SWINDON'S No.1 Frank Smart edged out American Brent Werner for third place in the last race of a thriller of a match at the Abbey Stadium.

And that third place was enough to clinch a nailbiting victory for the Softwater Robins over determined opposition provided by the Workington Comets.

The popular Australian, voted as 'man of the match' by meeting sponsors Skurrays, rode a brilliant tactical race to repel the challenge of the Comet and hold on to the all-important third place at the finish by half a bike's length.

The two sides had gone into the final race with Swindon leading 43-41.

Comets' Grand Prix star Carl Stonehewer sped to the front with Paul Fry in second and Smart in third just ahead of Werner.

Fry challenged for the lead briefly but Stonehewer pulled clear. If Werner had managed to pass Smart the match would have been drawn, but the Robin rode a perfect line to deny the American for the full four laps much to the delight of the Swindon fans.

The Robins had eased into an eight point lead after the same number of heats but were then hit by a couple of problems.

Firstly Stonehewer and Mick Powell pulled back a 5-1 in heat 9 for the visitors and, in that race, Robins skipper Neil Collins suffered an awkward-looking fall caused by his engine seizing as he entered the last bend at full throttle.

Thankfully the Mancunian was able to walk away from the incident.

After the points were shared in the next race there was a further problem for Swindon as Paul Fry lost control exiting the second bend in heat 10 while leading and fell, causing the race to be stopped.

That earnt him an exclusion from the re-run from referee Chris Price but Nathan Murray did well to split the Workington pairing.

In-form reserve Claus Kristensen and Collins, showing no ill effects from his crash, recorded a 4-2 over Swede Peter Karlsson in race 12.

Smart and Fry shut out Stonehewer in the next, relegating him to third and putting the Robins six points clear with just two heats to go.

Workington weren't done for though as Karlsson and Werner easily accounted for Kristensen in the penultimate race to set up that last heat decider.

Smart said: "The win wasn't just down to my third place the whole team rode real good."