Around the Premier League Tracks 2007

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Tuesday, 26 June

It was Isle of Wight night tonight where the Islanders took on Rye House in the first leg of a Knockout Cup tie.



Knockout Cup (first leg): Isle of Wight 52, Rye House 40.


The Isle of Wight were at full strength and nominated Sam Martin as their number 8. Rye House were without two of their heat leaders, Tai Woffinden and Steve Boxall. They had Danny King at number 3 in place of Woffinden but had to use Rider Replacement at number 5 for Boxall. They also nominated Karlis Ezergailis as their number 8.

Rye House just never seem to be clear of injuries and were again shorthanded on their trip to the Island. The last time these two teams met at this track the home side ran out winners by 16 points in a Premier Trophy match. The Rockets were looking to do much better than that since a similar deficit might well prove too much for them to pull back.

The opening heat resulted in a 4-2 to the Islanders when Chris Holder and Cory Gathercole were split by Chris Neath then Robbie Kessler won the reserves race for a shared heat. The home side doubled their lead to four points with another 4-2 in heat 3. Jason Bunyan beat Danny King while Krzysztof Stojanowski took third place. Rye House hit back in heat 4 with a 2-4 which at one point looked as though it might be a 1-5 when Chris Neath and Robbie Kessler made the gate. Glen Phillips passed Kessler, however, so the Rockets had to be content with a two point advantage from the race as the score went to 13-11.

Heats 5 and 6 both saw the home side score 4-2s thanks to wins from Jason Bunyan and Chris Holder from Chris Neath and Robbie Kessler respectively which extended their lead to six points. Then, in heat 7, Glen Phillips led until lap 3 when he suffered machine problems. As a result he was passed by Danny King and Tommy Allen. It was now King’s turn to hit engine trouble while Phillips had enough juice to follow race winner, Tommy Allen, home. Andrew Bargh was third so the heat was shared. Chris Johnson raced off to win heat 8 while Cory Gathercole and Adam Roynon had a good battle for second place. Gathercole won the battle so the Islanders scored the first 5-1 of the night taking the score to 29-19.

Rye House fell further behind in heat 9 when Jason Bunyan won for the third time beating R/R Tommy Allen. With Luke Bowen failing to finish, Stojanowski took the third place point stretching the lead to 12 points. It was Gathercole’s turn to pull up in heat 10 with a puncture but Chris Holder, like Bunyan in the previous heat, made it three wins from three rides leaving Danny King and Tommy Allen to share the points. In heat 11 Chris Neath took a Tactical Ride and fortune favoured the Rockets when Glen Phillips again hit machine problems and did not finish. However, reserve, Andrew Bargh, rose to the occasion by winning the race leaving Neath and Roynon to fill the minor places. This still gave the Rockets an advantage. They took a 3-5 from the race cutting the home side’s lead to 10 points. Jason Bunyan made it four wins from 4 in heat 12 but Danny King and Robbie Kessler beat Chris Johnson for a share of the spoils taking the score to 42-32 at the interval. The last three heats were going to prove vital for the second leg with the Rockets desperately holding on to keep the gap to manageable proportions.

The lead was back up to 12 points again when Chris Holder completed his four ride maximum in heat 13 and Glen Phillips finished behind Chris Neath for a 4-2. Back came Rye House in heat 14 with a 2-4 to get back to within 10 points of the Islanders. Robbie Kessler was the race winner from Krzysztof Stojanowski with Tommy Allen third but heat 15 looked a dismal prospect for the Rockets with the unbeaten Holder and Bunyan taking their places in the race against them. They avoided the 5-1 though when Danny King finished behind Holder to ruin Bunyan’s maximum. Chris Neath was last but a 12 point defeat was not a bad result considering that Rye House did not lose any more ground after heat 9 when they trailed 33-21. The tie looks well balanced for the second leg at Hoddesdon.

Scorers: For the Isle of Wight – Chris Holder 15 (5)(full maximum), Jason Bunyan 13 (5), Andrew Bargh 6+1 (4), Glen Phillips 5 (4), Krzysztof Stojanowski 5 (4), Cory Gathercole 4+1 (4), Chris Johnson 4+1 (4),

For Rye House – Chris Neath 13 (6)(with 4 point TR), Robbie Kessler 10+1 (6), Danny King 8 (5), Tommy Allen 7+1 (5), Adam Roynon 2+1 (5), Luke Bowen 0 (3).