Eager Wolves eye play-offs

But denied the opportunity to win pretty, Wolves won ugly instead.

From one to seven they showed a willingness to dig in and get the job done, falls and exclusions notwithstanding.

The visitors, though splendidly served by the classy Bjarne Pedersen and returning Antonio Lindback, could not produce the same overall commitment in the heavy conditions.

That's not a criticism on a night of several falls when survival was the major creed.

But where the Pirates are now on a run of seven successive losses, albeit six of them away from home, the Parrys International Wolves have tasted defeat just once in their last nine outings.

As the play-off race gathers pace so the Wolves challenge is picking up momentum.

And no-one has more of that at the moment than skipper Peter Karlsson. Only once since June 1 has the Swede been paid for less than double figures, and after dropping the opening race to Pedersen he cleaned up with four immaculate victories.

Not far behind him was Billy Hamill. The deeper the dirt, the better the Californian likes it and his 12-point return - underscored by a nerveless blast round Pedersen in heat five - was fully merited.

Less happy in the wet was Freddie Lindgren, whose scoring was restricted by a couple of spills.

But with solid back-up through the order, the home team prevailed in some comfort.

Christian Hefenbrock, introduced by presenter Ian 'Porky' Jones as "Ze Baron", was certainly in the wars with a couple of heavy tumbles but bounced back to post paid seven.

Magnus Karlsson withdrew from the meeting on medical advice after a bang to the head following a tangle with Hefenbrock, but William Lawson's feisty return following a side strain provided more than adequate cover.

And Ronnie Correy proved the perfect foil for Hamill in what is beginning to look a natural pairing.

Conditions were best summed up by an extraordinary heat eight which saw a total of five falls and two exclusions in three runnings.

First came the Magnus Karlsson/Hefenbrock collision, the former surprisingly excluded.

Next time out Matt Wethers lost it on the fourth turn and had cause to be grateful to Craig Boyce for the swiftest of laydowns.

Out went Wethers Ñ and in the second rerun down went Boyce again, this time involuntarily, as he slipped exiting turn two. The Aussie got back on and finished second behind Hefenbrock as the two toured round on opposite sides of the circuit rather like a pair of pursuit cyclists.

Pedersen's double-point tactical win in heat 11 helped reduce Wolves' hard-earned advantage from 11 points to six.

But Krzysztof Kasprzak had cut a forlorn figure right from his first race when shoved towards the air fence by the forceful Hamill.

And although he finally got to grips with the conditions to make his first mark on the scoreboard by taking the twelfth, Wolves had matters in hand.

Wethers, having shown his determination in a Wolves race jacket for one appearance in June, displayed it again in heat 14.

He went from last to first - Greg Walasek making the same trip but in the opposite direction - only to fall and be hit by the closing Hamill.

Mercifully, both walked away but the Hamill-Lawson maximum over a tentative Walasek in the rerun sealed the win.

Lindback split Peter Karlsson and Hamill in the final race but overall it was a job well done by the Monmore men.