Workington Comets in hunt for Young Shield final spot
Last updated 12:34, Friday, 17 October 2008
Redcar Bears 48 Workington Comets 43: Workington Comets have given themselves a chance of reaching the Young Shield final with a gritty performance at Redcar last night.
Needing to stay reasonably close to be able to turn round the deficit in Saturday’s second leg they stuck doggedly to their hosts.
The biggest advantage the Bears had was after 13 heats when they led by eight.
But Joe Haines won the penultimate race and guest Jason Doyle, in as a tactical substitute off 15 metres, made a great charge to grab a two-point third place.
The 5-2 got the Comets within striking distance and when Doyle and Haines followed home Redcar hero Ty Proctor in the last for a share of the spoils the damage had been very successfully limited.
Doyle may have been overshadowed by his fellow Aussie n Proctor, but he still fired positively for the Comets and with 17 points from a busy seven-ride night was well out in front as the Comets top scorer.
He was out three times in the first five races and won them all. Then he raced four times in the last five heats and scored two points in them all, one of them for a tac sub third place.
Proctor, who looked a world star in the making on his first appearance at Derwent Park earlier in the season, was magnificent for the Bears with a five-ride maximum.
It made-up for a disappointing night for number one, former world champion Gary Havelock who never won a race and finished with just seven points.
In fact it wasn’t a good night for the seasoned campaigners of both teams as Carl Stonehewer only collected four points from a second, two thirds and a last place.
Best support for the Somerset rider Doyle came from young Haines, the only other Comet in double figures while Tomi Reima battled hard for his seven points as he also had an exclusion for touching the tapes.
The Bears only managed two heat maximums throughout the whole meeting, and there were eight shared heats – including the first five.
Workington led for two heats – it was 20-22 after seven races – but then the meeting really hinged on two successive maximums for the Beats in heats eight and nine.
In heat eight, however, John Branney was out in front when he had a puncture and a 3-3 turned into a 5-1 for the Bears.
Overall, though, it was a good effort from the Comets but there’s still work to be done on Saturday to make-up the leeway and book a place in the final.
Team boss Ian Thomas, pictured, said: “I’m happy with that, and I could have been happier.
“John Branney was in front and looking good when he suffered a puncture which meant a 3-3 became a 5-1 in their favour. If it had stayed 3-3 we would have lost the meeting by a point.
The other semi-final also reaches its climax on Saturday night when Jason Doyle will be in the Berwick Bandits side which will be trying to make-up an 11-point deficit at home to the Isle of Wight.
Before then Doyle will be taking on the Comets at the Oak Tree Arena tonight with his Somerset side who are red-hot favourites to build on their 46-43 win at Workington and win the Knockout Cup.
Redcar Bears 48: Gary Havelock 7; Josh Auty 3; James Grieves 9; Chris Kerr 7; Ty Proctor 15; Benji Compton 7; Arlo Bugeja 0.
Workington Comets 43: Jason Doyle 17; Charles Wright 0; rider replacement for Kauko Nieminen; Joe Haines 10; Carl Stonehewer 4; Tomi Reima 7; John Branney 5.
