Around the Premier League Tracks 2007
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Monday, 27 August
Three Premier League tracks jumped on board the Bank Holiday ship to run Premier League matches. At Rye House the Rockets met the Isle of Wight while at Newcastle the Diamonds took on Glasgow. The other match was at Workington where the Comets raced against Berwick.
Premier League: Rye House 69, Isle of Wight 21 Rye House won the aggregate bonus point by 109-71
Rye House were at full strength while the Isle of Wight had Danny Betson at number 6 in place of Andrew Bargh.
It was hard to tell whether Rye House were so good or whether the Isle of Wight were so poor as this match turned into a massacre in front of a television audience of millions. It was probably the former. There’s no doubt that the Rockets can hardly ever have turned in a better display of fast gating, superb riding and total commitment while their visitors wondered what had hit them. By contrast the Isle of Wight handicapped themselves by failing almost completely to live with their opponents from the starts. Most of their effort went into chasing at the back. Even when they did make decent starts the Rockets invariably hunted them down and passed them.
It was heat 7 before any of the visitors finished in front of a home man as the Rockets rattled up six consecutive 5-1s to lead 30-6. This doesn’t mean that there were any lack of incidents in these opening heats. In heat 2 Danny Betson was the meat in a Rocket sandwich and was struck by Adam Roynon’s back wheel. He turned right and high-sided it before crashing heavily through the first bend fence. Luckily he was not seriously injured and was able to take his place in the rerun. In heat 4 both the Islanders made a rare gate but Steve Boxall roared round the pair of them on the second bend. On the second lap Adam Roynon made a stunning move by passing both of them too.
In heat 5 Chris Holder took a Tactical Ride and finished last! He went too wide on the second bend, had to shut off to avoid hitting the fence and never featured thereafter. The Rockets perfect record was dented in heat 7 won by Steve Boxall. Luke Bowen ran wide on the second bend and slipped well to the back to leave Bunyan and Phillips in second and third. However Glen Phillips retired with bike trouble so Bowen picked up a point after all in a Rockets’ 4-2. In heat 8 the Rockets were back to their 5-1 winning ways but not until Adam Roynon had passed Cory Gathercole on the fourth bend on lap 3 to join Stefan Ekberg up front and take the score to 39-9.
Two more 5-1s followed from the gate but Chris Holder finally came to the party by winning heat 11 to give the Islanders something to cheer about – a shared race. Heat 12 Tai Woffinden missed the gate but passed Johnson on the third bend to move into third. Jason Bunyan led at this point but he was chased down and passed in another virtuoso performance by Adam Roynon. Still Bunyan had ended Woffinden’s maximum hopes as the Rockets were restricted to a 4-2. The score now stood at 56-16 and the big question was – would the visitors hit 20 points?
Chris Holder gated in heat 13 and it looked like he might win another race. However the Rockets weren’t having that so Steve Boxall swooped past him on the outside down the back straight while Chris Neath did the same on the inside in a superb pincer movement. That was another 5-1 for the home side and yet another followed in heat 14 after Luke Bowen passed Glen Phillips to join Tommy Allen up front. This left the Isle of Wight needing two points to make it to the 20 point mark and Chris Holder ‘did the business’ when he shot from the gate and got quickly onto the outside line to leave Neath and Boxall in his wake.
Scorers: For Rye House – Chris Neath 13+1 (5), Steve Boxall 12+1 (5), Adam Roynon 10+2 (4)(paid maximum), Tai Woffinden 10 (4), Stefan Ekberg 9+3 (4)(paid maximum), Tommy Allen 9+3 (4)(paid maximum), Luke Bowen 6+3 (4).
For the Isle of Wight – Chris Holder 8 (5), Jason Bunyan 6 (5), Krzysztof Stojanowski 3 (4), Cory Gathercole 2 (4), Danny Betson 1 (3), Glen Phillips 1 (4), Chris Johnson 0 (5).
Premier League: Newcastle 50, Glasgow 44 Glasgow won the aggregate bonus point by 99-88
Three Premier League tracks jumped on board the Bank Holiday ship to run Premier League matches. At Rye House the Rockets met the Isle of Wight while at Newcastle the Diamonds took on Glasgow. The other match was at Workington where the Comets raced against Berwick.
Premier League: Rye House 69, Isle of Wight 21 Rye House won the aggregate bonus point by 109-71
Rye House were at full strength while the Isle of Wight had Danny Betson at number 6 in place of Andrew Bargh.
It was hard to tell whether Rye House were so good or whether the Isle of Wight were so poor as this match turned into a massacre in front of a television audience of millions. It was probably the former. There’s no doubt that the Rockets can hardly ever have turned in a better display of fast gating, superb riding and total commitment while their visitors wondered what had hit them. By contrast the Isle of Wight handicapped themselves by failing almost completely to live with their opponents from the starts. Most of their effort went into chasing at the back. Even when they did make decent starts the Rockets invariably hunted them down and passed them.
It was heat 7 before any of the visitors finished in front of a home man as the Rockets rattled up six consecutive 5-1s to lead 30-6. This doesn’t mean that there were any lack of incidents in these opening heats. In heat 2 Danny Betson was the meat in a Rocket sandwich and was struck by Adam Roynon’s back wheel. He turned right and high-sided it before crashing heavily through the first bend fence. Luckily he was not seriously injured and was able to take his place in the rerun. In heat 4 both the Islanders made a rare gate but Steve Boxall roared round the pair of them on the second bend. On the second lap Adam Roynon made a stunning move by passing both of them too.
In heat 5 Chris Holder took a Tactical Ride and finished last! He went too wide on the second bend, had to shut off to avoid hitting the fence and never featured thereafter. The Rockets perfect record was dented in heat 7 won by Steve Boxall. Luke Bowen ran wide on the second bend and slipped well to the back to leave Bunyan and Phillips in second and third. However Glen Phillips retired with bike trouble so Bowen picked up a point after all in a Rockets’ 4-2. In heat 8 the Rockets were back to their 5-1 winning ways but not until Adam Roynon had passed Cory Gathercole on the fourth bend on lap 3 to join Stefan Ekberg up front and take the score to 39-9.
Two more 5-1s followed from the gate but Chris Holder finally came to the party by winning heat 11 to give the Islanders something to cheer about – a shared race. Heat 12 Tai Woffinden missed the gate but passed Johnson on the third bend to move into third. Jason Bunyan led at this point but he was chased down and passed in another virtuoso performance by Adam Roynon. Still Bunyan had ended Woffinden’s maximum hopes as the Rockets were restricted to a 4-2. The score now stood at 56-16 and the big question was – would the visitors hit 20 points?
Chris Holder gated in heat 13 and it looked like he might win another race. However the Rockets weren’t having that so Steve Boxall swooped past him on the outside down the back straight while Chris Neath did the same on the inside in a superb pincer movement. That was another 5-1 for the home side and yet another followed in heat 14 after Luke Bowen passed Glen Phillips to join Tommy Allen up front. This left the Isle of Wight needing two points to make it to the 20 point mark and Chris Holder ‘did the business’ when he shot from the gate and got quickly onto the outside line to leave Neath and Boxall in his wake.
Scorers: For Rye House – Chris Neath 13+1 (5), Steve Boxall 12+1 (5), Adam Roynon 10+2 (4)(paid maximum), Tai Woffinden 10 (4), Stefan Ekberg 9+3 (4)(paid maximum), Tommy Allen 9+3 (4)(paid maximum), Luke Bowen 6+3 (4).
For the Isle of Wight – Chris Holder 8 (5), Jason Bunyan 6 (5), Krzysztof Stojanowski 3 (4), Cory Gathercole 2 (4), Danny Betson 1 (3), Glen Phillips 1 (4), Chris Johnson 0 (5).
Premier League: Newcastle 50, Glasgow 44 Glasgow won the aggregate bonus point by 99-88
Both Newcastle and Glasgow were at full strength for this match.
The Glasgow express finally hit the buffers when they lost to a Newcastle team which supplied 12 of the 15 race winners. Having beaten the Diamonds by 17 points at Ashfield yesterday the Tigers were looking for all five points from the two fixtures to keep alive their play-off hopes. They never looked like doing it though.
The opening heat, once it got going, had all the hallmarks of a Glasgow 1-5 until Craig Watson fell off on the first bend of the second lap and was excluded. Track grading took place before the rerun which was won by Christian Henry from David McAllan so the Diamonds opened with a 4-2. Glasgow drew level again with a 2-4 in heat 2 won by Lee Dicken from Sean Stoddart with Michael Coles third but the home side shot four points in front in heat 3 when Shane Parker had an engine failure leaving Josef Franc and Paul Clews to take a 5-1 at the expense of Robert Ksiezak. Carl Wilkinson won heat 4 from Leverington and Dicken for a shared race taking the score to 14-10.
In heat 5 Josef Franc won again beating Craig Watson while David McAllan came off at the back and had to be taken from the track by ambulance with suspected broken toes. The 4-2 put the home side 6 points ahead then, in heat 6, Christian Henry beat Trent Leverington while Jonas Raun was third for another Diamonds’ 4-2 putting them 8 points ahead. Carl Wilkinson kept the Newcastle race winners coming by beating Shane Parker in heat 7 while Ksiezak picked up third by heading home Sam Dore for a shared heat. In heat 8 the Tigers gave Shane Parker a Tactical Substitute ride from 15 metres back replacing the injured McAllan. Sean Stoddart won the race although Parker got through for second. With Lee Dicken third Glasgow scored a 3-5 to cut the deficit to six points again with the score now standing at 28-22.
Newcastle forged 10 points ahead with a 5-1 in heat 9 when Josef Franc and Paul Clews relegated Trent Leverington to third. Josef Raun fell in heat 10 leaving Christian Henry to win the race for a 3-3 ahead of Parker and Ksiezak then in heat 11, with the Tigers still 10 points down, Craig Watson took a Tactical Ride. Carl Wilkinson won the heat to keep his maximum going while Watson and Dicken filled the minor places ahead of Sam Dore. The Tigers took another 3-5 therefore cutting the home side’s lead to eight points. Josef Franc passed Shane Parker to win heat 12 while Sean Stoddart took third ahead of Lee Dicken so the Diamonds took a 4-2 increasing their lead to 10 points again with the score now 43-33.
Carl Wilkinson won again in heat 13 but Christian Henry fell leaving Watson and Leverington to share the race behind him but Glasgow took a 1-5 in heat 14 through Lee Dicken and Robert Ksiezak cutting the arrears to 6 points. It was too little too late to have any bearing on the result but Shane Parker won heat 15 to deny Wilkinson and Franc their maximums while Watson finished last for a shared heat. Newcastle took the two league points but Glasgow won the bonus.
Scorers: For Newcastle – Carl Wilkinson 14 (5), Josef Franc 13+1 (5), Christian Henry 9 (4), Paul Clews 6+2 (4), Sean Stoddart 6 (5), Jonas Raun 2 (4), Sam Dore 0 (3).
For Glasgow – Shane Parker 13 (6)(with 4 point TS), Lee Dicken 9+3 (6), Craig Watson 8 (5)(with 4 point TR), Trent Leverington 6+1 (4), Robert Ksiezak 5+3 (4), David McAllan 2 (2), Michael Coles 1 (3).
Premier League: Workington 53, Berwick 37 Workington won the aggregate bonus point by 101-82
Both Workington and Berwick were at full strength again for this meeting.
After winning at Berwick on Saturday and given Berwick’s poor record this season, this was perhaps expected to be a runaway win for the home side. Berwick, however, hung in and, aided by some bike problems for the Comets, were still in the hunt with two heats to go.
Andreas Bergstrom and Michal Makovsky gated in heat 1 but Ulrich Ostergaard passed them both on the second bend to race away to win the race. Mattia Carpanese was stuck at the back, however, so the race was shared. The Comets took the lead in heat 2. John Branney was the winner but Sam Martin moved into second when Charles Wright who had been leading the race suffered an engine failure on the third bend of the last lap. He still had enough in the bank to coast round for third place ahead of David Meldrum though! Jacek Rempala led heat three until he was passed by James Wright on the last bend of the second lap then by Craig Branney on the last bend so the home side took a 5-1 to go 6 points in front. Kauko Nieminen won heat 4 from Theo Pijper while John Branney, in third place, got a puncture on the back straight of the last lap and was pipped on the line by David Meldrum. The heat was shared so the score stood at 15-9.
Michal Makovsky won heat 5 from James Wright while Craig Branney passed Andreas Bergstrom for a shared heat. Heat 6 won by Ulrich Ostergaard was shared too as was heat 7. Rempala gated well again but was passed on the second bend by Kauko Nieminen while at the back Charles Wright suffered engine problems letting Stanislaw Burza through for third place. The Bandits got two points back in heat 8. Andreas Bergstrom won the race after gating with David Meldrum. John Branney finally got passed Meldrum on the last bend restricting the Bandits to a 2-4 taking the score to 26-22.
Theo Pijper briefly led heat 9 before being passed by James Wright while Craig Branney finished third for a Comets’ 4-2 increasing their lead to 6 points again. Ulrich Ostergaard worked his way passed the fast starting Bandits’ pair in heat 10. He took Burza on the fourth bend of the first lap then Rempala on the last bend for a 3-3. In heat 11 Charles Wright had an engine failure on the first bend while Kauko Nieminen passed Michal Makovsky on the second bend for another shared race. Heat 12 was a 3-3 too. James Wright won the race but Jacek Rempala and Sam Martin finished behind him as the score went to 39-33.
The home side’s lead stretched to 8 points in heat 13 when Michal Makovsky could only split Ostergaard and Nieminen for a 4-2 but it was all over one heat later. Charles Wright and Craig Branney beat Stanislaw Burza into third place for a 5-1 then the Comets finished with another 5-1 in heat 13 from Nieminen and Ostergaard to stretch the winning margin to 16 points.
Scorers: For Workington – Ulrich Ostergaard 14+1 (5)(paid maximum), Kauko Nieminen 13 (5), James Wright 11 (4), Craig Branney 6+3 (4), John Branney 5 (5), Charles Wright 4 (4), Mattia Carpanese 0 (3).
For Berwick – Michal Makovsky 8+1 (5), Jacek Rempala 8 (5), Andreas Bergstrom 6+1 (4), Theo Pijper 6 (4), Sam Martin 4+2 (5), Stanislaw Burza 3+2 (4), David Meldrum 2+1 (3).
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