WITH the Eastbourne Eagles being our visitors to Smallmead tonight, we haven't had to look too far back into my archives to find a memorable Eastbourne v Reading fixture - in fact it was less than twelve months ago.

Saturday May 26^th 2006 saw the Reading Bulldogs line-up at Arlington in an Elite League ‘A' match. The Bulldogs had won the previous match at Smallmead 61-34 a few weeks earlier and, under normal circumstances the aggregate bonus point would have been a formality, but going into the return fixture on that cold May evening at Arlington, Reading were having to track a very depleted team. Greg Hancock and Matej Zagar were absent due to World Cup commitments and, high-scoring reserve Janusz Kolodziej was sidelined with a broken collarbone.

Team manager Jim Lynch had booked a good guest to replace Hancock in Hans Andersen, but operating rider-replacement for Zagar and only being able to track Chris Mills for reigning Polish Champion Kolodziej, it was obvious it was going to be night of damage limitation and doing enough to protect the bonus point. You also have to bear in mind this was before the new set of averages had been issued and, with Zagar sitting fourth in the Bulldogs averages, only Travis McGowan, Andy Smith and the two reserves of  Sam Simota and Mills were eligible to take Zagar's rider-replacement rides.

Eastbourne's tiny Arlington raceway is a tough place to go at the best of times, but to have to do it without three of your most influential riders and against a strong Eagles team who had only lost once at home all season, made any thought of actually winning the meeting almost ‘mission impossible'. Even the normally optimistic Reading team manager Jim Lynch said privately before the meeting that securing the bonus point was the only thought in his mind and actually was a little concerned if they would be able to do that.

They was still further worries for Lynch on the night as 45 minutes before racing was due to start Bulldogs guest Andersen hadn't arrived at the stadium. Was he going to turn up? Had he got lost, broken down, or stuck in traffic? A frantic call to Andersen's mobile phone revealed that he was just a few minutes away and thankfully arrived in the Arlington pits just 30 minutes before tapes up. The Dane quickly got changed into Travis McGowan's spare racesuit - there certainly was some bulldog spirit in the Reading camp that night.

When the racing got underway things got off to an even start with Andersen winning heat 1 ahead of David Norris and Edward Kennett, but Eastbourne took the lead courtesy of a 4-2 in heat 2 from Lewis Bridger and Cameron Woodward. McGowan won heat 3 and with Andy Smith passing Dean Barker on the second lap, it gave the Bulldogs a 5-1 to put them 10-8 in front.

Pedersen took the chequered flag in heat 4 ahead of Charlie Gjedde and Bridger was third for the Eagles. The Eastbourne 4-2 evened things up at 12-12. Andersen then beat Barker in heat 5 and, Smith passed Bridger on the third lap to give Reading a 4-2 which put them back in front (16-14). However, Eastbourne levelled things up at 18-18, with a 4-2 from Norris and Kennett in heat 6 over Gjedde and Simota.

Things remained level with Pedersen winning a shared heat 7, but Reading stormed back in front with a 5-1 from McGowan and Simota in heat 8. Unfortunately, the Eagles bounced straight back with a 5-1 from Norris and Barker in heat 9, which levelled the scores at 27-27. Norris then defeated McGowan in heat 10, but Smith managed to pass Kennett to give the Bulldogs a share of the points.

Andersen won a shared heat 11 ahead of Pedersen and Woodward, with the resultant 3-3 keeping it all square at 33-33 with four races remaining.

Simota and Smith made a super start to lead heat 12, but Simota ran into Smith on the second bend, which caused the latter to bounce off the fence and drop back to fourth place behind Bridger and Barker. This resulted in the heat ending all square, so the scoreline remained even at 36-36. Andersen again defeated Pedersen in heat 13 and, with Norris falling whilst third on the last lap, it gifted Gjedde third place and Reading a 4-2. The resultant 4-2 put the Bulldogs into a 40-38 lead with just two heats remaining.

However, luck was to immediately even itself out in heat 14, with Eastbourne this time getting the rub of the green. Simota made a great start to lead all the way, but McGowan first of all lost second place to Barker and then fell unopposed whilst third to gift Bridger the third place. So the match was to go to a last heat decider, with Reading leading by two points (43-41) - and still there was more drama to come.

In the decider Norris appeared to get the drop on Andersen at the first turn, with McGowan third and Pedersen fourth. Andersen then moved up the inside to take the lead, only for Norris to retire going down the back straight on the opening lap. This left Andersen and McGowan to cruise home for a match-winning 5-1, with Pedersen a distant third. The Bulldogs last heat maximum made the final score 48-42 - Reading had won it against all the odds.

Any Reading Speedway fan that was there on the night of Saturday 26^th May will remember it as the night the club achieved their most unexpected and incredible result in their history - Reading had accomplished mission impossible!!

Scorers:
Eastboune 42: David Norris 11 (6 rides), Eadward Kennett 2+1 (5), Dean Barker 8+2 (5), Adam Shields r/r, Nicki Pedersen 11 (5), Cameron Woodward 2+1 (3), Lewis Bridger 8+1 (6)

Reading 48: Hans Andersen 15 (5), Matej Zagar r/r, Andy Smith 5+3 (5), Travis McGowan 12+1 (6), Charlie Gjedde 6 (4), Sam Simota 10+1 (7), Chris Mills 0 (3)