SGB Premiership
Rye House Rockets 52, Somerset Rebels 38
Match points: Rye House 3, Somerset 0

THE ‘Cases’ Somerset Rebels' hopes of a quick-fire double over Rye House fell by the wayside as the Rockets proved to be a different proposition on their home Hoddesdon track to that seen at the Oaktree Arena 24 hours earlier, writes Ian Belcher.

After a share of the spoils in the opening heat, Somerset soon found themselves on the back foot as Rye House hit home successive maximum race wins in heats two and three, the first of these coming after the unfortunate Cameron Heeps fell when in the lead.

To their credit, the Rebels dug in to steady the ship in keeping the Rockets to that eight-point lead, but with just a third of the match remaining Rye House had stretched their advantage out to 10 points.

That was the cue for Somerset skipper Josh Grajczonek to emerge for heat 11 sporting the black and white helmet for a double-point tactical ride.

The move, however, did not produce the desired outcome, as Grajczonek finished at the back, while Rye House extended their lead out to 12 points.

Once again Somerset came back with Richard Lawson taking his second win of the night for the Rebels, but a Rockets 5-1 in heat 13 proved to be the final nail in the Somerset coffin.

With the final two heats both being shared, it saw the Rebels succumb to a 14-point loss on the night.

New signing Lawson top scored again for the Rebels, with 10 points, but Edward Kennett (14) and Scott Nicholls (11) did the business for Rye House.

Somerset team manager Garry May said: “It obviously wasn’t the result we were hoping for, but conceding those two 5-1s early doors had us chasing the match almost from the off "Although we managed to contain Rye House for a good part of the match after that, they are strong around their home track and we just couldn’t make any ground up on them.

“Our rider replacement rides for Wrighty [Charles Wright] only produced three points, and I am sure that he would have been good for more than that if he had been fit to ride.

"With a week or so before our next match away at Swindon on Bank Holiday Monday, it gives me the chance to speak with Charles and see how long he thinks he might be out for, before looking at the various options available to us.”

Results
Rye House (52): Edward Kennett 14+1, Scott Nicholls 11, Chris Harris 8, Robert Branford 6+2, Ricky Wells 5+2, Stuart Robson 5, Ellis Perks 3.
Somerset (38): Richard Lawson 10+1, Josh Grajczonek 8, Cameron Heeps 6+1, Lewis Kerr 5+2, Jake Allen 5+1, Patrick Hougaard 4, Charles Wright r/r.