Around the Premier League Tracks 2007
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Friday, 20 July
There were three matches scheduled for tonight but the weather again intervened causing the cancellation of two of them. The King’s Lynn versus Birmingham match, the first leg of the Premier Trophy final, and the Somerset versus Newcastle Premier League match were the casualties. This left the match at Edinburgh where the Monarchs raced against Mildenhall in a Premier League match as the sole survivor.
Premier League: Edinburgh 53, Mildenhall 40
Edinburgh were almost unrecognisable with four new faces in their redeclared team. Taking over at number 1 from Theo Pijper was George Stancl, at number 3 from Ronnie Correy was Kai Laukkanen, at number 5 from Henrik Moller was Kalle Katajisto while Aaron Summers came in at number 6. Mildenhall were at full strength.
A big crowd was in attendance on a pleasant if slightly chilly summer evening to see the renaissance of the Edinburgh side after the major surgery which had been carried out during the week. There was a certain nervousness about how the new team would take to the track particularly since the visitors, Mildenhall, had won the corresponding league match last year. However, they never looked like repeating that result in this match.
The Monarchs opened with a 4-2 after George Stancl had comfortably won the race from Shaun Tacey with Derek Sneddon third then followed that with a stunning 5-1 in heat 2. Matthew Wethers won the race as expected but behind him Aaron Summers rode an excellent opening first two bends to work himself into second place coming out of bend two. Try as they might neither Mark Baseby, who fell and remounted in the process, nor Tomas Suchanek could catch Summers and the Monarchs were six points ahead. It looked like they would add to that lead in heat 3 when Kai Laukkanen and Andrew Tully powered round the first two turns as Kyle Legault got out of shape causing Jason King to bale out and the race to be rerun. At the second attempt Legault made a flying start and try as he might Kai Laukkanen could not get past him. The race was shared as was heat 4 won again by Matthew Wethers this time from Tomas Suchanek and Paul Fry after Kalle Katajisto had reared at the gate and made a miraculous recovery after almost falling off. The score was now 12-6.
In heat 5 Tom P Madsen made the start but Kai Laukkanen roared up the inside off the second bend to win the race by a distance. Behind him Madsen and Shaun Tacey decided to team ride to block Andrew Tully at the back. This succeeded as Tully’s efforts were frustrated leading to another 3-3. Heat 6 saw Edinburgh score another 5-1 which put them 6 points in front. Derek Sneddon made a fast start and George Stancl followed him off the second bend content to sit behind him as the impressive Mark Baseby took up the challenge. Baseby fell on the third lap so Paul Fry scored the third place point. Now 10 points adrift Mildenhall quickly played their TR card giving the ride to Kyle Legault. He didn’t let them down either by streaking from the gate again to head home Matthew Wethers. Jason King finished third so the Fen Tigers enjoyed a 2-7 success cutting the home side’s lead to five points. Edinburgh hit back with a 4-2 in heat 8. Shaun Tacey made a superb gate while Derek Sneddon and Matthew Wethers tucked in behind him. Sneddon made a brilliant sweeping pass round the outside of Tacey on the fourth bend on lap 2 to take the lead although Wethers was unable to catch the Mildenhall man. The score now stood at 29-22.
In heat 9 Kai Laukkanen was quickly away and Andrew Tully rode a strong inside line round the opening bends to join him as Paul Fry spun on the second bend leaving Mark Baseby to take up the chase. Baseby fell on the third lap but still had enough time to remount and take third place ahead of his partner. The result was another 5-1 to the Monarchs who now led by 11 points. Derek Sneddon was controversially excluded under the two minute time allowance in heat 10 and was replaced by Matthew Wethers. When the tapes rose George Stancl picked up phenomenal grip coming into the first bend and slewed to the outside of the track causing Kyle Legault to fall so the race was rerun with Stancl fortunate not to have been excluded. In the rerun Kyle Legault made another sparkling gate and, despite pressure from Stancl for most of the race, he held on to win and share the points. Mildenhall then took a 1-5 in heat 11. Shaun Tacey and Tom P Madsen left Katajisto and Summers standing at the gate and were never troubled reducing the deficit to 7 points but Edinburgh replied in kind in heat 12 in an excellent race. Kyle Legault made yet another superb start and headed down the back straight ahead of Wethers and Laukkanen. He didn’t have it his own way this time though as Matthew Wethers rode a stunning third/fourth bend to round Legault and lead down the home straight. Legault tried to regain his position by trying to run Wethers wide on the first two bends of lap two but his plan backfired as not only did Wethers race away from him but Laukkanen swept through on the inside to join his partner up front. That was the way it finished and Edinburgh were 11 points in front again with the 5-1 as the score went to 43-32.
George Stancl made the gate in heat 13 and, although Tom P Madsen passed him down the back straight, Stancl regained the lead coming off the fourth bend to win the race comfortably for a shared heat. Tomas Suchanek and Jason King led briefly from the gate in heat 14 but King fell on the first bend leaving his partner to contest the race on his own. Matthew Wethers passed Suchanek coming out of the second bend but Suchanek held on to second place by holding off the determined challenges of Andrew Tully for a 4-2. In the final race another fast start from Kyle Legault was good enough to produce another race win for the Fen Tiger as he saw off first of all the challenge of Stancl and then Laukkanen to end up with a magnificent 16 points.
Scorers: For Edinburgh – Matthew Wethers 16+1 (7), Kai Laukkanen 12+1 (5), George Stancl 11+2 (5), Derek Sneddon 7 (4), Andrew Tully 4+2 (4), Aaron Summers 2+1 (3), Kalle Katajisto 1 (3).
For Mildenhall – Kyle Legault 16 (5)(with 6 point TR), Shaun Tacey 8+1 (5), Tom P Madsen 6+1 (4), Tomas Suchanek 5 (5), Paul Fry 3+2 (4), Mark Baseby 1 (3), Jason King 1 (4).
There were three matches scheduled for tonight but the weather again intervened causing the cancellation of two of them. The King’s Lynn versus Birmingham match, the first leg of the Premier Trophy final, and the Somerset versus Newcastle Premier League match were the casualties. This left the match at Edinburgh where the Monarchs raced against Mildenhall in a Premier League match as the sole survivor.
Premier League: Edinburgh 53, Mildenhall 40
Edinburgh were almost unrecognisable with four new faces in their redeclared team. Taking over at number 1 from Theo Pijper was George Stancl, at number 3 from Ronnie Correy was Kai Laukkanen, at number 5 from Henrik Moller was Kalle Katajisto while Aaron Summers came in at number 6. Mildenhall were at full strength.
A big crowd was in attendance on a pleasant if slightly chilly summer evening to see the renaissance of the Edinburgh side after the major surgery which had been carried out during the week. There was a certain nervousness about how the new team would take to the track particularly since the visitors, Mildenhall, had won the corresponding league match last year. However, they never looked like repeating that result in this match.
The Monarchs opened with a 4-2 after George Stancl had comfortably won the race from Shaun Tacey with Derek Sneddon third then followed that with a stunning 5-1 in heat 2. Matthew Wethers won the race as expected but behind him Aaron Summers rode an excellent opening first two bends to work himself into second place coming out of bend two. Try as they might neither Mark Baseby, who fell and remounted in the process, nor Tomas Suchanek could catch Summers and the Monarchs were six points ahead. It looked like they would add to that lead in heat 3 when Kai Laukkanen and Andrew Tully powered round the first two turns as Kyle Legault got out of shape causing Jason King to bale out and the race to be rerun. At the second attempt Legault made a flying start and try as he might Kai Laukkanen could not get past him. The race was shared as was heat 4 won again by Matthew Wethers this time from Tomas Suchanek and Paul Fry after Kalle Katajisto had reared at the gate and made a miraculous recovery after almost falling off. The score was now 12-6.
In heat 5 Tom P Madsen made the start but Kai Laukkanen roared up the inside off the second bend to win the race by a distance. Behind him Madsen and Shaun Tacey decided to team ride to block Andrew Tully at the back. This succeeded as Tully’s efforts were frustrated leading to another 3-3. Heat 6 saw Edinburgh score another 5-1 which put them 6 points in front. Derek Sneddon made a fast start and George Stancl followed him off the second bend content to sit behind him as the impressive Mark Baseby took up the challenge. Baseby fell on the third lap so Paul Fry scored the third place point. Now 10 points adrift Mildenhall quickly played their TR card giving the ride to Kyle Legault. He didn’t let them down either by streaking from the gate again to head home Matthew Wethers. Jason King finished third so the Fen Tigers enjoyed a 2-7 success cutting the home side’s lead to five points. Edinburgh hit back with a 4-2 in heat 8. Shaun Tacey made a superb gate while Derek Sneddon and Matthew Wethers tucked in behind him. Sneddon made a brilliant sweeping pass round the outside of Tacey on the fourth bend on lap 2 to take the lead although Wethers was unable to catch the Mildenhall man. The score now stood at 29-22.
In heat 9 Kai Laukkanen was quickly away and Andrew Tully rode a strong inside line round the opening bends to join him as Paul Fry spun on the second bend leaving Mark Baseby to take up the chase. Baseby fell on the third lap but still had enough time to remount and take third place ahead of his partner. The result was another 5-1 to the Monarchs who now led by 11 points. Derek Sneddon was controversially excluded under the two minute time allowance in heat 10 and was replaced by Matthew Wethers. When the tapes rose George Stancl picked up phenomenal grip coming into the first bend and slewed to the outside of the track causing Kyle Legault to fall so the race was rerun with Stancl fortunate not to have been excluded. In the rerun Kyle Legault made another sparkling gate and, despite pressure from Stancl for most of the race, he held on to win and share the points. Mildenhall then took a 1-5 in heat 11. Shaun Tacey and Tom P Madsen left Katajisto and Summers standing at the gate and were never troubled reducing the deficit to 7 points but Edinburgh replied in kind in heat 12 in an excellent race. Kyle Legault made yet another superb start and headed down the back straight ahead of Wethers and Laukkanen. He didn’t have it his own way this time though as Matthew Wethers rode a stunning third/fourth bend to round Legault and lead down the home straight. Legault tried to regain his position by trying to run Wethers wide on the first two bends of lap two but his plan backfired as not only did Wethers race away from him but Laukkanen swept through on the inside to join his partner up front. That was the way it finished and Edinburgh were 11 points in front again with the 5-1 as the score went to 43-32.
George Stancl made the gate in heat 13 and, although Tom P Madsen passed him down the back straight, Stancl regained the lead coming off the fourth bend to win the race comfortably for a shared heat. Tomas Suchanek and Jason King led briefly from the gate in heat 14 but King fell on the first bend leaving his partner to contest the race on his own. Matthew Wethers passed Suchanek coming out of the second bend but Suchanek held on to second place by holding off the determined challenges of Andrew Tully for a 4-2. In the final race another fast start from Kyle Legault was good enough to produce another race win for the Fen Tiger as he saw off first of all the challenge of Stancl and then Laukkanen to end up with a magnificent 16 points.
Scorers: For Edinburgh – Matthew Wethers 16+1 (7), Kai Laukkanen 12+1 (5), George Stancl 11+2 (5), Derek Sneddon 7 (4), Andrew Tully 4+2 (4), Aaron Summers 2+1 (3), Kalle Katajisto 1 (3).
For Mildenhall – Kyle Legault 16 (5)(with 6 point TR), Shaun Tacey 8+1 (5), Tom P Madsen 6+1 (4), Tomas Suchanek 5 (5), Paul Fry 3+2 (4), Mark Baseby 1 (3), Jason King 1 (4).
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