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HAVING suffered withdrawal symptoms for lack of action for the past five weeks, Rye House fans were treated to a tremendous home fixture on Saturday night which went right down to the wire.
Unfortunately skipper Chris Neath was unable to sneak the all-important point in the deciding heat and Rockets were forced to settle for a draw.
Neath had been in excellent form, collecting four heat wins, while the ever-dependable Linus Sundstrom led the way with five race victories.
While Robbie Kessler and Kyle Hughes added further wins, the Rockets were left to rue their inability to capitalise on those successes, managing just three heat advantages in the form of a 5-1 and three 4-2s.
The maximum came in the opening race, as Stefan Ekberg drove past both David Howe and Viktor Bergstrom on the last bend to join partner Sundstrom at the front.
Ekberg featured again two races later, being excluded by the referee for bringing down the visitors’ Carl Wilkinson in a decision that had the home supporters up in arms.
While a second win for Sundstrom in Heat 5 helped nudge the score to 18-12, that was as good as it got for the Rockets, who were finally hauled back to level pegging when the visitors bagged a 5-1 of their own following Neath’s controversial exclusion for bringing down Bergstrom in Heat 11.
The Scorpions then briefly took the lead with a 4-2 in Heat 12 as Kessler shed a chain at the start line, before Rockets levelled with their own 4-2 in the next race.
Neath won that heat, with Sundstrom finishing as the middle man in an intriguing battle for second against Magnus Karlsson and David Howe.
Hughes’ never-say-die attitude ultimately saw him past Wilkinson for victory on the last bend of Heat 14 to keep Rockets level and set up a last race decider.
Sundstrom duly won the finale from the gate, but Neath was unable to find a way past either Karlsson or Tero Aarnio as the Rockets had to settle for a single match point.
Rye House scorers: Linus Sundstrom 16 (from six rides); Stefan Ekberg 3+1 (5); Robbie Kessler 5 (5); Chris Neath 12 (6); Paul Starke 3 (3); Kyle Hughes 6+1 (5).
