MATCH REPORT: Comets leave it late

Report by Pete Barnes, photos by Arthur Lawrence

For the second week in succession the Harbourside Park spectators were treated to eighteen heats of top class National League racing with Birmingham Monarchs the visitors. With two evenly matched teams neither were able to gain a clear advantage in the opening heats until prior to the interval the WIll Bristowe and Frazer Garnett pairing produced
a winning 6 – 4 scoreline repeated in the following heat by the partnership of Oliver Saunders and Aaron Smith.

Directly after the break Bristowe and tactical reserve Greg Gluchowski extended their lead to 7 points only for the
Monarchs to make a brilliant response firstly by Ben Mould and Luke Draisey then in the following heat the only maximum score in the entire meeting when Chris Timms shepherded home Brenden Sidebotham. Then a series of drawn races still gave the Comets a slender lead but in the penultimate heat Paul Heard combined with Ricki Johnson to edge the visitors in front by a single point.

However the final race of the day saw Smith take the lead from the favoured inside gate position and Polish International Gluchowski fending off Draisey to secure victory by the narrowest of margins.

As the previous week another exhibition of brilliant National League racing.

Poole / Trent Comets 90: Will Bristowe 21, Fraser Garnett 5, Aaron Smith 16, Oliver Saunders 8, Leon Penketh 10, Jamie Randall 5, Greg Gluchowski 14, Feroze Langoo 4, Kenzie Bennett 7

Birmingham Monarchs. 89.
Ricki Johnson 12, Ben Mould 18, Brendan Sidebotham 7, Paul Heard 21, Luke Draisey 10, Chris Timms 20, Louie Travers 1