Mdl Fri July 5th - Castleford 15 Coventry 20

[Main Man]

The CITY GEARBOXES sponsored Coventry Mercia-Vikings raced to their fourth successive away win at Scunthorpe on Friday night against Castleford Kings taking a 20-15 win with a hastily patched up side.

Castleford though have questioned the legitimacy of the Vikings side although on the night the confusion was thought to have been cleared up and The CITY GEARBOXES side knew nothing about them riding under protest.

The Vikings were hit by late withdrawals from Tommy Fenwick (motors not back from servicing in time) and John Markham (transport problems with his van in the garage). Answering 11^th hour rescue calls were Dudley duo Max Clegg and Nathan Greaves.

The problem lay in an incorrect and later amended National League declaration where Ryan Terry-Daley had been included in the Coventry Storm 1 to 7 in place of Martin Knuckey but Coventry co-promoter Neil Watson sorted this out with the BSPA offices and the mistake was rectified with a new and correct issue on the Friday.

Under the rulings for the MDL a team cannot contain more than two National League riders and Vikings team manager Laurence Rogers was certain his side did not break this rule, “ I would not have taken the offers of help from both Max and Nathan if I knew it was contravening any rules. The new National League team declaration was shown to Richard Hollingworth prior to the meeting and I gave my changes to the referee and the team was not questioned. I was never asked to nominate a rider for his points not to count or knew Castleford were riding under protest until I got home at 1.40am and read an e-mail on my phone which I replied to immediately to all parties. As far as I am concerned my team was legitimate and the result should stand. I am sure that this will be confirmed by the SCB when they look at the full facts.”

The meeting started bizarrely with just two riders one from each team as Cam Hoskins had clutch problems probably caused after the initial start had been re-run after first bend bunching that saw the Viking go down. Then Kings Michael Neale’s bike hit ignition problems and both were out of the re-start which saw Matt Williamson take the win ahead of Ryan Terry-Daley.

Dan Phillips then held off the challenge of Max Clegg and Nathan Greaves to make it a drawn heat and Castleford take a 6-5 lead. The Greaves / Clegg combination then shot the Vikings into the lead with a 5-1 win to make it 7-10.

Dan Phillips took his second win for the home side but Cam Hoskins and Ryan Terry-Daley took a drawn heat to bring the scores to 10-13. Nathan Greaves completed a job well done taking heat 5 and with Cam Hoskins third the Vikings were almost home and dry for the two MDL points at 12-17.

Castleford could force a draw if the two Vikings didn’t finish in heat 6 but Max Clegg powered round the Kings duo of Dan Phillips and Matt Williamson on the first bend to race for the win and give the Vikings their win 15-20.

 

CASTLEFORD Kings 15

 

1. Matt Williamson 3 1 1’ = 5+1

2. Michael Neale N N 2 = 2

3. Dan Phillips 3 3 2 = 8

4. Sam Darroch 0 0 0 =0

 

CITY GEARBOXES Coventry Mercia-Vikings 20

 

1. Ryan Terry-Daley 2 1’ 0 = 3+1

2. Cam Hoskins N 2 1 = 3

3. Max Clegg 1’ 2’ 3 = 6+2

4. Nathan Greaves 2 3 3 =8

 

 

Ht 1 : Williamson Terry-Daley Neale (ns) Hoskins (ns) 3-2 3-2

2 : Phillips Greaves Clegg Darroch 3-3 6-5

3 : Greaves Clegg Williamson Neale (ns) 1-5 7-10

4 : Phillips Hoskins Terry-Daley Darroch 3-3 10-13

5 : Greaves Neale Hoskins Darroch 2-4 12-17

6 : Clegg Phillips Williamson Terry-Daley 3-3 15-20