting for for months, as Wolves finally seemed to really desire a victory, gelled together as a team, and rode their hearts out in order to achieve all three points in an amazing gutsy display of superb speedway. Even Will, who failed to score, was right in there mixing it with the Bulldogs.
Before the start, everyone’s concern was whether a three point lead from the first leg at Monmore would be enough for the bonus point. No one ever expected this result at any stage!
Wolves won the toss and took gates one and three – some believed that this would be the only thing Wolves won all night!
Heat 1: P Karlsson, Hancock, Hefenbrock, McGowan, 60.20. 2-4, 2-4.
For half a lap it was a Wolves 5-1,and although Hancock passed Christian he could not catch PK.
Heat 2: Simota, M Karlsson, Cuningham, Lawson, 61.21. 4-2, 6-6.
Simota led all the way, while Will initially held second before slipping back as the outside line began to work early.
Heat 3: Gjedde, Lindgren, Kolodziej, Correy, 60.17. 4-2,10-8.
From the gate, with JK third having recovered from his Monday bout of “Polish disease”.
Heat 4: Hamill, Zagar, M Karlsson, Simota (ret), 60.86. 2-4, 12-12.
From the gate once again, with Simota retiring on lap two.
Heat 5: Gjedde, Kolodziej, P Karlsson, Hefenbrock, 60.64. 5-1, 17-13.
PK tried the outside line on Gjedde, but went a bit too wide and JK found grip on the inside to pass.
Heat 6: Hancock, Hamill, McGowan, Lawson, 60.92. 4-2, 21-15.
From the gate, with Will briefly heading McGowan on the first lap.
Heat 7: Lindgren, Correy, Zagar, Cunningham, 61.14. 1-5, 22-20.
Both Wolves made great starts (what’s happening here?) and held off Zagar to the line.
Heat 8: McGowan, Hefenbrock, Simota, M Karlsson, 60.89. 4-2, 26-22.
McGowan led all the way, but all eyes were on Christian who fought a superb side-by-side battle with Simota, finally winning through at the close.
Heat 9: Hamill, Kolodziej, Gjedde, Lawson, 61.45. 3-3, 29-25.
Will made a superb gate but it was Billy who came out in the lead. Will then fought a huge three-abreast battle with the two Racers (oops!) before unluckily losing out late on.
Heat 10: Correy, McGowan, Hancock, Lindgren, 61.24. 3-3, 32-28.
Reading made the gate in this one, but Ronnie produced one of the moves of the season to blast around the outside (yes, the OUTSIDE!) of both home riders on turn two! He went on to a memorable win to the cheers of the ecstatic Wolves fans, while Freddie briefly won third from Hancock on lap three but had to give best to the American.
Heat 11: P Karlsson, Hefenbrock, Cunningham, Zagar, 61.26. 1-5, 33-33.
Wolves made yet another great gate and levelled the scores, with Grand Prix rider Zagar unable even to catch Premier League guest Cunningham – explain that one!
Heat 12: Simota, M Karlsson, Kolodziej, Correy, 61.77. 4-2, 37-35.
The inside line was used a little more here, with JK and Magnus battling hard for the first three laps, Magnus just taking the place.
Heat 13: P Karlsson, Hamill, Hancock, Simota, 61.86. 1-5, 38-40.
Wolves fans were left in complete disbelief as their pairing gated yet again and hung on in front for the four laps to defeat Hancock and take the lead!
Heat 14: Lindgren, Gjedde, M Karlsson, Simota, 61.58. 2-4, 40-44.
Freddie brilliantly passed Gjedde on the inside on the second lap only to lose out second later to the Dane, with Freddie retaking him for the win at the death. With Magnus third, it left Reading needing a 5-1 in the last heat to win.
Heat 15 (rerun): Hancock, P Karlsson, Lindgren , Gjedde (f.exc), 60.86. 3-3, 43-47.
Hancock gated with Gjedde going for broke around the outside of PK, and into turn three down went the Dane. Was there contact, or did Gjedde lay it down to try and get PK excluded? Whatever the motive, the race was stopped, and after a few moments Gjedde was excluded from the rerun – game, set and match to Wolves! The rerun saw the Wolves gate but it was Hancock who led them home, but this mattered little to the Wolves fans who were already celebrating!
Comment/Summary:
Weather: Unbelievably hot and sticky.
Track: Did not look too good at the start, but a variety of lines appeared as the meeting progressed.
Attendance: Not too large, but swelled by a large party of Wolves fans.
Wolves Performance: Absolutely incredible – Wolves’ best meeting of the year by far. Gating, passing, team riding – this one had it all!
Entertainment: Very close racing all night.
Referee (Paul Carrington): Called everything correctly in my eyes.
Man of the Match: It could have gone to any of the side in this one, but I have decided to award it to Billy Hamill for a big improvement in form, and while apparently carrying an illness as well – great stuff.
Rider Ratings: (now on a scale of ten with 6 being the average expectation)
Peter Karlsson: 9 Two defeats of Hancock capped his evening.
Christian Hefenbrock: 6 Great ride in heat eight.
Ronnie Correy: 7 Truly stunning move in heat ten will long be remembered by all who saw it.
Fredrik Lindgren: 8 Some superb gating all night.
Billy Hamill: 9 Only dropped one point.
William Lawson: 6 No score, but massive effort as usual.
Magnus Karlsson: 7 Much better away form than of late.
A big thankyou must go to the Wolves team for their superb performance, and a special thankyou to all the Wolves fans present for a very enjoyable evening. The only downside was the childishly stupid reactions of some of the Reading fans at the end of the match – clearly they are unable to take a home defeat. (Also, this was my maiden visit to Smallmead, and how that stadium was chosen to host the World Cup final is beyond me!)
Once a Wolf, always a Wolf
Dave Goddard a.k.a. Pieman.
