Skipper Mark Lemon bagged his first league maximum of the season, posting five emphatic race wins as the Racers put Newcastle to the sword at Smallmead Stadium.

Reading's Main Dane, Ulrich Ostergaard, also went through the race-card unbeaten by an opponent, netting 14+1 points. Meanwhile, in a good all-round team performance, Tom P. Madsen was paid for 11 points and Nicki Glanz hit paid 10.

'Lemo' linked with Madsen from the tapes for an all-the-way 5-1 in the opening heat, with George Stancl unable to mount a serious challenge in third place.

More of the same followed, as Danny Warwick stormed to victory in his Smallmead comeback ride, with Glanz team-riding beautifully just behind.

Ostergaard used the outside dirt to brilliant effect in heat three, swooping around the fast-starting Josef Franc on the first corner, before surging to the flag in the evening's first points-share.

A classic race followed, as Chris Mills generated superb momentum to daringly pass Jason King exiting the fourth bend of the opening lap. However, the Newcastle No. 5 gave chase and, on lap three, found an enormous amount of speed on the pits bend to roar back into the lead. With Warwick holding a good third position, a second successive 3-3 was recorded.

Reading got back into the maximum groove in heat five, as Ostergaard and Tomas Suchanek joined forces on the first bend, prior to storming home.

A re-run heat six unluckily saw King come to a halt after doing the hard work to pass Lemon on the back straight of the opening lap and, with Luke Priest having been excluded in the first running of the race, it left Lemon and Madsen to collect an untroubled 5-0.

The Diamonds hit back in heat seven, as Franc and Richard Juul made good starts to block Mills. The popular Racer shaped to mount a challenge, but fell on the apex of bends three and four in mid-race, leaving the Newcastle duo to claim a 5-1 over Glanz.

The Diamonds' brief resurgence continued in heat eight, when King blasted to a tactical ride victory after shooting past Warwick on the opening lap. Reading at least limited the damage to a 6-3 reverse, however, with Warwick and Madsen easily holding on to the minor scoring positions.

Ostergaard was never troubled on his way to winning heat nine, while the battle raged behind. King initially held second spot, but Suchanek pulled off a typically sublime inside pass, only for his opponent to come back. Again, Suchanek drove inside, but King wouldn't be repelled, finally making second place his own on the final lap.

Lemon and Madsen easily sped to their third 5-point return together in race ten, before Glanz and Mills repeated the maximum dose in heat eleven. It was another superb four laps, though, with ‘Millsy' waiting until the very last bend to pounce and just pip Stancl for second place on the line.

Ostergaard continued on his merry way to notch a fourth straight victory in heat twelve, with Franc and Priest splitting the points ahead of the ever-pressing Warwick.

Lemon took himself level with the ‘Big O' by also recording his fourth win of the night in heat thirteen. The hugely impressive King was second and with Mills in third position, the Racers' big lead advanced to 51-29.

Glanz completed a great personal evening by carding his second race win in heat fourteen, before Lemon and Ostergaard completed the rout ahead of the ever-trying King in the nominated race.

READING
Mark Lemon (C) 3 3 3 3 3 - - 15
Tom P. Madsen 2* 2* 1* 2* - - - 7 (4)
Ulrich Ostergaard 3 3 3 3 2* - - 14 (1)
Tomas Suchanek 0 2* 1 1 - - - 4 (1)
Chris Mills 2 0 2* 1 - - - 5 (1)
Nicki Glanz 2* 1 3 3 - - - 9 (1)
Danny Warwick 3 1* 2 0 - - - 6 (1)

NEWCASTLE
George Stancl 1 0 1 0 - - - 2
Christian Henry R/R
Josef Franc 2 3 1 2 0 - - 8
Richard Juul (C) 1* 1 2* 0 2 - - 6 (2)
Jason King 3 R 6 2 2 1 - 14
Luke Priest 0 1 X 0 1* 0 - 2 (1)
Sean Stoddart 0 0 0 0 - - - 0