Around the Premier League Tracks 2007

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Sunday, 15 July

Ten Premier League teams were due to be in action today. There were four Premier League matches scheduled together with the first leg of the Final of the Premier Trophy which was held at Birmingham between the Brummies and King’s Lynn . The Premier League matches were at Glasgow between the Tigers and Rye House , at Mildenhall where Berwick were the visitors, at Newport between the Wasps and the Isle of Wight, and, finally, at Newcastle where the Diamonds were at home to Stoke. Unfortunately the weather got to three of those fixtures. The matches at Birmingham and Newport were called off while the match at Mildenhall was abandoned after the second unsuccessful attempt to run heat 3.



Premier League: Glasgow 49, Rye House 40 Rye House won the aggregate bonus point by 97-84

Glasgow were again at full strength but Rye House were missing Tommy Allen who is suffering from a back injury. They used Rider Replacement instead at number 4 and nominated Karlis Ezergailis as their number 8.

Glasgow faced an uphill struggle to pull back the 22 points needed to challenge for the bonus point. This should have been Rye House’s third match of their Northern tour but with the match at Edinburgh called off on Friday it turned out to be a curtailed two-match tour with the first match at Berwick last night.

The Rockets got off to a dreadful start when Chris Neath was excluded for breaking the tapes in the opening heat. He was replaced by Adam Roynon but the visitors lost a 5-1 when Craig Watson led from tapes-to-flag. Robbie Kessler held second place briefly before being passed by David McAllan. Adam Roynon was out again in heat 2 and this time he won the race after rounding Michael Coles. Lee Dicken took third so the race was shared. Shane Parker won heat 3 but it was only good enough for a share of the points as Tai Woffinden and Steve Boxall relegated Robert Ksiezak to the back. Steve Boxall won heat 4 for the Rockets but, for the third race on the trot, the points were shared with Dicken and Leverington following him home. The score now stood at 14-10.

Chris Neath made amends for his tapes exclusion in the opening race by beating Shane Parker in heat 5. It looked as though the Rockets would take a 2-4 from the race but Robbie Kessler retired on the second lap to gift Robert Ksiezak the third place point resulting in this heat being shared too. Rye House finally produced a heat advantage in heat 6 when Steve Boxall beat Craig Watson. Luke Bowen finished third ahead of David McAllan for the third place point so the Rockets took a 2-4 cutting the gap to two points. Rye House were then hit by another injury problem when Robbie Kessler had to withdraw from the meeting leaving the Rockets with only three of their top five plus two reserves and a number 8. Heat 7 had to be rerun after a first bend crash involving Michael Coles and Adam Roynon. The referee decreed all four back and, in the rerun, Tai Woffinden beat Leverington and Dicken as Adam Roynon retired from the race. The points were shared but Glasgow pulled another point clear when they took heat 8 by a 3-2 margin. Luke Bowen retired from the race on the second lap then David McAllan brought down Adam Roynon on the third lap. The race was awarded to race leader Lee Dicken with Adam Roynon declared second. This took the score to 25-22.

In heat 9 Steve Boxall was excluded after falling and hitting the fourth bend fence. This left Parker and Ksiezak to take a 5-1 ahead of Luke Bowen which increased the home side’s lead to 30-23. Rye House hit back with a 2-4 in heat 10. Tai Woffinden beat Craig Watson while Adam Roynon took third place ahead of McAllan cutting the Tigers’ lead to five points. It was down to three after heat 11 won by Chris Neath from Trent Leverington while Luke Bowen passed Michael Coles on the last bend for the 2-4. In heat 12 Shane Parker passed Tai Woffinden to win the race for the home side but Woffinden and Bowen filled the minor places as Lee Dicken pulled out of the race. The result was a 3-3 which took the score to 37-34.

Heat 13 needed three attempts to complete. On the first running Trent Leverington fell on the first bend and all four back was the decision. At the second attempt Chris Neath ended up in the fence as a result of first bend bunching and, again, all four were invited back. At the third attempt Craig Watson made the gate and won the race from Steve Boxall. Behind them Trent Leverington got up on the line to pass Chris Neath giving Glasgow a 4-2 which gave them a five point cushion with two races left. Heat 14 saw Robert Ksiezak make the gate but he was passed by Adam Roynon. Rye House looked as though they would take a 2-4 which would have set up a last heat decider but Luke Bowen shed a chain on the run-in to the line and was passed by Michael Coles to give the Tigers a shared heat and guarantee that they would win the match. In the last race Parker and Watson gated to head home Steve Boxall for a 5-1 which gave the home side a nine point win.

Scorers: For Glasgow – Shane Parker 14 (5), Craig Watson 12+1 (5), Lee Dicken 7+2 (5), Trent Leverington 6+1 (4), Robert Ksiezak 5+2 (4), Michael Coles 3+1 (3), David McAllan 2+1 (4).

For Rye House – Steve Boxall 10+1 (6), Tai Woffinden 10 (4), Adam Roynon 9 (7), Chris Neath 6 (5), Luke Bowen 4 (7), Robbie Kessler 1 (2), Karlis Ezergailis DNR.



Premier League: Mildenhall 7, Berwick 5 abandoned after two heats due to rain – the result does not stand.

Mildenhall had Mark Baseby at number 6 while Berwick were at full strength.

This match lasted two heats before the rain settled in and caused the match to be abandoned. In the opening race Andreas Bergstrom made the gate to beat Shaun Tacey with Sebastian Truminski third giving the Bandits a 2-4. In the reserves race Tomas Suchanek made the gate to win with mark Baseby following him home ahead of Sam Martin. The 5-1 put the Fen Tigers into the lead at 7-5. Jason King went through the tapes in heat 3 and went from 15 metres. In the rerun, Stanislaw Burza fell and was hit by Kyle Legault. Burza was excluded from the second rerun but it all became academic when the rain came down heavily bringing an end to proceedings.


Scorers: For Mildenhall – Tomas Suchanek 3 (1), Mark Baseby 2+1 (1), Shaun Tacey 2 (1), Tom P Madsen 0 (10, Kyle Legault, Jason King and Paul Fry DNR.

For Berwick – Andreas Bergstrom 3 (1), Sebastian Truminski 1 (1), Sam Martin 1 (1), David Meldrum 0 (1), Stanislaw Burza 0 (1), Jacek Rempala and Michal Makovsky DNR.



Premier League: Newcastle 50, Stoke 43 Stoke won the aggregate bonus point by 98-88


Newcastle had George Stancl as a guest at number 1 in place of Christian Henry while Ashley Johnson returned to the number 6 reserve berth due to Adam McKinna’s injuries. Stoke had Matthew Wethers as a guest at number 1 in place of Glenn Cunningham. They also had Jonathan Bethell at number 7 in place of Jack Hargreaves.

Newcastle needed to pull back 17 points to square the match on aggregate but this looked an unlikely prospect even against a weakened Stoke side.

The Diamonds opened with a 4-2 when George Stancl won from Matthew Wethers with Carl Wilkinson third then jumped into a six point lead with a 5-1 in the reserves race with Ashley Johnson making a successful return to the team by winning the heat from Sean Stoddart and Barrie Evans. In heat 3 Lee Complin fell while lying second but the race was won by his partner, Claus Vissing, who beat Ross Brady and Josef Franc for a 3-3. Rusty Harrison won heat 4 for the Potters for a shared race as Jonas Raun and Sean Stoddart finished behind him. This took the score to 15-9.

Josef Franc won heat 5 but Matthew Wethers and Ben Barker shared the points behind him after Ross Brady had been excluded under the two minute time allowance and replaced by Ashley Johnson. Newcastle then stormed into a 10 point lead after heat 6 with a 5-1 from Wilkinson and Stancl as Rusty Harrison finished behind them. Stoke then immediately played their TR card giving the ride to Claus Vissing in heat 7. This was a great success as, not only did Vissing win the race, but he was followed home by Lee Complin ahead of Jonas Raun for the big 1-8 which cut the Diamonds’ lead to only three points. Ben Barker then won heat 8 from Stoddart and Wilkinson to keep the Potters in contention with the score now reading 27-24.

Rusty Harrison became the third consecutive race winner for Stoke by taking heat 9 but Josef Franc and Ross Brady took the minor places for another shared heat. The lack of any challenge from the reserve berths was killing the Stoke effort as the Potters were effectively a five man team. Heat 10 had to be rerun with all four back after Claus Vissing fell. In the rerun, George Stancl and Carl Wilkinson scored a killer 5-1 for Newcastle which extended the Diamonds’ lead to seven points against what was likely to be the Potters’ top pairing. Nonetheless back came Stoke with a 2-4 in heat 11 won by Ben Barker from Jonas Raun with Matthew Wethers third cutting the home side’s lead to five points. Claus Vissing made it seven Stoke race winners from 12 heats by taking the winner’s flag ahead of Josef Franc and Sean Stoddart as Barrie Evans fell. The shared heat took the score to 40-35.

George Stancl kept his maximum going in heat 13 by beating Rusty Harrison. Jonas Raun took third place for a 4-2 which was almost enough to see the Diamonds’ home but not enough to challenge for the bonus. Lee Complin won heat 14 from Stoddart and Brady for a shared race then in the final race Stancl completed his maximum by beating Claus Vissing. Rusty Harrison took third place after Carl Wilkinson fell while lying third. The shared race meant that Newcastle had earned a seven point win.

Scorers: For Newcastle – George Stancl 14+1 (5)(paid maximum), Sean Stoddart 8+3 (6), Josef Franc 8+1 (4), Carl Wilkinson 7+2 (5), Jonas Raun 6 (4), Ross Brady 4+2 (3), Ashley Johnson 3 (3).

For Stoke – Claus Vissing 15 (5)(with 6 point TR), Rusty Harrison 10+1 (5), Ben Barker 7+1 (4), Lee Complin 5 (4), Matthew Wethers 5 (4), Barrie Evans 1 (5), Jonathan Bethel 0 (3).