A wonderful weekend for the Diamonds

THAT was some weekend for Newcastle Diamonds and their fans!

They bagged three SGB Championship league points last night on their home track in a comfortable 52-38 win over Ipswich.

And after a dramatic Saturday evening at Derwent Park, the Diamonds are still in the Knockout Cup, but must re-run their firstround clash with Workington Comets following a sensational tie on aggregate, 90-90.

In the cup, Newcastle’s eight-point lead from the first leg at Byker looked ever-so-slender after the Comets cut the deficit to just two points after taking the first two races to lead 9-3.

Robert Lambert and Ashley Morris brought Newcastle back into the match with a start-to-finish 5-1, and when Ludvig Lindgren and Lewis Rose took another two races later, cashing in on a piece of mechanical misfortune for leader Thomas Jorgensen, the scores were level, 21 – 21.

Wins by Steve Worrall, Lambert and Rose meant the Diamonds were just two points behind on the night, 37-35, with only three races remaining, and the Byker boys still led 84-78 overall.

But a late surge by the Comets saw Lambert and Worrall on the wrong end of a 5-1, while it took a last-lap overtake by skipper Lindgren to prevent another in the penultimate race as the aggregate scores levelled at 87-87.

Workington’s unbeaten skipper Craig Cook and Jorgensen, who had foiled Lambert and Worrall two heats earlier, met the same two Diamonds in a nail-biting final heat. This time, however, although Cook roared away from the start, the top Newcastle men were able to subdue the Dane to earn their side a replay.

Meanwhile, last night, British champion and former Newcastle No.1 Danny King’s terrific show of 13 (paid 14) points augurs well for his appearance at Byker again next Sunday in a top-class field for the British Championship semi-final.

The Witches, already a man down because of Nico Covatti’s broken wrist, also lost guest rider Josh Bates with a hand injury after crashing in his first race. But with King and Rory Schlein threatening every time they took to the track, the Diamonds held only a narrow lead, 29-25, with six races left. Bates’ absence was keenly felt in the closing stages, and Worrall (twice), Lambert, Lewis Rose and skipper Lindgren all won races in splendid style as Newcastle collected another three league points.