Around the Premier League Tracks 2007

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Friday, 6 July

Two Premier League matches were due to be raced tonight but once again the weather took its toll when the match at Edinburgh between the Monarchs and Newcastle was called off early in the day such was the state of the track after the deluge of rain to which it had been subjected. However the match at Somerset between the Rebels and Birmingham did take place.


Premier League: Somerset 58, Birmingham 32 Somerset won the aggregate bonus point by 99-81.

Somerset were at full strength but Birmingham were still without Jason Lyons so had Kauko Nieminen as a guest at number 3 in his place. They also had Manuel Hauzinger at number 7 making his debut for the club while Ben Powell moved to number 2 following the retiral of Aidan Collins.

This was only the second Premier League match to have been raced in over a week. Somerset were anxious to get their league challenge back on course by taking all three points. They were eight points adrift from the match at Perry Barr in the fight for the bonus pont. Birmingham, too, were keen to get back in action following their rain-off on Wednesday night.

The opening race had to be rerun. Ulrich Ostergaard made a poor start and tried to pass Stephan Katt going into the first bend of lap two. In doing so he brought Katt down and was excluded from the rerun in which Magnus Zetterstrom led Ben Powell and Stephan Katt home for a Rebels’ 4-2. Heat 2 also had to be rerun when Danny Warwick and Lee Smart crashed on the first bend with Warwick’s bike ending up on the wrong side of the fence. This time all four were invited back. In the rerun, Simon Walker and Danny Warwick raced to the front but Warwick seemed to be having trouble and was passed by Manuel Hauzinger and Lee Smart for a shared race. Heat 3 was shared too. Kauko Nieminen saw off Jordan Frampton on the opening bend and headed for home but Emil Kramer and Frampton were behind him for the 3-3. Then Manuel Hauzinger shot from the tapes in heat 4 to head home Ritchie Hawkins while Emiliano Sanchez finished third for a 2-4 to the Brummies which levelled the score at 12-12.

Somerset were back in front after the next race when Emil Kramer and Jordan Frampton took a 5-1 with Ben Powell third. However they were lucky when Ulrich Ostergaard lost a chain going into the last lap when well in front. The Rebels looked as if they might add to that by taking another 5-1 in heat 6 when Magnus Zetterstrom and Stephan Katt led from the tapes but Emiliano Sanchez passed Katt on the second lap restricting the home side’s advantage to a 4-2 which increased their lead to six points. Kauko Nieminen was turning out to be an excellent guest for the Brummies when he took a tapes-to-flag win in heat 7. The Rebels’ pairing of Hawkins and Walker made sure that the heat was shared though by relegating Jon Armstrong to the back. Manuel Hauzinger shot from the tapes again in heat 8 but this time the referee was having none of it and called for a restart. In the rerun Hauzinger wasn’t so fortunate and finished behind Stephan Katt and Danny Warwick as the Rebels scored their second 5-1 which opened up a ten point lead and took the score to 29-19 putting the Rebels ahead on aggregate by two points.

Emil Kramer won heat 9 but the action was behind him as Emiliano Sanchez and Jordan Frampton were neck and neck for second place. Sanchez got the second place with Frampton third. This gave Somerset a 4-2 and put them 12 points in front as Birmingham began to drift out of contention. The unbeaten Zetterstrom and Nieminen met in heat 10. It was the Rebels pair of Zetterstrom and Katt who made the start looking for another 5-1. However Nieminen passed Katt on the third lap while Hauzinger followed suit on the last bend to share the race leaving the visitors 12 points in arrears. Manuel Hauzinger who had replaced Jon Armstrong in heat 10 came out again in heat 11 to replace Ben Powell. This time he finished at the back behind Simon Walker who won the heat from Ulrich Ostergaard and Ritchie Hawkins. Another 4-2 stretched the Somerset lead to 14 points so, in heat 12, Kauko Nieminen was entrusted with the Birmingham Tactical Ride. However the TR was squandered when Danny Warwick and Emil Kramer roared off for another 5-1 which virtually sealed the win and bonus point for the Rebels as the lead stretched to 18 points with the score now 45-27.

The home side were in full flight now and added another 5-1 in heat 13 from Hawkins and Zetterstrom with Ostergaard third. They followed that with a 4-2 in heat 14. Simon Walker won the race from Manuel Hauzinger while Jordan Frampton took third place increasing the Somerset advantage to 24 points. Finally, in heat 15, Magnus Zetterstrom completed his paid maximum by beating Ulrich Ostergaard while Ritchie Hawkins finished ahead of Kauko Nieminen for third place giving the home side another 4-2 and a 26 point win.

Scorers: For Somerset – Magnus Zetterstrom 14+1 (5)(paid maximum), Emil Kramer 10+1 (4), Simon Walker 10+1 (5), Ritchie Hawkins 9 (5), Jordan Frampton 5+2 (4), Danny Warwick 5+1 (3), Stephan Katt 5 (4).

For Birmingham – Manuel Hauzinger 9+1 (6), Kauko Nieminen 9 (5), Emiliano Sanchez 5 (4), Ulrich Ostergaard 5 (5), Ben Powell 3 (3), Lee Smart 1+1 (4), Jon Armstrong 0 (3).