IT’S 14 years since Swindon visited Somerset in a league fixture and if future meetings between the two sides are as good as last Friday’s 46-44 win for the Robins, the next clash cannot come soon enough.

The tyre issues which have plagued early matches seemed to have been sorted as both sides used the red-banded ones that give more wear.

Somerset had hoped to use the flying Brady Kurtz in place of Patrick Hougaard (on Danish championship duty) but this was blocked and so the rider replacement rule had to be used, which probably gave a slight advantage to Alun Rossiter’s side.

The Robins took an early 4-2 lead as Jason Doyle headed home Rohan Tungate with Bradley Wilson-Dean just holding off Paul Starke.

Heat four saw the Rebels move in front as 2016 Robin Joss Grajczonek overcame Nick Morris on lap three with Jan Graversen ahead of Swindon’s Zach Wajtknecht In the seventh, Swindon came back to 21-all as Grajczonek, leading on lap three, came to a stop allowing the impressive David Bellego to lead home Adam Ellis, using a new engine.

Swindon’s good fortune continued in the next race as Starke came to a halt giving Swindon a 25-23 lead.

Grajczonek once again beat Morris in race nine and with Charles Wright in front of Emil Grondal the match was again all square. Two shared heats followed before Wright won race 12 ahead of Ellis, but the home team’s Jake Allen took the vital third place.

Grajczonek was again in winning form in the always-vital heat 13 as he beat Doyle for the second time, but with Morris keeping Tungate in fourth place the Robins were still in with a shout despite being 40-38 behind. The next race was shared as Bellego overhauled Wright in lap two while Grondal could make little impression on Allen.

So the final heat meant that a 5-1 was needed for the victory. Rossiter made the right choice to put Bellego rather than Morris in with Doyle who led the decider early on but wobbled on lap two and found Grajczonek in front of him by a whisker.

Doyle then fought back to lead again before Bellego surged into the vacant space to take his fourth chequered flag of the night.

For once Swindon had all the good fortune going, but Bellego, Ellis and Grondal showed signs of better things for the team.

Bellego, currently topping the Swindon averages, said: “I think we have a cracking season ahead of us. We will keep our heads strong and it will be good.

"It was a good start with Adam (Ellis) in the first race, he had made the gate so I was there to make the points and it went well from there. I like the Somerset track.”

Swindon are next in league action on Monday week (May 1) when they face the tough trip to Poole. The following Thursday, the Sprockets (youth side) are at Isle of Wight in National League-level action and on May 11 they face Plymouth at Blunsdon.

Before then Jason Doyle has the first Grand Prix of the season on Saturday in Slovenia. He had a taste of some of the opposition he is likely to face as he scored an unbeaten 13+2 when his Polish side Zielona Gora easily overcame Torun 54-36 with GP rivals Greg Hancock (world champion) and fellow Australian Chris Holder only managing two points each.

SCORERS SOMERSET 44: Josh Grajczonek 13, Charles Wright 10+1, Jake Allen 8, Rohan Tungate 6+1, Jan Graversen 4, Paul Starke 3, Patrick Hougaard R/R.

SWINDON 46: David Bellego 13+1, Jason Doyle 12+1, Nick Morris 7+1, Adam Ellis 6+1, Bradley Wilson-Dean 5+1, Emil Grondal 2, Zach Wajtknecht 1.