Rye House Rockets v Newcastle Diamonds Mon 29 Aug 2011 Hoddesdon Premier League
by Lawrence Heppell
Following Sunday's good win over the Sheffield Tigers, the Newcastle Diamonds started where they had left off yesterday afternoon by taking a solid 1-5 maximum in Heat One at the Rye House Rockets in a "frustratingly officiated" Premier League encounter.
Jason Lyons, Newcastle's favourite guest, again in for Mark Lemon took an awarded win when Rocket Jordan Frampton made an ill-advised under swoop of the Aussie sending the veteran firmly under the fourth bend fence, with the referee excluding Frampton and giving the three points to Lyons.
Joe Haines was a little too keen in Heat Three, breaking the tapes and was replaced by Richie Worrall, but with the Diamond reserve already on a referee warning for moving at the start of Heat Two, moved again before the tapes went up and was duly excluded by the strict official leaving Newcastle with one man, Derek Sneddon who took second in the Rye House 4-2.
Claes Nedermark and Worrall made Tyson Nelson and Steve Boxall look half asleep at the gate in Heat Four, leaving the home pair in a cloud of dust as the Diamonds took another maximum to lead well 9-15, before Chris Neath and James Brundle took a home 4-2 with Lyons sneaking second.
With the referee warning riders from both teams to sit still, the edgy meeting continued with a perfect start from Lyons and Haines in Heat Seven to again leave the Rockets looking like damp squibs in a race the home pair never put in any challenge at all with the Diamonds taking another easy 1-5 and extending their lead to 17-25.
The very zealous referee called Heat Nine back with the exclusion being handed to Nedermark for moving at the tapes, an offence he'd previously been warned for, with Worrall coming in to replace him in the re-run with Neath well out in front, Hawkins forced is way round both Newcastle reserves off bend four of the opening lap to set in stone a solid home maximum which levelled the match 27-27.
Newcastle's heat 10 challenge ended on the second lap when Nedermark lost control and spiralled to the back in yet another home 5-1 which put the Rockets ahead for the first time 32-28 with only five races left to go.
There was major controversy in Heat 11 with Brundle falling on lap one, and with Lyons out in front of Sneddon, Boxall came storming up the inside of the Newcastle skipper who subsequently fell as a result of the challenge, but the referee amazed the crowd and excluded the Newcastle man for being the cause of the stoppage - awarding the result a 3-2 to Rye House instead of the expected Newcastle 0-5, with the Rockets now 34-31 ahead.
Haines and Newman conceded another 5-1 to the Rockets pair of Nelson and Hawkins in Heat 12 as the Diamonds' grip on victory seemed to be getting progressively weakened and Heat 13 didn't help with Boxall way out in front, Frampton was getting hammered from behind from all directions by Lyons, but it was a sneaky blast of power from Nedermark who swooped from last to first on the final bend to nick second place.
Neath and Nelson killed off the match in Heat 14 by sweeping Haines and Worralls early challenge well away to take a home victory.
Newcastle Speedway's co-director Andrew Dalby commented afterwards: "This was an match dominated by frustrating refereeing decisions. No more frustrating that Derek Sneddon's unexpected exclusion in Heat 11 when everyone in the stadium - including the entire Rye House team - had resigned themselves to a disqualification for Steve Boxall who everyone believed was the cause of Derek's fall… but the referee saw it differently, and that decision caught us all unawares leaving us on the Newcastle side of the pits decidedly unimpressed and extremely frustrated. Beyond that all the Diamonds pulled their weight and scored some good points in a match were we certainly deserved to end up much closer to Rye House than we ended up doing."
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