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ROCKETS SUFFER INJURY BLOWS
Monday April 01, 2013
The injury curse which struck the Silver Ski Rockets throughout 2012 appears to be running unabated in 2013.
Last year’s opener at Ipswich saw the Rockets lose Chris Neath for an indefinite period and Jordan Frampton for a number of weeks, and Rye were later to lose Luke Bowen and Charlie Gjedde for the season.
This year’s home opener – a 47-43 Easter Monday victory ironically against the same opposition – claimed another two mainstays for what appear to be lengthy periods on the sidelines. Jason Bunyan was the first to crash out when caught up in a Heat 8 tangle with Cameron Heeps when driving past the Aussie coming off the second bend. The collision, of which Heeps later admitted in an interview he remembered little such was its unexpected suddenness, has left the Rye House captain with four broken ribs, a punctured lung and four or five fractured vertebrae. The incident – which also sucked in the oncoming Jari Makinen, who was left with a suspected dislocated shoulder – necessitated the paramedic’s accompaniment of Bunyan to hospital and a ninety minute delay until his return.
The second major incident came four races later when Simon Lambert appeared to lock handlebars with race leader Rohan Tungate as both charged into the third bend. Both machines hit the fence at full force, with the two riders able to bail out only at the very last moment. Tungate was lucky to walk away relatively unscathed but Lambert was left nursing a broken left ankle which is expected to keep him out of action for between six and eight weeks.
The two injuries clouded what was otherwise a thrilling, if lengthy, encounter which produced some top notch racing. Some of the early passing opportunities benefitted from the riders’ difficulty in handling a rather tricky third bend burr which was eventually graded out. Tyson Nelson needed little outside interference, however, in his third to first passing of Leigh Lanham and Cameron Heeps in Heat 5 en route to a tremendous 11+1 haul. It already feels like he has never been away. Jason Garrity also revelled in the conditions at all stages of the match and featured in the Rockets’ two 5-1s alongside Anders Mellgren.
With no less than nine of the fifteen races producing shared results, the score was always going to be close, although the Rockets led from the opening heat and stretched their advantage up to 31-23 at Heat 9 before a late Ipswich fightback. What little positive luck Rye had going for them hinged on the referee’s decision to re-run Heat 11 after the third lap crash involving Lambert and Tungate – the reliable Mellgren won the re-run to protect a 3-3 – and also his allowing Heat 14 to be completed after Garrity’s last bend fall while desperately trying to overhaul Morten Risager and Heeps was deemed not to have caused the latter’s subsequent fall, a possible declared 5-1 to the Witches morphing into a 4-2 as Heeps remounted for a solitary point.
In the end, the Rockets’ victory – secured as Nelson rounded Leigh Lanham to follow home Mellgren and race winner Ben Barker in the finale - was undoubtedly deserved while the Witches also ventured home with a hard-earned match point, as both sides now remain in contention for a League Cup semi-final berth.
For Rye, however, it is the beginning of another injury crisis and a dash for cover as they prepare to negotiate Plymouth (away on Friday) and Somerset (at home on Saturday) in fixtures later this week.
Rye House scorers:
Olly Allen 6 (4 rides)
Jason Bunyan 4+1 (3)
Anders Mellgren 11+2 (5)
Jason Garrity 7+1 (4)
Tyson Nelson 11+1 (5)
Kasper Lykke 4+2 (4)
Simon Lambert 4 (5)
Ipswich scorers:
Ben Barker 10 (5 rides)
Jari Makinen 0 (2)
Rohan Tungate 8+1 (4)
Morten Risager 6+1 (4)
Leigh Lanham 8+1 (5)
Adam Ellis 1 (4)
Cameron Heeps 10+1 (6)
Match Points: Rye House 2 Ipswich 1
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