Fans pay up as ref fines poor Matt
FRENCH POLISH - Matt Tresarrieu on his way to winning the first of his three races for Reading against King's Lynn at Smallmead last night
Reading Racers 51 Kings Lynn 41
MATT TRESARRIEU needed the generosity of the fans to complete his best night of the season so far.
The 19-year-old Frenchman scored 12 and a bonus when, for the second week running, he helped the Ideal Video Racers to recover from a shaky start to record a home Premier League win.
But Tresarrieu was fined £50 for delaying the start of heat 14, having already been warned by the referee following an earlier race.
The cash-strapped rider's disappointment didn't last long, however.
Supporters immediately organised a whip round and they raised enough to cover his fine.
"That had made me very happy," he said.
"It is good to know the fans like me."
He had blamed a lack of cash for his failure to reach the World longtrack final.
He finished well down the field in the semi-final in Germany at the weekend, saying: "I just don't have the money to buy the right engine."
It appeared that team manager Tim Sugar was making a concentrated effort to boost Tresarrieu's start-pay last night as he put him out in five of the first eight heats.
In addition to his three programmed rides, he took the first two rider replacements outings, covering for the injured Steve Masters.
After retiring in heat one, Tresarrieu won the next race, finished third in heat four and then rattled up victories in heats six and eight.
The busy rider failed to score in heat 12 but followed home Richard Wolff in heat 14.
His 12 points bettered his previous best of score of 11, which had also come against King's Lynn in the Premier Trophy last month.
Perhaps a little surprisingly, he lost out on the man-of-the-match award from sponsors Ideal Video, as their vote went to Matej Zagar.
He dropped just one point in five starts, and that was to Tomas Topinka in heat 11, when the King's Lynn rider was on double points.
Skipper Andrew Appleton also ended up in double figures. He won his first race and then finished second in his next four starts before ending with a third place. This left him with 12 and two bonuses, also giving him one of his best pay nights of the season.
Zdenek Simota, wearing the No. 1 jacket, scored seven paid eight from four starts, which included a win in heat 10.
The match started badly for fellow Czech Republic rider Wolff as he retired from three and was excluded from five as he was still replacing his exhaust system.
He failed to score next time out but made up for it with fine wins in heats nine and 14.
Mark Thompson, guesting for the injured Chris Johnson, failed to score in four starts. Johnson is hoping to return at Newport on Sunday.
For the second successive week, Racers found themselves trailing early on but they took the lead in heat six with a 5-1 from Tresarrieu and Simota and from then on always looked the likely winners.
Reading: Simota 7+1 (4 rides), rider replacement for Masters, Appleton 12+2 (6), Wolff 6 (4), Zagar 14 (5), Thompson 0 (4), Tresarrieu 12+1 (7). Total: 51.
King's Lynn: Topinka 15+1 (5), Allott 7 (4), Lee 6 (5), Jones 3+1 (4), Allen 4 (4), Stange 3 (3), Jaros 3+2 (5). Total: 41.
* MORE speedway news, including Grand Prix joy for Zagar, in tonight's Evening Post.
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