MATCH REPORT: Australia take senior test series after two rounds

Australia have won the senior test series in Murray Bridge on Sunday, after taking a second win against Great Britain in the three match series.

After an opening shared heat courtesy of a Paul Heard race win for GB, Australia took the first advantage of the match in the second race, with Ty Geertsen and Braden Makepeace splitting the GB Josh Brooke and Ashley Hill Pairing.

Great Britain hit straight back with their own 6-4 though, Zac Payne racing to victory while Myke Grimes saw off Daniel Robb’s challenge to take third. Shane Bentley and Ryan Edson immediately replied with another 6-4 to retake the lead of the match in heat 4.

Bobby McMillan leads Ben Mould for Australia. Photo by Mick Priest.

Two shared heats followed with race wins for Australia’s Bobby McMillan and GB’s Myke Grimes, before Australia secured their first significant blow in the match, Cody Chadwick and Daniel Robb taking a 7-3 against Paul Heard and Chris Timms.

Australia twisted the knife in the next two heats, albeit in controversial circumstances. Firstly, taking another 6-4, then Chris Timms was excluded crossing the finishing line in first, after Ryan Edson ended up in the fence near the starting gate, turning a 5-5 into a 7-2 against.

After the break, McMillan scored his second win of the day to share the first heat with Josh Brooke following suit, but Chris Timms picked up his second exclusion of the day meaning Australia gained another point to add to their lead and were now 14 points up.

Paul Heard and Ben Mould gave GB some hope in the following race, scoring a 6-4 over McMillan and Geertsen, with the next heat shared.

More controversy occurred in heat 14, when Cody Chadwick was put straight out by referee Pawel Cegielski for allegedly taking Timms off track limits from the start. The re-run gave GB an opportunity to haul themselves back into contention, and they took it, with a 7-2 over Bobby McMillan, who hit the deck after a robust challenge from Timms coming out of bend 4.

Chris Timms (L) battles with Cody Chadwick (R). Photo by Mick Priest.

The deficit was now reduced to just 7 points, but GB could not make further in-roads into the scoreline for the next three heats with them all being shared as Australia blocked out GB with race wins.

The final heat was another 6-4 advantage to Australia, taking the match and the series, Australia’s 6 heat wins to GB’s 3 did the damage in an otherwise close match. Great Britain have one more chance to gain some pride from the series with the final test match on Thursday evening at Le Fevre.

GREAT BRITAIN 84
Charlie Rumbold 5, Paul Heard 15, Ashley Hill 7, Josh Brooke 15+1, Myke Grimes 12+2, Zac Payne 11+1, Chris Timms 6, Ben Mould 13+1

AUSTRALIA 93
Shane Bentley 15+1, Joel Chadwick 12, Ty Geertsen 12+3, Braden Makepeace 7, Cody Chadwick 12+2, Daniel Robb 12, Ryan Edson 10, Bobby McMillan 13