Around the Premier League Tracks 2007
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Tuesday, 31 July
The Tuesday night, Isle of Wight, highlight was the Premier League match between the Islanders and Newcastle.
Premier League: Isle of Wight 57, Newcastle 35 Isle of Wight won the aggregate bonus point by 102-84.
The Isle of Wight were at full strength while Newcastle had Simon Lambert as a guest at number 6 in place of the injured Adam McKinna.
Newcastle had a four point lead from the first leg towards the fight for the bonus point but it was never going to be enough against a team whose home form is mostly awesome. The Diamonds provided the first two race winners but it wasn’t long before they were hit by a string of 5-1s as happens to many visitors to the Island leaving them sunk without trace.
Against the strong home pairing of Holder and Gathercole, Newcastle opened with a 2-4 race advantage. A titanic struggle between Christian Henry and Chris Holder ended in victory for the Diamond when he was given the verdict on the line in a very close finish which must have given the referee a problem trying to separate the two riders. Gathercole didn’t seem to be at full power and Carl Wilkinson took advantage to finish third. Sean Stoddart then won heat 2 for the Diamonds in a shared race before the floodgates opened as the home side banged home four consecutive 5-1s effectively finishing the visitors’ challenge. Bunyan and Stojanowski started the run in heat 3 which had to be rerun after Ross Brady had jumped the gate. Glen Phillips and Chris Johnson added another in heat 4 with Johnson reversing his heat 2 defeat at the hands of Stoddart taking the score to 15-9.
Jason Bunyan led Christian Henry in heat 5 before being joined up front by Krzysztof Stojanowski for another maximum and it was four on the trot when Gathercole and Holder added another in heat 6. This left the Diamonds reeling some 14 points in arrears and it went to 16 in heat 7 with a 4-2 to the Islanders. Glen Phillips beat Josef Franc who seemed to impede his partner, Ross Brady, causing Brady to fall and the race to be awarded with Andrew Bargh third. Hindsight is a great thing and it would be much easier for teams to play their Tactical Ride card if they knew which heats they were going to win. Alas Newcastle were not gifted with such hindsight so they were left to rue not having given Carl Wilkinson the TR ride in heat 8 particularly since, not only did he win the race, but Sean Stoddart followed him home, ahead of Gathercole, for a 1-5 cutting the gap to 12 points with the score at 30-18.
Heat 9 propelled the Islanders to 16 points up again thanks to another Stojanowski/Bunyan maximum against Josef Raun who found himself on the wrong end of this score for the third time. Holder and Gathercole added another 5-1 in heat 10 against Josef Franc and Sean Stoddart who replaced Ross Brady still being examined by the medics after his heat 7 fall. Newcastle then gave Christian Henry a Tactical Ride but Glen Phillips, who is used to defending leads against TRs, soon passed Henry after a poor start to win the race. Carl Wilkinson finished third so the Diamonds took a 3-5 race advantage then shared heat 12 thanks to a win for Josef Franc against Jason Bunyan and Chris Johnson. This took the score to 46-28.
Christian Henry lowered Chris Holder’s colours for a second time in heat 13 after passing the Isle of Wight’s number 1 and holding on for the win. Glen Phillips took third so the race was shared. Ross Brady was replaced in heat 14 and the Islanders scored their seventh 5-1 of the match to stretch their lead to 22 points. Finally in the last race Christian Henry rounded off an excellent performance with another heat win this time from Bunyan and Stojanowski for another shared race.
Scorers: For the Isle of Wight – Jason Bunyan 12+1 (5), Krzysztof Stojanowski 11+3 (5), Glen Phillips 10+1 (4), Chris Holder 9+1 (4), Cory Gathercole 6+1 (4), Chris Johnson 5+2 (4), Andrew Bargh 4+2 (4).
For Newcastle – Christian Henry 14 (5)(with 4 point TR), Sean Stoddart 7+1 (6), Josef Franc 7 (4), Carl Wilkinson 5+1 (4), Jonas Raun 2 (4), Simon Lambert 0 (4), Ross Brady 0 (2).
The Tuesday night, Isle of Wight, highlight was the Premier League match between the Islanders and Newcastle.
Premier League: Isle of Wight 57, Newcastle 35 Isle of Wight won the aggregate bonus point by 102-84.
The Isle of Wight were at full strength while Newcastle had Simon Lambert as a guest at number 6 in place of the injured Adam McKinna.
Newcastle had a four point lead from the first leg towards the fight for the bonus point but it was never going to be enough against a team whose home form is mostly awesome. The Diamonds provided the first two race winners but it wasn’t long before they were hit by a string of 5-1s as happens to many visitors to the Island leaving them sunk without trace.
Against the strong home pairing of Holder and Gathercole, Newcastle opened with a 2-4 race advantage. A titanic struggle between Christian Henry and Chris Holder ended in victory for the Diamond when he was given the verdict on the line in a very close finish which must have given the referee a problem trying to separate the two riders. Gathercole didn’t seem to be at full power and Carl Wilkinson took advantage to finish third. Sean Stoddart then won heat 2 for the Diamonds in a shared race before the floodgates opened as the home side banged home four consecutive 5-1s effectively finishing the visitors’ challenge. Bunyan and Stojanowski started the run in heat 3 which had to be rerun after Ross Brady had jumped the gate. Glen Phillips and Chris Johnson added another in heat 4 with Johnson reversing his heat 2 defeat at the hands of Stoddart taking the score to 15-9.
Jason Bunyan led Christian Henry in heat 5 before being joined up front by Krzysztof Stojanowski for another maximum and it was four on the trot when Gathercole and Holder added another in heat 6. This left the Diamonds reeling some 14 points in arrears and it went to 16 in heat 7 with a 4-2 to the Islanders. Glen Phillips beat Josef Franc who seemed to impede his partner, Ross Brady, causing Brady to fall and the race to be awarded with Andrew Bargh third. Hindsight is a great thing and it would be much easier for teams to play their Tactical Ride card if they knew which heats they were going to win. Alas Newcastle were not gifted with such hindsight so they were left to rue not having given Carl Wilkinson the TR ride in heat 8 particularly since, not only did he win the race, but Sean Stoddart followed him home, ahead of Gathercole, for a 1-5 cutting the gap to 12 points with the score at 30-18.
Heat 9 propelled the Islanders to 16 points up again thanks to another Stojanowski/Bunyan maximum against Josef Raun who found himself on the wrong end of this score for the third time. Holder and Gathercole added another 5-1 in heat 10 against Josef Franc and Sean Stoddart who replaced Ross Brady still being examined by the medics after his heat 7 fall. Newcastle then gave Christian Henry a Tactical Ride but Glen Phillips, who is used to defending leads against TRs, soon passed Henry after a poor start to win the race. Carl Wilkinson finished third so the Diamonds took a 3-5 race advantage then shared heat 12 thanks to a win for Josef Franc against Jason Bunyan and Chris Johnson. This took the score to 46-28.
Christian Henry lowered Chris Holder’s colours for a second time in heat 13 after passing the Isle of Wight’s number 1 and holding on for the win. Glen Phillips took third so the race was shared. Ross Brady was replaced in heat 14 and the Islanders scored their seventh 5-1 of the match to stretch their lead to 22 points. Finally in the last race Christian Henry rounded off an excellent performance with another heat win this time from Bunyan and Stojanowski for another shared race.
Scorers: For the Isle of Wight – Jason Bunyan 12+1 (5), Krzysztof Stojanowski 11+3 (5), Glen Phillips 10+1 (4), Chris Holder 9+1 (4), Cory Gathercole 6+1 (4), Chris Johnson 5+2 (4), Andrew Bargh 4+2 (4).
For Newcastle – Christian Henry 14 (5)(with 4 point TR), Sean Stoddart 7+1 (6), Josef Franc 7 (4), Carl Wilkinson 5+1 (4), Jonas Raun 2 (4), Simon Lambert 0 (4), Ross Brady 0 (2).
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