Swindon Robins 55, Meridian Lifts Reading Racers 37

SPEEDWAY: A depleted Reading side fought bravely in the first leg of the Knockout cup semi-final at Blunsdon, before finally going down 55-37 last night.

The Racers only trailed 38-30 after heat eleven and could even have been closer, but for a misunderstanding when guest Adam Shields took a tactical ride, only to be beaten into second place by team-mate Zdenek Simota. In the latter stages, the Robins carded a brace of 5-1s and a 4-2 to eventually run out victors by an 18-point margin.

Robins' skipper Leigh Adams flew from the traps to defeat Shields in the opener, with Andrew Moore holding third spot from the spectacular Simon Walker to ease the home side in front. Reading hit back in the reserves' race, as Simota raced to a good win from Moore, with Ben Barker filling third place to level the scores at 6-6. Lee Richardson dashed to victory from the outside gate in heat three, while partner Charlie Gjedde followed him home after passing Janusz Kolodziej on the back straight, giving Swindon an 11-7 advantage.

In heat four, a tight first corner saw Seba Ulamek just hold on to edge out Travis McGowan, while Simota finished third to produce the meeting's first points-share. Shields made a decent start to heat five, but was quickly ousted by both Richardson and Gjedde, with the home duo going on to replicate their 5-1 from two races earlier.

Heat six saw Adams out-muscle McGowan and canter home, with Barker defeating Cory Gathercole to produce the second drawn race of the evening. A third followed, as McGowan romped to the flag ahead of Moore and Ulamek, before the Robins moved 29-19 ahead with Gjedde's win and a third place finish from the busy Moore in heat eight.

The Richardson/Gjedde partnership posted their third 5-1 of the match in heat nine, before Adams completed a hat-trick of wins ahead of Kolodziej and Walker in an evenly split tenth race. Reading's tactical mix-up occurred in heat eleven, when Shields was nominated for the double-pointer. Partner Simota streaked clear, but didn't slow down to let his partner take the victory, the upshot being a 7-1 advantage instead of an 8-1. The result brought the Racers back into contention, with the Robins' lead cut back to 38-30.

Richardson was an all-the-way victor in heat twelve, as he wrapped-up an impressive four-ride maximum. Kolodziej enjoyed his best ride of the night in second place, while Moore doggedly bagged the odd-point to increase Swindon's lead. Adams splendidly protected Ulamek in heat thirteen, guiding the Pole to a 5-1 and putting his side 14 points ahead in the process. Gjedde took the outside route around Simota and Kolodziej to win the penultimate race, before joining forces with his captain on a 5-1 to close the meeting, as both home riders completed paid full-houses.