The weather played it’s part, and brought out a decent crowd, under a clear blue sky, and in roasting hot temperatures, as the ‘Case’s’ Somerset Rebels hosted the Plymouth Devils in the West Country Derby. The Rebels were at full strength after last week’s return from injury of Pontus Aspgren, whilst the Devils were without new signing Josef Franc, who was away fulfilling a prior engagement in Europe, his place being taken by Mildenhall top man, and Eastbourne Eagles reserve, Dan Halsey. They also tracked their other new signing, former Rebel James Wright, who is returning from his recent self imposed break from the sport. Local Derbies can be close affairs, and so it proved, at least over the opening encounters. The Devils took the opening win, when another former Rebel, Ben Barker, made a ‘Flying’ start to Heat 1 to lead up to the turn from Nick Morris. Charles Wright made a slow start and went to the bend in last place, but he was soon in the groove, and caught Dan Halsey down the back straight of the second lap, before cutting back inside to demote the Devils guest to last place on the third turn. Morris challenged Barker early on, but couldn’t find a way past, and the points were shared. The Rebels edged in front after Heat 2, as Todd Kurtz made the best of a level break to head the field before the turn. The Devils pair of Sam Simota and James Shanes filled the places, until Paul Starke, who found room at a premium in the first turn, bested Shanes at the final bend of the lap. Stake persued Simota hard for the remainder of the race, but couldn’t get in a blow. The scores were soon level again, as the Devils took the advantage in Heat 3. It was the Rebels who made the running, with Pontus Aspgren hitting the front before the turn, and Brady Kurtz quickly charging around the outside of the Devils pair to put the home side on a 5-1. Just as it looked as though the pair had made a significant break, Kyle Newman, who obviously knows the Oak Tree Arena circuit well from his time with the Rebels, found the dirt line to his liking, as he stormed around the fence in a breathtaking run, moving from last to first place on the second lap. Rasmus Jensen took his cue from Newman, finding extras speed out wide, passing Brady Kurtz down the back straight of the closing lap. Pontus Aspgren wasn’t letting Newman have it all his own way, and was busy trying to reel him in over the concluding lap. He came with a huge run in the last half of the lap, and had Newman hanging on for all his worth at the line. The Rebels reinstated their slender lead in Heat 4, and again looked to be on for a maximum haul in the early stages. Olly Allen broke quickly to lead up, with Paul Starke following him to the turn. The pair looked nailed on for the full house, but James Wright wasn’t going to let that happen. He was never far away, and on the second lap he was on the back wheel of Starke, making a neat cut underneath at the third turn to grab second place from the Worcester man. Starke moved out into the dirt, and chased Wright to the flag, but despite not being far away, he couldn’t recover his second spot. Another minimum advantage followed for the home side, as they doubled their slender lead. Ben Barker broke quickly, leading up to the turn, but he wasn’t fast enough to get over Brady Kurtz, who moved up his inside in the first bend. Once he was on terms with Barker, Kurtz moved wide, ensuring that Barker would have to go the long way round if he wanted to regain the lead. As they ran into the back straight the pair were locked together, going at it hammer and tongs, Kurtz inside and Barker on the outside. Barker threw in another challenge on the fourth turn, but couldn’t find a way back to the front, and once Kurtz had again shown him the long route on the opening turns of the next lap his challenge was over, and Kurtz pulled clear to take a superb win, with Pontus Aspgren holding a watching brief in third place. All bar Sam Simota broke level in Heat 6, with James Wright just heading the field into the turn, but there wasn’t much in it. Wright held the slightest of leads as he was put under severe pressure down the back straight by Nick Morris and Wright’s brother Charles. As the trio reached the third turn, the Rebels pair were all over Wright, and looking to move ahead, when disaster almost struck the battling threesome. Charles Wright suddenly got badly out of shape. He was lucky to stay on his machine, and not take any of the others with him. The problem was a dropped chain, and it put paid to Charles Wright’s challenge, leaving Nick Morris to charge into the lead, and hold off James Wright to the flag, sharing the points. Heat 7 started twice, following a little premature departure from the tapes by Kyle Newman. Willie Dishington called them back for a second try, and this time it was Olly Allen who made the break, with Newman in close attendance. As they reached the turn, Allen took his customary wide line, moving both Devils riders out, and leaving Todd Kurtz a gaping hole on the inside to take advantage of. Kurtz needed no second invitation, grabbing second place on the run to the back straight. Rasmus Jensen fared better of the Devils duo, and by the third turn he was back in second, demoting Kurtz to third. That was how it stayed to the flag, with Allen pulling clear from the opening lap and Kurtz chasing Jensen hard, but making no impression. The heat signalled the start of a run of heat victories that would break the tight nature of the tie, and see the Rebels dominate the second half of the meeting. Heat 8 gave the Rebels their first of three maximum advantages in a row, with victory going to Paul Starke, after he made the best of a level break. Charles Wright was in amongst them at the opening bend, only to see his early progress halted as he was squeezed out in the turn. He quickly moved out to the dirt, and charged around the wide line to come off the second bend flying. Storming down the back straight he blasted his way into second place at the third turn, and never looked back. The further they went the more certain the maximum looked, and at the flag the Rebels duo had taken a comfortable victory. Now 10-points down, the Devils sent James Wright to the tapes, wearing the ‘Black and White’ for a tactical ride. When the tapes rose it was Pontus Aspgren and Brady Kurtz who broke quickly, leading to the turn. Wright came with a run down the inside, moving into second place onto the back straight. Brady Kurtz hit back straight away, and by the final turn of the lap he was flying around the outside, charging back to second as they hit the homes straight. That was as good as it got for the Devils tactical rider, as the longer the race went on, the further the Rebels duo pulled clear, and by the flag they had totally eclipsed the Devils ‘Black and White’. Kyle Newman flashed from the tapes in Heat 10, but was swamped as Nick Morris and Charles Wright either side of him on the run to the turn. The pair led for the first lap, with Newman hitting the wide line as they started the next circuit. He made his speed pay, with a strong outside run, which took him beyond Wright coming onto the back straight. Newman had the fast line, and Wright could do no more than drop onto his wheel, pressure Newman and wait for a mistake. As Wright buzzed around the back of Newman, the former Rebels had no idea where the challenge would come from, and as they entered the back straight of the final lap Newman decided that it was the inside move he would have to cover, and dropped off the wide line. It was the error Wright had been waiting for, and staying out on the fast outside line, he put in a supercharged run around the fence in the last two bends, and inched in front as they ran to the line, to give the Rebels a trio of maximum advantages. With time running out for the visitors, the Devils used their second tactical ride, as Ben Barker came to the tapes wearing the ‘Magic Hat’. The move worked only in the fact that Barker took second spot, but with the Rebels filling first and third places, the points were shared. Barker broke quickly, but had Olly Allen for company. Allen took the high line, and flew to the front off the second bend. Meanwhile Todd Kurtz was never far away, and as Allen pulled away, he pressured Barker over the second lap. Kurtz kept plugging away at Barker for the last half of the race, ensuring the Devils skipper’s attention was on keeping him back rather than chasing down Allen. From that point on, the best the visitors could do was to share a couple of heats, as the Rebels took the next race by another full margin. Paul Starke led from the tapes, with Brady Kurtz coming with a strong run into the opening curves. As Kurtz took up the running Starke slotted into second place, but had to fend off the inside challenge of Rasmus Jensen on the fourth turn. As Kurtz pulled further clear, Starke comfortably held Jensen’s challenges to the flag, giving the Rebels a 22-point lead in the process. Heat 13 saw the field break level, before Nick Morris and Olly Allen took up the running into the opening turns. Ben Barker was close up, and made a superb cut back off the second bend to charge up the inside of the Rebels pairing, to grab the lead down the back straight. Morris challenged back on the inside of the final bend, as Barker appeared to try to shut down the gap, pushing Morris into the path of Allen. The pair touched, and Allen was hampered, with his run coming to a halt. From there on, Barker was comfortable in the lead, and the heat points were shared, with James Wright retiring on the third lap. Kyle Newman again showed his liking for his former home circuit, taking Heat 14 from Pontus Aspgren. Aspgren broke first, but couldn’t hold off the powerful run of Newman to the turn. Todd Kurtz made a quick getaway, and was soon challenging Newman up the inside of the final bend of the lap, but Newman held firm and retained the lead. Aspgren was soon back on the scene, but Newman had already taken the measure of the home duo, and had the race completely under his control, as they all looked for the fastest way around the high line. The nominated heat saw the home side track Brady Kurtz and Nick Morris, with the Devils relying on Ban Barker and the impressive Kyle Newman. Newman broke quickly, but was soon passed by Brady Kurtz before they reached the turn. He was then challenged by Nick Morris in the opening bends. Barker was next to show his hand, passing both Newman and Morris on the fourth bend. Barker appeared to be more concerned with trying to block Morris than winning the race, and his antics allowed Morris to claim third place from Newman in the melee. Morris pressured Barker over the next few laps, and as they ran down the back straight for the final turn, he just had his nose in front by a fraction. As they reached the third turn he tried to drop over the top of the Devils skipper, but just didn’t have enough room, as Barker blocked him out, and held onto his second place. There is no doubt that Barker’s preoccupation with stopping Morris, not only hampered his opponent, but probably cost his team mate a scoring position as well. At the front Brady Kurtz took as easy a victory as he could have wished for. The first leg of the clash of the West Country rivals ended with a resounding victory for the ‘Case’s’ Somerset Rebels by a 58-34 margin, which after the first few heats, looked a most unlikely outcome, with the Devils more than holding their own in the initial exchanges. It was a welcome victory for team boss Garry May, who said afterwards “It showed the character of the boys in the way they bounced back from last night’s disappointing defeat at Ipswich”. “After a slowish start we moved it up another gear and were just too good for Plymouth to contend with, though in saying that there was some great action out there tonight to entertain the fans.” “I would expect Plymouth to be a totally different proposition when we head down to their place tomorrow night, but hopefully we’ll come back with some league points to our name.” Star of the show for the Rebels was Brady Kurtz, with an impressive 11+1, including two superb victories over Devils skipper Ben Barker, who included a tactical ride in his 14-point tally. Barker’s main back up came from Kyle Newman, with a hard earned 7-point total. Kurtz performance earned him the ‘Rider of the Night’ award, presented by the Ashton family, who are long standing friends of Somerset Speedway. Backing up Kurtz, Nick Morris posted 11-points, Olly Allen 10+1, with the remaining quartet all contributing valuable points to give the Rebels an impressive victory. The return fixture takes place tonight (Saturday 26th July) at the St Boniface Arena at 7:15pm, to complete a three day run of meetings for the ‘Case’s’ Somerset Rebels, before they get a day off to rest up for the second half of their mammoth 11 day run of 7 meetings. On Monday they travel to Sheffield to take on the Tigers in a match to be shown on Sky TV, before returning to the Oak Tree Arena for two meetings, firstly the return against Sheffield on Tuesday, followed by Ipswich on Friday, before travelling to Peterborough for the PL4’s on Sunday. Somerset Rebels - 58 1. Nick Morris - 2, 3, 3, 2, 1 = 11 2. Charles Wright - 1*, R, 2*, 2* = 5+3 3. Brady Kurtz - 0, 3, 2*, 3, 3 = 11+1 4. Pontus Aspgren - 2, 1, 3, 2 = 8 5. Olly Allen - 3, 3, 3, 1* = 10+1 6. Todd Kurtz - 3, 1, 1, 1* = 6+1 7. Paul Starke - 1, 1, 3, 2* = 7+1 Plymouth Devils – 34 1. Ben Barker - 3, 2, 4^, 3, 2 = 14 2. Dan Halsey (G) - 0, 0, 0 = 0 3. Rasmus Jensen - 1, 2, 0, 1 = 4 4. Kyle Newman - 3, 0, 1, 3, 0 = 7 5. James Wright - 2, 2, 1^, R = 5 6. Sam Simota - 2, 1*, 0, 0, 0 = 3+1 7. James Shanes - 0, 0, 1, 0 = 1 SCB Referee: Willie Dishington Heat Results Heat 01: Barker, Morris, Charles Wright, Halsey (3-3) (3-3) 58.19 Heat 02: Todd Kurtz, Simota, Starke, Shanes (4-2) (7-5) 58.75 Heat 03: Newman, Aspgren, Jensen, Brady Kurtz (2-4) (9-9) 58.32 Heat 04: Allen, James Wright, Starke, Shanes (4-2) (13-11) 57.81 Heat 05: Brady Kurtz, Barker, Aspgren, Halsey (4-2) (17-13) 57.44 Heat 06: Morris, James Wright, Simota, Charles Wright (Ret) (3-3) (20-16) 58.44 Heat 07: Allen, Jensen, Todd Kurtz, Newman (4-2) (24-18) 58.31 Heat 08: Starke, Charles Wright, Shanes, Simota (5-1) (29-19) 59.66 Heat 09: Aspgren, Brady Kurtz, James Wright (Tactical), Simota (5-1) (34-20) 58.50 Heat 10: Morris, Charles Wright, Newman, Jensen (5-1) (39-21) 58.81 Heat 11: Allen, Barker (Tactical), Todd Kurtz, Halsey (4-4) (43-25) 58.19 Heat 12: Brady Kurtz, Starke, Jensen, Simota (5-1) (48-26) 58.41 Heat 13: Barker, Morris, Allen, James Wright (Ret) (3-3) (51-29) 58.66 Heat 14: Newman, Aspgren, Todd Kurtz, Shanes (3-3) (54-32) 59.53 Heat 15: Brady Kurtz, Barker, Morris, Newman (4-2) (58-34) 58.40
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 13:45:01 +0000
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