RESULT: NEIL MIDDLEDITCH TESTIMONIAL

A tapes to flag victory from Jason Doyle gave a hint that he might go through the card on this night for Middleditch, but the Australian was overshadowed by his Meridian Lifts Heroes teammate Chris Harris who took top billing in the end, scoring a perfect six ride maximum.  
 

Although Doyle's opening heat one was one of four victories he was to celebrate, he missed out on a maximum when he was passed by a vintage Scott Nicholls ride in heat eleven.  

Whilst the Heroes ran out 12-point winners on their night, they only had two other race winners, Danny King and Brady Kurtz, although Zach Cook could lay claim to a paid win, that when he partnered King to a heat eight success, just one race after the meeting was sadly marred by the enforced withdrawal of Hans Andersen. 

The Dane found himself in trouble on the third turn in heat seven and took a high speed trip, complete with machine, into the air-fence. Generously, referee Christina Turnbull refused to disqualify anyone from the heat and sanctioned that the Heroes could invoke the Injury Rider Replacement facility immediately.  

Trailing by two points going into the race, the Heroes took full advantage of the leniency , claiming a Harris/Dillon Ruml 4-2 in the rerun to level the meeting. With five more heat advantages coming in the remaining eight heats, together with three shared heats the team winners in the end were the Heroes, although most of the support was spread evenly across the two sides as they appreciated some good competitive racing throughout the night. 

Harris did well to stave off a dual attack in three, from Paul Starke and Richard Lawson to take a deserved win, whilst his ten ride was superb as he eased by Jack Holder, then bided his time before launching a classic pass on leader Frederik Jakobsen. Bomber was a run-away winner of heat twelve, then took the IRR outing in heat fourteen to again win impressively, making him an obvious choice for Gary Havelock in heat fifteen where he fulfilled his unbeaten evening, leading home Richard Lawson who earlier in the evening had suffered a shed chain at the start of heat nine, leaving him the lowest point scorer of the four 2022 Pirates involved in the meeting.

County Crest All Stars 39 
Jack Holder,2,3,1',0,1'=7+2 (5) 
Frederik Jakobsen,0,2',0,2=4+1 (4) 
Paul Starke,2,0,2,0=4 (4) 
Richard Lawson,1',1,R,2=4+1 (4) 
Scott Nicholls,3,2,3,2,2=12 (5) 
Kyle Newman,1,0,0,0=1 (4) 
Ben Cook,3,1,1,2=7 (4) 

Meridian Lift Heroes 51 
Jason Doyle,3,3,2,3=11 (4) 
Danny King,1,2',3,1',0=7+2 (5) 
Chris Harris,3,3,3,3,3,3=18 (6) 
Hans  Andersen,0,FNS,RR,RR=0 (1) 
Brady Kurtz,2,1,3,1=7 (4) 
Dillon Ruml,0,0,1,1,1=3 (5) 
Zach Cook,2,0,2',0,1=5+1 (5) 

Ht 1:  J.Doyle, J.Holder, D.King, F.Jakobsen 2-4 2-4 [59.81] 
Ht 2:  B.Cook, Z.Cook, K.Newman, D.Ruml 4-2 6-6 [59.87] 
Ht 3:  C.Harris, P.Starke, R.Lawson, H. Andersen 3-3 9-9 [59.81] 
Ht 4:  S.Nicholls, B.Kurtz, B.Cook, Z.Cook 4-2 13-11 [60.12] 
Ht 5:  J.Doyle, D.King, R.Lawson, P.Starke 1-5 14-16 [59.97] 
Ht 6:  J.Holder, F.Jakobsen, B.Kurtz, D.Ruml 5-1 19-17 [60.69] 
Ht 7:  C.Harris, S.Nicholls, D.Ruml, K.Newman 2-4 21-21 [60.28] 
Ht 8:  D.King, Z.Cook, B.Cook, F.Jakobsen 1-5 22-26 [60.63] 
Ht 9:  B.Kurtz, P.Starke, D.Ruml, R.Lawson [rtd] 2-4 24-30 [60.07] 
Ht 10:  C.Harris, F.Jakobsen, J.Holder, Z.Cook 3-3 27-33 [60.68] 
Ht 11:  S.Nicholls, J.Doyle, D.King, K.Newman 3-3 30-36 [60.84] 
Ht 12:  C.Harris, B.Cook, D.Ruml, P.Starke 2-4 32-40 [60.97] 
Ht 13:  J.Doyle, S.Nicholls, B.Kurtz, J.Holder 2-4 34-44 [61.31] 
Ht 14:  C.Harris, R.Lawson, Z.Cook, K.Newman 2-4 36-48 [60.84] 
Ht 15:  C.Harris, S.Nicholls, J.Holder, D.King 3-3 39-51 [60.12] 
REFEREE: Christina Turnbull  
Gates: Meridian Lift Heroes won toss and chose gates 1&3 | County Crest All Stars choose gates  in heat 15