Around the Premier League Tracks 2007

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Sunday, 22 July

The full programme of three Premier League matches was raced today without interference from the weather for a change. At Newport the Wasps met King’s Lynn while at Glasgow the Tigers took on Workington. The other match was at Newcastle where the Diamonds raced against Mildenhall.


Premier League: Newport 48, King’s Lynn 44 King’s Lynn won the aggregate bonus point by 100-84

Newport were at full strength for this match but King’s Lynn were without Paul Lee so used Rider Replacement at number 5.

At the time of writing there was very little information about this match. After heat 8 the Wasps had built up a four point lead with the score at 26-22 and they increased it to eight points after heat 12 at which point the score was 40-32. Daniel Nermark took a Tactical Substitute ride in heat 14 and finished second for four points taking the score to 47-39. King’s Lynn finished with a 1-5 from Nermark and Topinka but it was too late to have any effect on the destination of the points.


Scorers: For Newport – Chris Schramm 8+1, Tom Hedley 8+1, Michal Rajkowski 8, Phil Morris 8, Tony Atkins 6+3, Barry Burchatt 5+2, Nick Simmons 5.

For King’s Lynn – Daniel Nermark 17+1 (6)(with 4 point TS), Tomas Topinka 16+1 (6), Trevor Harding 6, Chris Mills 3+1, James Brundle 2, Benji Compton 0.



Premier League: Glasgow 49, Workington 42 Glasgow won the aggregate bonus point by 92-89


Glasgow were again at full strength but Workington were in some disarray. They started without Mattia Carpanese and Craig Branney through injury and used Simon Walker as a guest at number 2 and Rider Replacement at number 4. David Craig was nominated as their number 8. It wasn’t long though before Charles Wright joined the casualty list leaving the Comets with five riders plus a number 8.

Workington had only a four point lead to protect for the bonus point but their chances of taking anything from this match appeared to have disappeared when Charles Wright was forced to retire from the meeting after crashing into the first bend fence in his opening ride. Nevertheless the Comets with only four scoring riders took the Tigers to a last heat decider for the bonus at which point, remarkably, they trailed by only one point on aggregate!

The Comets won the opening race 2-4. Kauko Nieminen beat Craig Watson from the gate and Simon Walker scored the third place point but the visitors were hit by a bad blow in heat 2. Charles Wright crashed into the fence and had to withdraw from the meeting which meant that his fellow reserve was in for a busy afternoon particularly since Workington were operating R/R. In the rerun Craig Branney fell leaving Lee Dicken and Michael Coles to cruise round for a 5-1 which put the Tigers two points in front. Parker won heat 3 from James Wright while Ksiezak took third for a 4-2 which increased the home side’s lead to four points. Carl Stonehewer won heat 4 for a shared heat. The score at this point was 14-10.

It just wasn’t Workington’s day. Simon Walker missed the two minute deadline in heat 5 and had to go from 15 metres back almost guaranteeing last place. Parker won again while Nieminen took second ahead of Ksiezak. Craig Watson gated to beat Stonehewer in heat 6 while McAllan took third for another 4-2 as Glasgow inched further ahead with an eight point lead. This allowed Workington to cover one of Craig Branney’s R/R rides with Kauko Nieminen who came into the race as a Tactical Substitute from 15 metres back. James Wright beat Trent Leverington while Nieminen passed Coles for third giving the visitors a 2-5 advantage and cutting the gap to 5 points. Glasgow hit back with a 4-2 in heat 8 as David McAllan won from Simon Walker. Lee Dicken took third so the Tigers were 7 points up with the score standing at 28-21.

Glasgow continued their 4-2 assault with another in heat 9. This was one of the better races as Carl Stonehewer led until the third lap when Shane Parker passed him on the inside to win the heat. Ksiezak was third again so the lead went to 9 points. Nine became 11 after heat 10 as Watson gated to beat James Wright with McAllan third from David Haig, the Comets’ number eight. The Tigers then received a jolt when the Comets registered a 1-5 in heat 11 as Simon Walker and Kauko Nieminen passed Leverington coming off the second bend cutting the gap to 7 points again. Glasgow scored another 4-2 in heat 12 though when Parker beat James Wright with Dicken third to restore the 9 point lead with the score now 41-32.

Workington scored another 1-5 in heat 13. Craig Watson fell while in second place and the race was awarded to Nieminen and Stonehewer and the home side’s lead was now down to 5 points. Carl Stonehewer took the R/R ride in heat 14 and won the race for a shared heat which meant that Glasgow had won the match since they were still five points clear. There was the little matter of the bonus point to race for however and Parker completed his maximum in heat 15 to secure that while Nieminen finished second and Watson just managed to hold off Stonehewer for third and a final 4-2 giving Glasgow a 7 point win.

Scorers: For Glasgow – Shane Parker 15 (5)(full maximum), Craig Watson 9 (5), Lee Dicken 6+1 (4), Trent Leverington 6 (4), David McAllan 5 (4), Robert Ksiezak 5 (4), Michael Coles 3+2 (4).

For Workington – Kauko Nieminen 14+1 (6)(with 2 point TS), Carl Stonehewer 12+1 (6), James Wright 9 (5), Simon Walker 6 (4), John Branney 1 (7), Charles Wright 0 (1), David Haig 0 (1).



Premier League: Newcastle 48, Mildenhall 42

Newcastle again had Ashley Johnson at number 6 in place of Adam McKinna. Mildenhall were at full strength.

Newcastle welcomed back Christian Henry and Ross Brady to the side to face the Mildenhall Fen Tigers on what should have been the third leg of their northern tour but became the second when last night’s match at Berwick was washed out.

Newcastle made the perfect start with a 5-1 from Christian Henry and Carl Wilkinson in heat 1 but Mildenhall made the perfect reply with a 1-5 from the reserves race thanks to Tomas Suchanek and Mark Baseby. Mildenhall then went in front in heat 3. Kyle Legault won the race from Josef Franc while Jason King passed Ross Brady on the third lap for a 2-4 giving the Fen Tigers a two point lead. The home side got another shock when the visitors added a 1-5 in heat 4 with Paul Fry and Tomas Suchanek, the latter passing Jonas Raun in the run up to the line, doing the damage. Mildenhall were now six points to the good but the Diamonds hit back with a 5-1 in heat 5 through Ross Brady and Josef Franc. Both Shaun Tacey and Tom P Madsen fell in this heat but Tacey remounted for the third place point. Newcastle then took the lead again with another 5-1 in heat 6 this time from Christian Henry and Carl Wilkinson again. Paul Fry finished third. Back came the Fen Tigers with their own 1-5 with Kyle Legault and Jason King heading home Jonas Raun to put the visitors back in front by two points but Newcastle levelled the match with a 4-2 in heat 8. Carl Wilkinson continued his unbeaten run beating Tomas Suchanek while Sean Stoddart beat Shaun Tacey for third taking the score to 24-24.

Josef Franc won heat 9 but Paul Fry and Mark Baseby passed Ross Brady to share the points. The Henry/Wilkinson pairing produced their third consecutive 5-1 in heat 10 with Wilkinson passing Kyle Legault on the third lap. The Diamonds now led by four points. Heat 11 was rerun after Sean Stoddart had fallen and been excluded. In the rerun Tom P Madsen beat Jonas Raun while Tomas Suchanek picked up the third place point. This gave the visitors a 2-4 and the home side’s lead was down to 2 points. Heat 12 was won by Josef Franc but Legault and Baseby shared the spoils so the score after 12 heats was 37-35.

Christian Henry completed his four ride maximum in heat 13 while Paul fry took second and Josef Raun third after Tom P Madsen had fallen. The 4-2 to the Diamonds gave them a bit of breathing space as they now led by four points with two heats remaining. It was all over after heat 14 when Ross Brady gated to win from Jason King while Sean Stoddart’s third place ahead of Suchanek consigned the Fen Tigers to defeat. Kyle Legault won the final race from Wilkinson and Franc for a six point win.

Scorers: For Newcastle – Christian Henry 12 (4)(full maximum), Carl Wilkinson 11+3 (5), Josef Franc 11+2 (5), Ross Brady 6 (4), Jonas Raun 5 (4), Sean Stoddart 3 (5), Ashley Johnson 0 (3).

For Mildenhall – Kyle Legault 12 (5), Tomas Suchanek 8+1 (5), Paul Fry 8 (5), Jason King 5+1 (4), Mark Baseby 4+3 (4), Tom P Madsen 4 (4), Shaun Tacey 1 (3).