Tapes Up: Double Diamond defeat in cup meetings

Thank you to the Diamonds Media Team and George English for the match reports and photo. This week we have a double helping, as we also have the post from Thursdays cup meeting at Redcar.

Diamonds Find Going Tough At Workington

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Workington Comets 58
Newcastle Diamonds 36
(League Cup)

Top scorers:
Comets - Adam Roynon 18, Richard Lawson 13 1
Diamonds - Stuart Robson 14 1, Ludvig Lindgren 7


The Newcastle Diamonds travelled west to tackle the Workington Comets last night at an unusually warm and balmy Derwent Park in the League Cup and it started off all square with a win for former Newcastle number one Rene Bach, but behind Gary Irving fell, causing the race to be stopped and awarded when Claes Nedermark was well to the rear.

Guest from Redcar, Mark Jones clipped the fence in the same place as Irving, but stayed upright as the Workington reserves took a good 5-1, putting the home side 8-4 up, and then 12-6 up after the third when young Richard Lawson took a huge win over Mark Lemon.

Ludvig Lindgren and Rusty Harrison batted hard for second place, the Diamond taking the spoils, but with Adam Roynon well out in front Newcastle went two more behind, 16-8.

25-11 down after Heat Six, Lemon was nominated as a tactical ride in the seventh but ended up in third place behind his partner Christian Henry for only one doubled point to two in a 3-4 result taking the score to a disappointing 28-15.

Newcastle's second guest, Jade Mudgway lost his steel shoe mid race and retired as Lawson took another win, this time over Lindgren in a 4-2 which gave a current score line of 35-20.

Going into the interval after Heat 10 the Diamonds had slipped further back in the reckoning with the score at 40-21, there then followed an incredibly long interval to allow the blinding sun to set after which Stuart Robson took a six point haul as a tactical ride in the 11th but with Nedermark at the back the only advantage was a 3-6.

A Comets maximum in the 12th from Lawson and Irving over Lemon and Jones took the match beyond the Diamond's reach and left the visitors from Tyneside feeling decidedly unsatisfied with their performances.


Diamonds Eight Points Down After Cup First Leg At Redcar

Redcar Bears 49
Newcastle Diamonds 41
(Knockout Cup - 1st round - 1st leg)

Top scorers:
Bears - Aaron Summers 13 1, Matej Kus 10
Diamonds - Mark Lemon 8 1, Richie Worrall 8


Revenge may have been uppermost in the Newcastle Diamonds' minds when they arrived at the Redcar Bears last night in Knockout Cup action, but such was the level of determination that Stuart Robson demolished the tapes in Heat One restricting himself with a 15 metre handicap.

Robson's resultant third place (on the line with Nedermark confirmed in last) didn't help in Redcar taking a full 5-1 max in the opener, but Steve Worrall's great gate and win in the second made sure the gap was getting no wider although his twin Richie battled hard with Mark Jones for third, slipping back to last on the last lap.

Carl Wilkinson, a former Diamond relegated Christian Henry to the rear in Heat Three, but with Justin Sedgmen dominating Mark Lemon the 4-2 pushed the Bears six up, 12-6 in a start Newcastle certainly hadn't planned upon.

Robson more than made amends for his awful start in Heat Five taking a solid win over Wilkinson for the three points with Claes Nedermark holding on to third over Sedgmen the Newcastle 2-4 reduced the deficit to four once more, 17-13, but Wilkinson crashed out of the sixth when lightly clipped by Steve Worrall, leaving Summers to take the win in a split 3-3.

The Henry / Lemon partnership has produced many points in 2012 and come Heat seven, they were at it again hammering a good five points past Jones and Matej Kus and the Diamonds' maximum levelling the match at 21-21.

Richie Worrall took up the cudgels in Heat Eight, winning well with the previously unbeaten by a visitor, Summers splitting the pair in a Newcastle 2-4 which put Newcastle into a slender 23-25 lead with seven races left on the card.

Henry took another win in the tenth as part of a Diamonds 2-4, but Kus, warned yet again for not sitting still at the start, and Max Dilger took a shock 5-1 over Robson and Richie Worrall in Heat 11 to keep it all square 33 all until, with Sedgmen ahead of Lemon in the 12th Dilger held out Steve Worrall to sneak the home side back in front, 37-35.

Summers fended off every challenge Robson could throw at him in Heat 13 to take the three points but with Kus also holding out Ludvig Lindgren at the rear, the Bears were looking stronger all the time with the score 41-37 standing with only two races left for Newcastle to salvage the match.

A share of the spoils in the penultimate race left Newcastle needing a 1-5 to tie the knife-edge match but on the opening bend Robson fell and was adjudged by the referee as the primary cause of the race being stopped with the inevitable exclusion from the re-run handing victory to the Bears.

With the second and deciding leg due for Brough Park this coming Monday at 7.30pm, team manager George English said: "There were times tonight where we made far heavier weather of things than we should have done, but we think the eight points we're adrift is manageable to haul back and get us in to the quarter finals"