The ‘Cases’ Somerset Rebels maintained their 2018 unbeaten home record with this hard-fought win over the defending League Champions, Somerset finally sealing victory in the penultimate heat of the night.
It was Swindon who drew first blood as the visitors took an early 2-point lead, but two maximum race wins by the Rebels in heats 4 and 6 took Somerset into a lead that they were never to relinquish.
By the mid-way stage of affairs, Somerset had established an 8-point cushion over the Robins, leading the visitors to deploy Troy Batchelor as a tactical substitute in heat 9, and for a good proportion of the heat it looked as if the move was going to pay off with Batchelor and team-mate Tobiasz Musielak heading the race. But a stunning move by Somerset’s Charles Wright saw him split the Swindon duo, to leave the Rebels with a 6-point advantage as the match entered its final third.
That lead was suddenly cut back to a mere 2 points when Swindon ran in a maximum 5-1 race win in heat 10, but the Rebels immediately hit back when Bradley Wilson-Dean and Charles Wright produced two superb rides to secure Somerset’s third maximum race win of the night, and in doing so, restoring the Rebels 6-point lead.
A 4-2 race advantage in the penultimate heat was sufficient to assure the Rebels victory on the night, with the icing on the cake being delivered by skipper Jason Doyle and Holder as they finished the night with a further 5-1 Somerset race win to deny Swindon a consolation league point.
“Although Swindon made us fight hard for every point, and closed us down on a couple of occasions, I always knew that the Somerset boys would produce the goods when required, and so it proved,” said a delighted Garry May, the Somerset team manager.
“Every one of the boys played their part, but a special mention should go to Bradley [Wilson-Dean] who put in a stunning performance for us from reserve, while Jack [Holder] took a superb win in heat 14 to secure us all three league points, that being made all the better when Doyley [Jason Doyle] and Jack romped home with that 5-1 in heat 15 to deny Swindon the consolation league point.”
SOMERSET 50: Bradley Wilson-Dean 12, Jason Doyle 11+1, Jack Holder 10+1, Richard Lawson 6+1, Jake Allen 5+2, Charles Wright 5+1, Ashley Morris 1+1.
SWINDON 40: Troy Batchelor 12+1, Adam Ellis 7+1, Nick Morris 6, David Bellego 5, Zach Wajtknecht 4+1, Tobiasz Musielak 4, Jack Smith 2.
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