Bulldogs' home shocker.

Reading Bulldogs slipped to a shock 47-43 home defeat to the Wolverhampton Wolves On Wednesday evening at Smallmead Stadium.

Reading actually led by six points after heat 6, and were still four points up with five heats to go, but the fast-starting Wolves riders made the Bulldogs pay with a strong finish to the meeting.

Greg Hancock led the Reading score chart with 10 points and Charlie Gjedde rode well for his 9 (paid 10), but after that the Bulldogs had a few riders who didn't hit their usual Smallmead scoring power.

For Wolverhampton Peter Karlsson led the way with 12, but it was very much a team effort, with Billy Hamill 10 (paid 11), Freddie Lindgren 9 (paid 10) and Magnus Karlsson 6 being the pick of the bunch.

Heat 1 saw Peter Karlsson and Christian Heffenbrock fly from the start, but Hancock got past Heffenbrock, but it still meant Wolves opened up on the night with a 4-2.

Sam Simota won heat 2 ahead of Magnus Karlsson and with Glenn Cunningham passing William Lawson on the third lap, the Bulldogs 4-2 levelled things up at 6-6.

Reading moved ahead with a 4-2 from Gjedde and Janusz Kolodziej in heat 3, but heat 4 saw Hamill and Magnus Karlsson level things up with a 4-2 of their own.

Peter Karlsson made the start in heat 5, but Gjedde and Kolodziej went either side of the Swede on the third and fourth bend to link up for a Bulldogs 5-1.

A Hancock/ Travis McGowan 4-2 in heat 6 increased Reading's lead to 21-15, but Wolverhampton hit back in heat 7 when Lindgren and Ronnie Correy raced to a comfortable 5-1 over Matej Zagar.

McGowan won heat 8, but Hefenbrock just got the better of Simota in a hard battle for second place, so the Bulldogs had to make do with a 4-2. This put Reading into a 26-22 lead.

Hamill and Lawson flew from the start and looked set for a 5-1 in heat 9, but Gjedde moved up the inside on the second lap and took Lawson wide which also let Kolodziej through to give Reading a share of the points.

Correy rode a superb first lap to win heat 10 ahead of McGowan and Hancock just got the better of Lindgren for third place. The ensuing 3-3 made the progressive score 32-28 in Reading's favour.

Heat 11 certainly wasn't a good one for the home side. Zagar lifted as the tapes rose which let Peter Karlsson and Hefenbrock get away, where they raced to a 5-1 with Cunningham in third place and Zagar bringing up the rear. The Wolves maximum evened up the scores at 33-33.

Simota made a super start to win heat 12. Magnus Karlsson just got the better of a great battle with Kolodziej for second place, however the resultant 4-2 did put the Bulldogs back in front at 37-35.

Peter Karlsson and Hamill made the perfect start in heat 13 and then the Wolves duo produced a great piece of team-riding for four laps to keep out Hancock in third place. The Wolves 5-1 meant that they went into a 40-38 lead with just two heats remaining.

Lindgren rode a good heat 14 to pass and re-pass Gjedde to pick up a crucial race win for the visitors. Magnus Karlsson beat Simota for third place, so the Wolves 4-2 put them four-points up (44-40) going into the final race of the evening.

Heat 15 saw Hancock and Gjedde make the start, but Peter Karlsson passed Gjedde down the back straight. Gjedde came back at the Swede, but the Wolves rider took him wide which saw Gjedde crash into the Smallmead air fence where he was excluded from the re-run. In the re-start Hancock pulled off a great outside overtake of Karlsson on the second lap to take the win. Lindgren was third for Wolverhampton and the last heat 3-3 made the final score 47-43 in favour of the Wolves.