Sunday 16 September 2007

Around the Premier League Tracks 2007
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Sunday, 16 September

There were two Premier League matches raced today while a third fell victim to the weather. At Newport the Wasps raced Newcastle while at Rye House the Rockets took on Stoke. The match at Glasgow between the Tigers and Birmingham was postponed because of a waterlogged track.


Premier League: Newport 52, Newcastle 40 Newport won the aggregate bonus point by 92-90


Newport were at full strength but Newcastle were without Christian Henry and had George Stancl as a guest at number 1. They were also missing Jonas Raun so had to use Rider Replacement at number 4.

Newport needed to win this match and take the bonus point to keep their Young Shield qualification hopes alive. Newcastle arrived with a ten point lead for the bonus but it didn’t prove to be enough.

George Stancl won the opening race for the Diamonds for a 3-3 but the Wasps were in front after taking a 5-1 from the reserves race. They added another two points to their lead with a 4-2 in heat 3 won by Sebastian Truminski from Josef Franc. Heat 4 needed three attempts before it could be completed after falls by Schramm then Wilkinson resulted in all-four-back decisions. Carl Wilkinson led for three laps before encountering engine problems. He was passed by Chris Schramm and Paul Clews but had enough puff to get over the line for the third place point after Barry Burchatt had pulled out with an engine failure. The score then stood at 15-9.

Newport continued to pull further ahead with a 4-2 in heat 5 won by Truminski from Stancl then heats 6 and 7 were shared with wins for Paul Clews in the former and Josef Franc in the latter. Heat 8 resulted in another 5-1 to the Wasps when Barry Burchatt and Tom Hedley headed Stoddart and Clews home taking the score to 30-18.

Heat 9 ended as another 5-1 to the Wasps after Carl Wilkinson had fallen leaving the Diamonds 16 points adrift and struggling even for the bonus point for which they now trailed by 6 points. Tom Hedley fell in heat 10 but Michal Rajkowski won the race for a 3-3 then Newcastle gave George Stancl a Tactical Ride in heat 11. Chris Schramm won it though so Stancl’s second place was only good enough to share the points with a 4-4. The Diamonds finally took a heat advantage in heat 12 when Josef Franc beat Truminski with Clews third for a 2-4 which took the score to 44-30.

Michal Rajkowski shed a chain while leading heat 13 leaving Chris Schramm to win the race for a shared heat then the Wasps clinched the bonus point with a 4-2 in heat 14 from Nick Simmons who beat Carl Wilkinson with Tony Atkin third. It was perhaps just as well because George Stancl and Josef Franc took a 1-5 in the last heat beating Schramm and Truminski to cut the winning margin to twelve points.

Scorers: For Newport – Chris Schramm 12 (5), Sebastian Truminski 11 (5), Nick Simmons 7+2 (4), Michal Rajkowski 6+1 (4), Barry Burchatt 6 (4), Tom Hedley 5+2 (4), Tony Atkin 5+1 (4).

For Newcastle – George Stancl 14 (5)(with 4 point TR), Josef Franc 11+2 (5), Paul Clews 8 (7), Carl Wilkinson 4+2 (5), Sean Stoddart 3 (5), Sam Dore 0 (3).



Premier League: Rye House 66, Stoke 26 Rye House won the aggregate bonus point by 109-73.


Rye House were without Stefan Ekberg and had Robert Mear at number 2 in his place. Stoke were at full strength.

Yet another team came to Hoddesdon and could not make it to the 30 point mark. Stoke were the latest side to get hammered by the home track specialists losing by 40 points in the process.

Chris Neath won heat 1 from Ben Barker with Robert Mear taking third from Lee Complin but Stoke then lost four 5-1s on the trot to trail by 24-6 after heat 5. In heat 5 Lee Complin fell and dislocated his shoulder. Although he took part in the rerun the medics withdrew him from the meeting. Claus Vissing managed a second place in heat 6 between Chris Neath and Robert Mear then Stoke shared the points in heat 7. Steve Boxall won the race but Glenn Cunningham and Rusty Harrison kept Luke Bowen at the back for the 3-3 which took the score to 31-11. Ben Barker took a Tactical Ride in heat 8. Three times this race was started and three times Robert Mear came down under pressure from Barker on the first bend. Eventually Adam Roynon won the race from Barker and with Jaimie Smith third the Potters took a 3-5 advantage to take the score to 34-16.

Heats 9 and 10 resulted in 5-1s to Rye House. Robert Mear did well in the latter of these two heats to beat Rusty Harrison and Glenn Cunningham and finish behind his partner Chris Neath. Ben Barker managed a second place in heat 11 as Boxall slowed on the approach to the line letting the Stoke rider through for a 4-2 but another 5-1 in heat 12 from Roynon and Woffinden took the score to 53-21.

Heats 13 and 14 both went to the Rockets by 5-1 but heat 15 was shared. Chris Neath and Claus Vissing went shoulder to shoulder before Vissing fell. The Stoke rider was not happy and tried to make his point to Neath who was controversially excluded by the referee from the rerun in which Tai Woffinden had to come from the back to pass Vissing and Barker to win the race for a shared heat.

Scorers: For Rye House – Tai Woffinden 12+3 (5)(paid maximum), Chris Neath 12 (5), Tommy Allen 11+1 (4)(paid maximum), Adam Roynon 11+1 (4)(paid maximum), Steve Boxall 8+2 (4), Luke Bowen 8+1 (4), Robert Mear 4+1 (4).

For Stoke – Ben Barker 11 (5)(with 4 point TR), Claus Vissing 4+1 (5), Glenn Cunningham 3 (4), Jaimie Smith 3+1 (5), Barrie Evans 3 (5), Rusty Harrison 2+1 (4), Lee Complin 0 (2).

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