Around the Premier League Tracks 2007

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Wednesday, 18 July

There were two Premier League matches raced tonight. At Birmingham the Brummies raced Workington while at King’s Lynn the Stars took on Redcar.


Premier League: Birmingham 46, Workington 44 Birmingham won the aggregate bonus point by 91-89


Birmingham were at full strength with Manuel Hauzinger making his home debut for his new club. Workington were missing both Mattia Carpanese and Craig Branney who were injured in the match against Sheffield last Saturday. They used Rider Replacement at number 4 for Branney and had Chris Johnson as a guest for Carpanese at number 2.

Short-handed Workington gave Birmingham a hard match and actually provided nine heat winners to the Brummie’s 6 . Nonetheless they took nothing from the match as they went down by two points. Having only drawn with Birmingham at home the Comets lost out on the bonus point as well.

The Comets started well by taking the opening heat 2-4 when Kauko Nieminen beat Ulrich Ostergaard with Chris Johnson third. After a shared reserves race won by Charles Wright, the Brummies took the lead in heat 3 with a 5-1 from Jason Lyons and Jon Armstrong as James Wright trailed in third. Carl Stonehewer won heat 4 but the race was shared and the score went to 13-11.

Workington levelled the match in heat 5 with another Nieminen/Johnson 2-4. This time Jason Lyons was the meat in the sandwich. Workington kept on supplying the race winners as Carl Stonehewer won heat 6 and James Wright heat 7 but on both occasions Charles Wright came in last so both races were shared. At this stage the Comets had produced six of the seven race winners but Manuel Hauzinger won heat 8 for the home side. This race was shared too though as Johnson and Charles Wright followed him home taking the score to 24-24.

Heats 9 and 10 resulted in 4-2s to the Brummies, the first won by Jason Lyons from Carl Stonehewer, the other by Ulrich Ostergaard from James Wright. This gave the home side a four point lead but the Comets hit back with a 2-4 in heat 11 when Kauko Nieminen saw off Emiliano Sanchez and Chris Johnson finished third. Back came the Brummies with another 4-2 when Jason Lyons beat James Wright supported by Manuel Hauzinger in third. The score with three heats to go stood at 38-34.

Ostergaard won heat 13 but Stonehewer and Nieminen shared the race before Carl Stonehewer took the Rider Replacement ride in heat 14. He won it too but again there was no support as Smart and Hauzinger filled the minor places. This set up a last heat decider with Workington needing a 1-5 for a drawn match. It looked good for the Comets when Nieminen and Stonehewer led from the gate but Jason Lyons was in no mood for surrender and hunted down Stonehewer before executing the pass which gave the Brummies all three points.

Scorers: For Birmingham – Jason Lyons 13 (5), Ulrich Ostergaard 9+1 (5), Manuel Hauzinger 8+2 (5), Emiliano Sanchez 6 (4), Lee Smart 4+2 (4), Jon Armstrong 3+1 (3), Ben Powell 3 (4).

For Workington – Carl Stonehewer 14 (6), Kauko Nieminen 13+1 (5), James Wright 8 (4), Chris Johnson 5 (5), Charles Wright 4+1 (7), John Branney 0 (3).



Premier League: King’s Lynn 61, Redcar 32 King’s Lynn won the aggregate bonus point by 110-76.


King’s Lynn had new signing Benji Compton at number 7. Redcar had Darren Mallet at number 7.

It must have been quite a shock for the home support when they watched Josh Auty pass Tomas Topinka to join his partner, Gary Havelock, up front for an opening 1-5 to the Bears but the retribution exacted by the Stars for this piece of audacity was frightening. King’s Lynn responded with three consecutive 5-1s to lead by 16-8 after four races.

In heat 5 Daniel Nermark won for the second time but Redcar’s top pairing brought some respite from the onslaught by sharing the race when Josh Auty passed Trevor Harding to finish behind Gary Havelock. Two more 5-1s followed for the home side before the impressive Josh Auty passed Benji Compton on the last bend to take second place behind Chris Mills in heat 8 for a 4-2 to the Stars. This took the score to 33-15.

King’s Lynn resumed the 5-1 trail after this minor interruption with two more maximums in heats 9 and 10 then Redcar gave a Tactical Ride to Gary Havelock in heat 11. In the first running of the race Josh Auty and Paul Lee clashed on the first bend with Auty falling. All four were invited back for the rerun in which Auty and Lee clashed again. This time Auty was excluded from the rerun but the luckless Lee was removed from the track by ambulance and took no further part in the meeting. In the second rerun Gary Havelock won for the 6 points while Brundle and Compton, who replaced Lee, followed him home for a 3-6 to the visitors. In heat 12 Chris Kerr replaced Arlo Bugeja as a Tactical Substitute from 15 metres back but finished at the back as Daniel Nermark won from James Grieves and Benji Compton. This gave King’s Lynn a 4-2 in the heat and the score moved on to 50-25.

Tomas Topinka and James Brundle made the gate in heat 13 but Brundle was passed by Havelock and Tressarieu for a shared heat then Chris Kerr took second place in heat 14 behind Trevor Harding by passing James Brundle for a 4-2 which extended the home side’s lead to 27 points. In heat 15 Daniel Nermark completed his full five ride maximum by passing early race winner, Gary Havelock, while Tomas Topinka took third for a final 4-2.

Scorers: For King’s Lynn – Daniel Nermark 15 (5)(full maximum), Tomas Topinka 11 (5), Benji Compton 8+1 (5), Chris Mills 7+2 (4), Trevor Harding 7+2 (4), James Brundle 7+2 (5), Paul Lee 6 (2)

For Redcar – Gary Havelock 15 (5)(with 6 point TR), Josh Auty 5+2 (4), James Grieves 4 (5), Chris Kerr 3 (5), Mathieu Tressarieu 2+1 (4), Arlo Bugeja 2 (3), Darren Mallet 1 (4)