A scorching evening saw the Smallmead raceway serve up another hot encounter against Berwick, as the Racers just shaded a tight Premier League match by a solitary point.

In the absence of Ulrich Ostergaard, Somerset’s Jason Doyle proved an excellent guest to head the Reading scoring with 13 points. Meanwhile, providing strong top-end backing were Mark Lemon and Tom P. Madsen, with tallies of 9+3 and 9+1 points, respectively.

The opening heat saw Adrian Rymel take the fast route around the pack to win in great style from Madsen and Lemon, with Scott Smith retiring on the third lap after initially falling on the opening corner.

Former Racer Paul Clews won the reserves’ race from the gate, while both Jamie Smith and Nicki Glanz quickly overcame the faster-starting Scott Smith to force a second successive share of the points.

Reading got their first race winner through Doyle in heat three, but the sides remained dead-locked through the combined efforts of Tero Aarnio and Michal Makovsky in the minor scoring positions.

Following Norbert Magosi’s third bend fall and exclusion, the re-run of heat four resulted in a comfortable 5-1 for the Racers’ pairing of Chris Mills and Glanz, as the homesters nudged in front, at 14-10.

Rymel raced to a second impressive victory in heat five, with Doyle and Tomas Suchanek splitting the points for a fourth time of the night.

Reading registered their second 5-1 of the match in heat six, with Madsen joining Lemon out front on the opening lap after surging past Magosi.

Mills forged a route through the first corner exchange to win heat seven, while Makovsky and Aarnio held the pressing Jamie Smith at bay as yet another 3-3 was recorded.

The Smallmead raceway served up some terrific action in heat eight. Madsen surged into the lead, with Glanz producing a fabulous second bend effort to blast ahead of Aarnio and Scott Smith.

That wasn’t the end of the battle, though, as the diminutive Aarnio set after Glanz and the two riders actually clashed on the home straight of lap two. Glanz then looked to have seen off the Finn’s challenge, but Aarnio stuck to his task manfully and out-stripped the Racers’ battling No. 7 on the back straight of the final lap.

Reading moved 12 points up in heat nine, as Doyle and Suchanek posted a 4-2 over Clews, Reading’s Czech ace making his favoured inside line work a treat as he passed Magosi on lap three.

The meeting threw up its sixth shared race in heat ten, with Makovsky taking a fine victory from the home pairing of Madsen and Lemon.

Berwick opted to give Rymel a tactical ride in the next heat, but the race barely lasted 30 metres as the flying Czech locked machines with Mills, causing both riders to fall awkwardly.

With no injuries to report, the re-start only reached the third bend when Jamie Smith challenged the visiting duo of Rymel and Clews, who were on an 8-1, and came down with his bike trapping his leg.

Minus the home rider, the Bandits took the opportunity to record an 8-1 from the second re-run, as Clews sped around Mills on the first corner to lead from his team-mate, before just about shutting off in time to let his partner cross the line ahead and claim 6 points.

Berwick looked like making further inroads in heat twelve, but Doyle conjured a blinding third bend effort to sweep into the lead and head for home, with Clews and Makovsky having to settle for a 3-3.

Rymel and Magosi looked set for a 5-1 in heat thirteen, until Mills steamed under the latter on the first bend of lap two and sent him flying.

With Mills suffering an obvious exclusion, Rymel broke free in the re-run, but didn’t bargain for Lemon’s barnstorming outside pass as they entered the back straight. Thereafter, the skipper sped on to the flag, maintaining the Racers’ 5-point advantage in the process.

A re-run penultimate heat was dominated by Clews and Aarnio, who emphatically raced to a 5-1 that brought the Bandits to with a single point of the Racers.

With the tension ramped sky high, Doyle got the drop in the decider and made a forceful entry into the first bend. However, in an awesome piece of riding, the classy Rymel immediately cut-back and dashed inside the Aussie to lead up the back straight.

Thankfully, from a Reading point of view, Doyle and Lemon were able to settle in the minor scoring positions ahead of Makovsky to make sure of the league points.

Unwittingly, the meeting’s key moment had occurred in heat thirteen, when Mills dashed inside Magosi, causing the Hungarian to fall. The Bandits had been on a 5-1 at the time and, had Rymel and Magosi gone on to complete their maximum, then, as things panned out in the last two races, it would have been Berwick who were celebrating victory.

READING
Mark Lemon (C) 1* 3 1* 3 1* - - 9 (3)
Tom P. Madsen 2 2* 3 2 - - - 9 (1)
Jason Doyle 3 2 3 3 2 - - 13
Tomas Suchanek 0 1* 1 0 - - - 2 (1)
Chris Mills 3 3 1 X - - - 7
Jamie Smith 2 0 X 1 - - - 3
Nicki Glanz 1* 2* 1 0 - - - 4 (2)
Team manager: Tim Sugar

BERWICK
Adrian Rymel (C) 3 3 6 2 3 - - 17
Tony Atkin R/R
Michal Makovsky 1* 2 3 1* 0 - - 7 (2)
Tero Aarnio 2 1* 2 0 2* - - 7 (2)
Norbert Magosi X 0 0 1* - - - 1 (1)
Paul Clews 3 0 1 2 2* 2 3 13 (1)
Scott Smith R 0 1 0 - - - 1