13-4-07 Reading 56 Wolves 34 KOC

[Mr X]

RESULT: READING 56 WOLVES 34.

KO Cup 1st Leg


Reading Bulldogs 56
1 Greg Hancock 3-2*-2-2*-2* = 11+3
2 Sam Simota 1-3-3-1* = 8+1
3 Matej Zagar 3-2-3-2 = 10
4 Janusz Kolodziej 2*-1*-2*-2 = 7+3
5 Travis McGowan 3-1-2*-3-3 = 12+1
6 Danny Bird 1*-0-3-0 = 4+1
7 Mark Lemon 2-R-1-1* = 4+1

Wolves 34
1 Peter Karlsson 2-3-1-1-1 = 8
2 R/R
3 Billy Hamill 1-2*-2-3-3-R = 11+1
4 Magnus Karlsson 0-0-3-0-0-3 = 6
5 David Howe 2-1-R = 3
6 Carl Wilkinson 0-0-1-0 = 1
7 Theo Pijper 3-1*-0-0-0-0-1 = 5+1

Reading win the toss and take 1 and 3.

1. Hancock, P.KARLSSON, Simota, M.KARLSSON(RR) 4-2
From the gate.

2. PIJPER, Lemon, Bird, WILKINSON (Fell, remounted). 3-3, 7-5
From the gate, impressive win by Theo.

3. Zagar, Kolodziej, HAMILL, M.KARLSSON. 5-1, 12-6
Wolves pair gate but Zagar emerges from a tight first bend in front. Janusz passes Magnus by the 3rd bend and nips inside Billy on the 3rd lap easily. Magnus tailed off at the back.

4. McGowan, HOWE, PIJPER, Lemon(Ret) 3-3, 15-9
5-1 to Reading for 3 laps then Lemon appeared to develop bike trouble. David passes him and then Lemon falls. Theo 3rd on a sick bike.

5. P.KARLSSON, Zagar, Kolodziej, WILKINSON (RR). 3-3, 18-12
Easy win for PK. R/R ride for Wilkinson, getting his rides over with quickly?

6. Simota, Hancock, HOWE, PIJPER. 5-1, 23-13
From the gate.

7. M.KARLSSON, HAMILL, McGowan, Bird. 1-5, 24-18
Magnus gates... all seven race winners so far from gate 3! Excellent ride from Billy to keep McGowan back.

8. Simota, HAMILL(RR), Lemon, PIJPER. 4-2, 28-20
Hamill gates off gate 3 but Simota passes on 2nd bend. Theo close to Lemon at the end having been squeezed out on 1st bend (geddit?)

9. Zagar, Kolodziej, WILKINSON, HOWE (EF) 5-1, 33-21
David on his 2nd bike but it sounds sick from the start and stops on the 2nd lap.

10. HAMILL, Hancock, Simota, M.KARLSSON. 3-3, 36-24
Our Billy round the outside of that spoon on the 4th bend. Magnus too wide and loses 3rd place on 3rd lap.
Wolves fans standing by the pits. Jim Bowen looking particularly miserable tonight.

Classic reporting from Lawt. "I'm expecting PK on a double here but he's not putting a helmet on. David's not getting ready either. In fact nobody is. Oh wait, it's the interval."

11. Bird, McGowan, P.KARLSSON(T/R), PIJPER. 5-1, 41-25
Terrible result. PK on a double. R/R should be David but he's having bike problems so the ride goes to Theo. Reading gate for a comfortable 5-1. PK almost falls and goes to last. Theo waits for him and lets him through (even though it doesn't matter as his point doesn't count double). End result is a 5-1 by a quarter of a lap.

12. HAMILL, Zagar, Lemon, WILKINSON. 3-3, 44-28
Excellent race for the lead. Zagar inside Hamill end of lap 1. Hamill fullthrottle back round Zagar next lap.

David Howe replaced by Theo in heat 13. No sign of injury or illness for David. Why doesn't someone lend him a bike???

13. McGowan, Hancock, P.KARLSSON, PIJPER. 5-1, 49-29
This is embarrassing. Peter gates. Travis inside, Greg outside inside a lap... 5-1.

Wolves fans overlooking the pits. Very little interaction between team manager and riders all night. Heads are down now...

14. M.KARLSSON, Kolodziej, PIJPER, Bird. 2-4, 51-33
A bit of luck! Reading gate for a 5-1 but make a terrible hash of 1st bend and turn it to a Wolves 5-1. Good race for 2nd as Kolodziej eventually passes Theo on lap 3. Magnus thinks it is the Olympique judging by his scorecard.

Lawt says PK just doesn't look right tonight. He was ill on Monday wasn't he?

15. McGowan, Hancock, P.KARLSSON, HAMILL(EF) 5-1, 56-34
Billy's bike stops at the start. Pk 2nd but Hancock blows him away.

[Mr X]

The above was a summary of the meeting from our live updates service with Lawt at Smellmead. If you went to this meeting and still want to talk about it then please let us know what you thought of the meeting, rider ratings etc.

[Lawt]

Don't want to talk about it too much because the antidepressants only work for so long.......

So just a quick comment and a score.

Peter - 5 - Not his usual self. He seemed to have trouble hanging onto the bike in the turns on occasions. Three five-ones against him is very poor. Was he ill?

Billy - 8 - Held the team together as far as scoring was concerned. Great pass on Hancock. Shame about his EF.

Magnus - 5 - Below what is expected. Completely inconsistent, but the two wins were welcome.

David - 3- Would like to know the reasons for his minimum number of rides on such an important night with R/R in operation. If no good reason then his night was pathetic.

Carl - 5 - Below expectations but against a difficult side with few weak links.

Theo - 5 - See above.

Man of the match - Billy Hamill - the only Wolves rider to emerge from the meeting with credit, and a score that is average or above!

[SamuelE]

I enjoyed the updates. Was there a match tonight?

[Mr Putt]

samuele said:

I enjoyed the updates. Was there a match tonight?

There should have been ........but only 1 team turned up