Saturday 1 September 2007

Around the Premier League Tracks 2007
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Friday, 31 August

There were two Premier League matches raced tonight. At Edinburgh the Monarchs raced Sheffield while at Somerset the Rebels took on the Isle of Wight.


Premier League: Edinburgh 53, Sheffield 40 Sheffield won the aggregate bonus point by 99-84


Edinburgh had Ben Taylor at number 7 in place of Daniele Tessari. Sheffield were missing Andre Compton, James Birkinshaw and James Cockle. They had Lee Complin as a guest in place of Andre Compton at number 3, used Rider Replacement for James Birkinshaw at number 4 and had David Speight replacing James Cockle at number 7.


Edinburgh got back on the winning trail after a run of three home defeats beating a patched up Sheffield side more comfortably than the score might suggest. It was an entertaining meeting though with some good races.

Heat 1 was a cracker. Derek Sneddon made the gate and went on to win comfortably but the action was for second place where Ricky Ashworth made it into second off the second bend with George Stancl in hot pursuit. Stancl was all over Ashworth all race and it looked as though he had nailed the Sheffield rider when he finally moved ahead on the last lap and led down the back straight. However he ran wide on the last bend and Ashworth cut back inside to pip Stancl on the line for a 4-2. Paul Cooper won the reserves race from Ben Taylor and Kalle Katajisto but David Speight was way off the pace at the back. After this shared heat the Monarchs struck with a 5-1 in heat 3. Kai Laukkanen made the gate while Andrew Tully took the inside route round bends 1 and 2 to pass the Sheffield pair into second place. Complin chased hard but a mistake on the fourth bend lost him ground he couldn’t recover. The Monarchs added another two points to their six point lead in heat 4. ‘Stormy’ Wethers stormed into the lead from the gate to head home Joel Parsons while Ben Taylor finished third for a 4-2 taking the score to 16-8.

Ricky Ashworth and Ben Wilson were on a 1-5 from the gate in heat 5 but Kai Laukkanen was soon past Wilson before hunting down and passing Ashworth for the win. Meanwhile Andrew Tully passed Ben Wilson for third so another 4-2 came Edinburgh’s way. This was followed by an untroubled 5-1 from Derek Sneddon and George Stancl in heat 6 while Matthew Wethers won heat 7 by the proverbial mile. Cooper and Complin finished behind him so the race was shared as was heat 8 won by Derek Sneddon from Cooper and Wilson taking the score to 31-17.

Kai Laukkanen won heat 9 easily but Joel Parsons was able to take two points by holding off Andrew Tully for second place and a 4-2, a score which was repeated in heat 10. Derek Sneddon needed a win or paid win for his first ever maximum and things looked bright when George Stancl and Sneddon made the gate. Lee Complin passed Sneddon off the second bend, however, to finish behind Stancl for another 4-2. Sheffield now trailed by 18 points and gave Ricky Ashworth a Tactical Ride in heat 11. Ashworth and Wilson again made the better starts and, although Matthew Wethers soon passed Wilson, he couldn’t get past Ashworth who took the full 6 points. This gave the Tigers a 2-7 cutting the lead to 13 points and virtually clinched the bonus point. Heat 12 produced another Sheffield heat advantage. Lee Complin and Kai Laukkanen had a great race for first place but it was the fast improving Complin who gave the Finn his only defeat of the match. Behind them Paul Cooper took third from Ben Taylor so the Tigers added a 2-4 cutting the gap to 11 points and taking the score to 43-32.

A fast start from Matthew Wethers and George Stancl saw off Ashworth and Parsons for a 5-1 in heat 13 and a determined Andrew Tully won heat 14 by a mile ahead of Parsons and Cooper for a shared race. But the best race was left for heat 15. Matthew Wethers rocketed from the start and George Stancl slotted in behind him for what looked like a home 5-1. However Lee Complin had other ideas. George Stancl was content to protect Matthew Wethers by sitting behind him covering the gaps. Lee Complin got his front wheel in front of Stancl on the first bend of the third lap and forced the Edinburgh man wide. This allowed Ashworth through too as Stancl slipped to the back. Complin then set off after Wethers and coming off the last bend he found enough drive to pass Wethers on the run-in to the line. A class ride indeed!

Scorers: For Edinburgh – Matthew Wethers 13 (5), Kai Laukkanen 11 (4), Derek Sneddon 10 (4), George Stancl 8+2 (5), Andrew Tully 7+1 (4), Ben Taylor 3 (5), Kalle Katajisto 1+1 (3).

For Sheffield – Ricky Ashworth 12 (5)(with 6 point TR), Andre Compton 10+1 (5), Paul Cooper 9+1 (7), Joel Parsons 7 (5), Ben Wilson 2+1 (4), David Speight 0 (4).



Premier League: Somerset 46, Isle of Wight 44 The Isle of Wight won the aggregate bonus point by 103-80.


Somerset were without Magnus Zetterstrom serving a one match ban for his non-appearance at Newport last Sunday. They had Tai Woffinden guesting at number 1 instead. The Isle of Wight had Daniel Halsey at number 6 in place of the injured Andrew Bargh.

Without Magnus Zetterstrom the Rebels just scraped home against the Isle of Wight thanks in the main to a massive advantage at reserve where they outscored their visitors by 19+4 (10) to 2 (8).

The Islanders took the lead in heat 1 when Chris Holder won from Tai Woffinden with Gathercole third. The 2-4 put the visitors two in front but they were two behind after heat 2 when the Rebels took a 5-1 in the reserves race. Emil Kramer won heat 3 from Jason Bunyan with Stephan Katt third for a 4-2 which put them four ahead but that was reversed by a 2-4 from Stojanowski and Johnson split by Ritchie Hawkins in a race which had to be rerun after Danny Warwick had fallen. The score at this point stood at 13-11.

Chris Holder and Cory Gathercole took a 1-5 from Emil Kramer in heat 5 so it was the Islanders who now led by two points again. The Rebels countered that with a 5-1 from Simon Walker and Tai Woffinden ahead of Stojanowski in heat 6 so the Rebels led by two points again. Glen Phillips won heat 7 for a 3-3 in heat 7 but the Rebels hit home another 5-1 in heat 8 from Walker and Warwick ahead of Gathercole to increase their lead to six points at 27-21.

Jordan Frampton beat Krzysztof Stojanowski in heat 9 with Emil Kramer third so the home side increased their lead to eight points and it stayed that way when Jason Bunyan won heat 10 from Walker and Woffinden. Back came the Islanders with a 2-4 in heat 11 as Chris Holder returned to the fray and continued his winning run. Gathercole finished third behind Jordan Frampton to cut the arrears to 6 points and it stayed that way when Jason Bunyan won again in heat 12 from Kramer and Warwick for a shared heat taking the score to 39-33.

It was all to race for after Chris Holder and Krzysztof Stojanowski took a 1-5 from heat 13 cutting the gap to two points at 40-38 but the home side breathed a sigh of relief when Jordan Frampton and Stephan Katt headed home Glen Phillips in heat 14 for a 5-1 which sealed the match by giving the home side a six point advantage with one race to go. It was just as well because Chris Holder and Jason Bunyan finished with a 1-5 against Emil Kramer which meant that the Rebels had won by just two points with the bonus point going back to the Isle of Wight.

Scorers: For Somerset – Jordan Frampton 13 (5), Emil Kramer 8 (5), Simon Walker 8 (5), Daniel Warwick 6+4 (5), Tai Woffinden 5+2 (4), Stephan Katt 3+1 (3), Ritchie Hawkins 3 (4).

For the Isle of Wight – Chris Holder 15 (5)(full maximum), Jason Bunyan 10+1 (5), Krzysztof Stojanowski 8+1 (4), Cory Gathercole 5+1 (4), Glen Phillips 4 (4), Chris Johnson 2 (5), Daniel Halsey 0 (3).

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