Saturday 21 July 2007

Around the Premier League Tracks 2007
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Saturday, 21 July

The weather intervened again to cancel two of tonight’s scheduled matches – at Berwick where the Bandits were due to meet Mildenhall on the second leg of their northern tour and at Rye House where the Rockets were due to race Newcastle both matches in the Premier League There were two survivors. The Premier League matches at Workington between the Comets and Glasgow and at Stoke between the Potters and Redcar.


Premier League: Workington 47, Glasgow 43


Workington were missing injury victims Mattia Carpanese and Craig Branney so had Lee Smart guesting at number 2 and used Rider Replacement at number 4. Glasgow were at full strength.

This match was a ding-dong affair which inevitably went to a last heat decider. Throughout the match there were never more than four points between the teams with the Comets eventually taking a four point victory.

Glasgow opened with a 2-4 when Craig Watson beat Kauko Nieminen with David McAllan third but the Comets replied in kind with a 4-2 in the reserves race won by Charles Wright from Michael Coles. Robert Ksiezak and Shane Parker made the gate in heat 3 and tried to team ride home for the 1-5 after Lee Smart had fallen on the first bend and retired from the race. However James Wright passed both Glasgow riders on the last lap so the heat was shared. Workington then took the lead in heat 4 when Carl Stonehewer won from Trent Leverington with James Branney third for a 4-2 which took the score to 13-11.

Craig Watson won again in heat 5 but the Wright Brothers kept McAllan at the back so the race was shared. Then the Comets opened up a four point lead when Kauko Nieminen won from Trent Leverington and Lee Smart got up to beat Michael Coles on the line for a 4-2. Back came Glasgow in heat 7 when Shane Parker beat Carl Stonehewer with Robert Ksiezak third for a 2-4 which cut the gap to two points again. It was all square once more after heat 8 which also went to Glasgow by 2-4. The race had to be rerun after Charles Wright had hit the fence and been excluded. In the rerun David McAllan won the race from Lee Smart with Coles picking up the gift point to tie the scores at 24-24.

Carl Stonehewer took the R/R ride in heat 9 and followed James Wright home ahead of Trent Leverington for the only 5-1 of the match to give the Comets a 4 point lead again. Glasgow responded with a 2-4 from Parker and Ksiezak split by Kauko Nieminen cutting the gap to two then, in heat 11, with another 2-4 from Watson and McAllan split by Stonehewer to level the scores again. Workington were back in front, however, after heat 11 when James Wright beat Shane Parker with Charles Wright in third place for another 4-2 which took the score to 37-35.

Craig Watson won for the fourth time in heat 13 while Nieminen and Stonehewer followed him home for a 3-3 then Robert Ksiezak won heat 14 for a shared heat which left the Comets two points in front with the last heat to come. In heat 15 Kauko Nieminen and James Wright went for the Comets while the unbeaten Craig Watson and Shane Parker went for the Tigers. Kauko Nieminen became the home hero by winning the race and ending Watson’s maximum hopes while James Wright got up on the line to pass Shane Parker for a 4-2 which gave the Comets a four point win.

Scorers: For Workington – Kauko Nieminen 12 (5), James Wright 12 (5), Carl Stonehewer 10+2 (5), Charles Wright 7+1 (5), Lee Smart 3 (5), John Branney 3 (5).

For Glasgow – Craig Watson 14 (5), Shane Parker 10 (5), Robert Ksiezak 6+1 (4), Trent Leverington 5 (4), David McAllan 5 (4), Michael Coles 3 (4), Lee Dicken 0 (4).



Premier League: Stoke 45, Redcar 44 Stoke won the aggregate bonus point by 90-89.


Stoke were without Glenn Cunningham and the retired Jack Hargreaves. They had Emiliano Sanchez as a guest at number 1 and introduced new signing Jaimie Smith, returning form a long spell on the sidelines due to injury, at number 7. Redcar were missing broken wrist victim Josh Auty and had Shane Waldron as a guest at number 2. They were also missing Mathieu Tressarieu so had to use Rider Replacement at number 5. However they welcomed back Daniel Giffard to the number six reserve berth and had Karlis Ezergailis at number 7.

Having drawn the match at Redcar and considering the weakened Bears’ line-up Stoke might have expected to win this match with a bit to spare but it didn’t turn out that way and in the end they just scrambled home for all three points.

In the opening heat the Potters opened up a four point lead with a 5-1 when Emiliano Sanchez and Ben Barker won from Shane Waldron as Gary Havelock packed up. However the Bears levelled again with a 1-5 in heat 2 when Daniel Giffard celebrated his comeback with a win. Karlis Ezergailis followed him home with Barrie Evans in third but the Potters replied with another 5-1 in heat 3. In the first running of the race, Chris Kerr fell on the first bend and all four were invited back. In the rerun Chris Kerr fell again this time while lying second on the second lap. The race was stopped and rerun again with Claus Vissing and Lee Complin beating an uncomfortable looking James Grieves for the maximum. Rusty Harrison won heat 4 but Ezergailis and Giffard finished in the minor places after Jaimie Smith had fallen for a shared race which took the score to 14-10.

In heat 5 Claus Vissing fell on the first bend and all four were invited back. In the rerun Shane Waldron fell and again all four were invited back. In the second rerun Redcar took a 2-4 when Gary Havelock won from Claus Vissing with Shane Waldron third from Lee Complin. Stoke replied with a 5-1 from Barker and Sanchez as Chris Kerr finished third putting the Potters 6 points ahead but Redcar then scored a 1-5 to pull back to two points down through Chris Kerr and James Grieves from Evans and Harrison. Heat 8 resulted in a 5-0 when both Bears’ riders, Karlis Ezergailis and Shane Waldron, were excluded. This missing point was to prove very expensive for Redcar as subsequent events were to prove. The score at this stage was 27-20.

Redcar again came storming back with a 1-5 this time through Daniel Giffard and James Grieves against the Stoke pairing of Complin and Vissing then they followed that up with a 2-4 when James Grieves beat Emiliano Sanchez who passed Chris Kerr relegating him to third. These two heats successes cut the home side’s lead to only one point and it stayed that way after Gary Havelock won heat 11 from Harrison and Evans for a 3-3. Stoke then scored a crucial 5-1 in heat 12 when Claus Vissing and Jaimie Smith relegated James Grieves to third taking the score to 38-33.

Gary Havelock won heat 13 from Harrison and Sanchez to keep it that way then Chris Kerr won heat 14 from Complin and Evans for another 3-3. This shared race ensured that Stoke would win the match and take the bonus point and it was as well that they did share the race because Redcar finished with a 1-5 from Havelock and Kerr ahead of Vissing to cut the winning margin to a single point. Redcar had provided six of the last seven race winners but the support they received was not quite enough for any reward.

Scorers: For Stoke – Claus Vissing 9 (5), Emiliano Sanchez 8+1 (4), Ben Barker 8+1 (5), Rusty Harrison 7 (4), Lee Complin 5+1 (4), Barrie Evans 4+2 (4), Jaimie Smith 4+1 (4).

For Redcar – Gary Havelock 12 (5), Chris Kerr 10+1 (5), James Grieves 9+2 (5), Daniel Giffard 7+1 (5), Karlis Ezergailis 4+1 (5), Shane Waldron 2 (3).

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