Around the Premier League Tracks 2007
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Sunday, 30 September



Tonight saw the staging of one of the most prestigious meetings of the year in the Premier League when the Premier League Riders’ Championship was held at Swindon.


Premier League Riders’ Championship: at Swindon.

Winner: James Wright (Workington)
Second: Jason Lyons (Birmingham)
Third: Jacek Rempala (Berwick)

The field had seen a number of riders unable to take their place before the meeting and the day of the meeting saw two further withdrawals in Gary Havelock with a broken wrist and Jason King who was stuck in traffic on the M4. Chris Kerr replaced Havelock for Redcar and, meeting reserve, Chris Schramm, took King’s rides. The format for the meeting was a 16 rider, 20 heat full individual followed by a semi final in which the riders finishing 3rd – 6th raced for first and second places to join the meeting’s top two point scorers in the grand final.

In the opening four races James Wright, Jason Lyons, Kai Laukkanen and Chris Schramm won their heats to lead the field and after all the riders had had two rides James Wright and Jason Lyons remained unbeaten on 6 points while Chris Holder and Kai Laukkanen had 5 with Tomas Topinka, Daniel Nermark and Michal Rajkowski all on 4.

The third stanza saw Jacek Rempala beat Jason Lyons in a two man rerun of heat 9 after Complin and Kerr had been excluded. Tai Woffinden beat Tomas Topinka in heat 10 while Chris Holder won heat 11. Daniel Nermark beat James Wright in heat 12 but that was the only time that Wright was beaten all evening. Kai Laukkanen’s chances were badly hit in this race when he suffered an engine failure while lying second. This meant that after three races for all the riders Chris Holder, James Wright and Jason Lyons all jointly led the field with 8 points while Tomas Topinka had 6 and Tai Woffinden, Kai Laukkanen and Chris Schramm 5.

The fourth stanza produced a win for Daniel Nermark in heat 13 but in heat 14 Tai Woffinden’s hopes were dashed when he finished third to Chris Kerr and Andre Compton. Tomas Topinka beat Kai Laukkanen in heat 15 with Chris Holder finishing third and, in heat 16, James Wright beat Jason Lyons so the outright leader was now James Wright on 11 with Jason Lyons and Daniel Nermark on 10 and Chris Holder and Tomas Topinka on 9 as the main challengers for the six qualifying places.

In the last set of races Jacek Rempala won heat 17 to come charging through the field to make the semi-final as did Daniel Nermark by winning heat 18. Jason Lyons beat Chris Holder in heat 19 to earn a seeding directly to the final with Holder making the semi. In heat 20 James Wright continued to lead the field by beating Chris Kerr who relegated Tomas Topinka to third place. This meant that James Wright went straight to the final while Topinka qualified for the semi-final.

In the semi-final Daniel Nermark powered round the first two bends to win the race but dark horse, Jacek Rempala, finished ahead of Topinka and Holder. Nermark and Rempala therefore joined Wright and Lyons for the Grand Final. This race was won from the gate by James Wright who beat Jason Lyons. Behind this pair Daniel Nermark lost his rostrum place when he locked up on the fourth bend which allowed Jacek Rempala through for third place.

Scorers from the qualifying heats: James Wright 14, Jason Lyons 13, Daniel Nermark 13, Chris Holder 11, Tomas Topinka 10, Jacek Rempala 9, Kai Laukkanen 7, Tai Woffinden 7, Josef Franc 7, Chris Kerr 6, Chris Schramm 6, Lee Complin 5, Andre Compton 4, Michal Rajkowski 4, Emil Kramer 2, Trent Leverington 1.