Around the Premier League Tracks 2007 - the close season 2007/8

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Wednesday, October 31


Premier League News



Workington: It seems that Workington has been sold by Tony Mole to a lifelong Comets’ fan, Keith Denham, chief executive of Thomas Armstrong (Holdings) Ltd. Denham will be co-promoter along with Ian Thomas. What is not clear is whether Denham has bought the Comets’ rider assets. Tony Mole’s Premier League interests not lie solely with Birmingham.

An article in the News and Star reads as follows:

“WORKINGTON COMETS have been bought by West Cumbrian business boss Keith Denham – a lifelong fan.Denham, chief executive of Thomas Armstrong(Holdings) Ltd has taken over control from promoter Tony Mole who re-introduced speedway to Derwent Park, Workington in 1999. Denham, who has stressed the fact that he has personally bought the club, admits he’s been trying to buy it since 2001. He said: “Tony Mole and I have always had a good relationship and we’ve regularly sat down and talked about a possible deal. Now that I have bought the Comets I hope to be able to move the club forward and build on the solid foundations already laid down.” “I’m local – I know the people – I’ve been a fan from 1970. I’ve made plenty of noise in the past about how things could be improved, now it will be up to me to make sure things happen that will do just that. I have lots of ideas I would like to bring to fruition. Some of those involve the landlords, Workington Town RLFC and I will be sitting down with their board of directors in the next couple of weeks,” he said. Denham has already applied to the BSPA for a promoter’s licence and says he will be attending the association’s annual conference next month. Ian Thomas, the man who first brought speedway to Derwent Park in 1970 when Denham first watched from the terraces, will work with him as co-promoter. Mole, who now only has the Birmingham track in his speedway ‘stable’ said: “I believe this is excellent news for the Comets fans and it will take the club into a new era with fresh ideas. I have worked closely with Keith and Thomas Armstrong since speedway returned to Workington and we have enjoyed an excellent working relationship. The support of Thomas Armstrong has been greatly appreciated during this time. As promoter of the Comets I have enjoyed my nine seasons at the club since March 1999 and have made many new friends.” “Finally I should just like to thank the board of directors and staff of Workington Town RLFC Ltd for the use of their stadium and the Allerdale Borough Council for having the vision to grant planning consent and renewing it.”

Glasgow: Press reports suggest that Glasgow have lost interest, at least for the time being, in signing Filip Sitera. The Glasgow promotion were more than impressed with Sitera’s performance in the Ashfield Classic in which he finished runner up but his Sunday commitments next year in Poland have ruled him out of any plans the Tigers may have. The Glasgow Evening Times commented:

GLASGOW TIGERS have cooled their interest in Filip Sitera - after the Czech speedway sensation agreed terms to race in the Polish League.The 19-year-old whiz wooed fans in the recent Ashfield Classic and supporters urged Tigers bosses to snap up the Czech Junior champ. However, Polish League clubs race on a Sunday - the same day as Tigers - which has left club chief Alan Dick no alternative but to pull the plug.Dick said: "We need riders who are 100% committed to the Tigers. We have precious few available Sundays. In fact, we had to stage two double-headers this season. It's a great pity because he was an absolute daredevil and one of the most exciting visitors we've had at Ashfield in years. He raced INCHES from the safety fence - it was incredible to watch."


Sheffield: Kyle Legault has asked Sheffield, who own his contract, for a transfer. An article in the Sheffield Star reads:

SHEFFIELD Tigers asset Kyle Legault has this week spoken on his reasons for putting in a transfer request away from Owlerton.

The Canadian star said: "I feel that it is very important to outline why I have handed in my transfer request with the Tigers. I would like to place on record my thanks to Neil Machin and the promotions team in Sheffield as they gave me the chance to come to England and have a career in British speedway."It was a disappointment to me that we couldn't agree on a contract for last season and I found myself looking for a job and in a difficult situation as the Tigers still owned my rights and had a say on where I went. Luckily I ended in Mildenhall and I have had a great time and made some big advances in my career."I am very ambitious and want to ride in the Grand Prix series, I am not sure I will get that chance while still contracted to the Sheffield Tigers. At this stage of my career, I would like to be racing at the highest possible level in both the UK and also in Europe and I think the Elite League is where I need to be for that to happen. "With that in mind then I think it would be best for both sides if we parted company professionally and the Tigers granted my wish to move to another club permanently, which in turn should allow me to get the best out of my career. Sheffield will always be a place I love to go and it is my home in England."

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Tuesday, 30 October



……and so to the last match of the season (there’s not one tomorrow is there?! The final match of 2007 was a challenge match at Scunthorpe where the Scorpions, next year’s Premier League newcomers, took on Sheffield in a Challenge Match for the Halloween Trophy.



Halloween Trophy: Scunthorpe 44, Sheffield 45.


Scunthorpe used Rider Replacement at number 3 and had Adam Roynon at number 2 in place of Chris Kerr who was due to guest for the Scorpions but who had to withdraw due to a broken bone in his hand. They also had Carl Wilkinson as a guest at number 5. Sheffield used Rider Replacement at number 1 for Ricky Ashworth, who allegedly had what is commonly known as ‘the runs’. They also had Simon Lambert at number 2 in place of Ben Wilson and a reserve partnership of Ricky Scarboro and Luke Priest.

Scunthorpe, the Conference League Champions, had an opportunity to size up the reaction to the visit of a Premier League side before their proposed elevation to the higher flight next season. They must have been pleased with the size of the crowd – probably the best ever seen at the track on a bitterly cold night. The start of the meeting had to be delayed due to the traffic such was the interest.

Simon Walker made the best start in the opening heat but Tai Woffinden was soon past him while Joel Parsons (R/R) kept Adam Roynon at the back to share the points but the Scorpions took the lead in the reserves race. Luke Priest made the gate for the Tigers and had an excellent battle with Byron Bekker before Bekker got the better of him. Scott Richardson finished third for a 4-2 to the home side but Sheffield looked well placed to take a 1-5 in heat 3 when Paul Cooper and Andre Compton led from the start. Tai Woffinden (R/R) and Benji Compton passed Andre Compton on the inside on the third bend then chased after Paul Cooper. Woffinden got past him on the first bend of the second lap but Benji Compton went too wide on the third bend and crashed into the fence. The race had to be stopped and rerun without the younger of the Compton brothers. Tai Woffinden won the rerun from the gate for another shared heat. There was another excellent race in heat 4 as Joel Parsons, Carl Wilkinson and Byron Bekker passed and re-passed for the opening three laps. Eventually Parsons closed the door on Wilkinson to go on and win the race while the two Scorpions finished behind him for yet another shared race which took the score to 13-11.

Heat 5 produced the third 3-3 on the trot but this time the race was incident-free as Adam Roynon led home Paul Cooper and Simon Lambert from the gate but heat 6 had to be rerun after Tai Woffinden clipped Joel Parsons’ back wheel and went into the fence at some speed. Woffinden, who was excluded from the rerun, had to return to the medical room in the ambulance feeling a bit less than tickety-boo. Unfortunately for Scunthorpe Woffinden was to take no further part in the meeting. In the rerun there was another exciting race when Joel Parsons and Adam Roynon had a ding-dong battle which Parsons eventually won. Ricky Scarboro picked up the third place point so the Tigers scoreed a 2-4 to level the match. Sheffield followed this with a 1-5 in heat 7 when Andre Compton and Paul Cooper gated to beat Carl Wilkinson to shoot the Tigers into a four point lead. Back came the Scorpions in heat 8 with a 4-2. Adam Roynon won the race but the excitement was behind him as Byron Bekker came from the back to pass Luke Priest on the third lap before chasing after Lambert unsuccessfully on the last lap. The score now stood at 23-25.

There was another rerun in heat 9. Carl Wilkinson fell on the third bend of the opening lap when Joel Parsons dived underneath him. Wilkinson was not pleased but he was excluded nonetheless. In the rerun an inspired Benji Compton gave Parsons a hard race and after the riders had passed and re-passed each other the younger Compton won the race for the Scorpions for a 3-3. Adam Roynon won heat 10 for the home side after passing Andre Compton but Byron Bekker, replacing Tai Woffinden, just couldn’t get past Paul Cooper after spending the race tied to his exhaust pipe. This shared race was followed by a big 5-1 for the Scorpions in heat 11. Andre Compton taking the R/R ride was excluded under the two minute rule and went from 15 metres back. He was then excluded after being adjudged to have caused Scott Richardson to fall when passing him and, in the rerun, Richardson was nursed home by Carl Wilkinson to keep Simon Lambert at the back. The maximum heat win wiped out the Scorpions’ two point deficit and put them two points in front and it stayed that way when heat 12, won by Andre Compton, was shared taking the score to 37-35.

Carl Wilkinson passed Simon Lambert on the fourth lap to win heat 13 but Woffinden’s absence was felt as the Tigers shared the points behind him. Sheffield levelled the scores in heat 14 with a 2-4. Paul Cooper won the race from Benji Compton while Luke Priest passed Scott Richardson on the third lap for the vital third place. The drama continued until the last bend of the last heat. Andre Compton led from the start but Paul Cooper crashed on the last bend while trying an outside sweep on Carl Wilkinson. This might have given Scunthorpe a draw but, unfortunately, Adam Roynon suffered an engine failure after falling so the race was awarded to Compton the elder and Wilkinson for a 2-3 which gave Sheffield a one point win.

The result was academic though as the huge crowd enjoyed a fabulous meeting full of incident and excitement to bring the 2007 season to a close.

Scorers: For Scunthorpe – Carl Wilkinson 11 (6), Adam Roynon 11 (6), Benji Compton 7 (5), Byron Bekker 6+2 (5), Tai Woffinden 6 (3), Scott Richardson 3+1 (5).

For Sheffield – Andre Compton 13 (6), Joel Parsons 10+2 (5), Paul Cooper 9+3 (6), Simon Lambert 8+1 (5), Luke Priest 3 (4), Ricky Scarboro 2+1 (4).

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Monday, 29 October



There was a rare Monday night match tonight at Redcar where the Bears took on Newcastle in the second leg of the Tyne Tees Trophy.



Tyne Tees Trophy: Redcar 53, Newcastle 40 Redcar won the Trophy by 98-85.


Redcar had Adam Roynon as a guest at number 2 in place of Mathieu Tressarieu and used their Conference League side, the Cleveland Bays’ Martin Emerson, at number 4 in place of Josh Auty. Newcastle had George Stancl as a guest at number 1 in place of Christian Henry while Robert Ksiezak was due to fill the number 2 spot in place of Jonas Raun. However Ksiezak did not arrive (it was announced that he had returned to Australia!) so the Diamonds had to use Rider Replacement for him instead.

With the first leg at Newcastle ending in a 45-45 draw and with Redcar still in a state of euphoria following their Jack Young Shield win last night, the stage was set for the Bears to bring their season to a close in a blaze of glory by winning silverware on consecutive nights.

The Newcastle resistance lasted one heat. George Stancl gated to head home Gary Havelock and Adam Roynon for a 3-3 in heat 1 but the reserves race provided Redcar with a 5-1 and four point lead with Hargreaves and Giffard leading Paul Clews home. The Bears added a 4-2 from heat 3 as James Grieves passed both Newcastle riders to lead down the back straight on his way to the heat win. Martin Emerson rode a good race to beat Sean Stoddart for third increasing the Bears’ lead to six points. When Chris Kerr and Jack Hargreaves hit the front in heat 4 another 5-1 looked on the cards but Hargreaves got out of shape on the fourth bend and Carl Wilkinson got through for second and a 4-2 which took the score to 16-8.

James Grieves won heat 5 for the Bears but George Stancl and Sean Stoddart (R/R) filled the minor places as Martin Emerson fell at the back. This meant that the race was shared but Redcar pulled another two points in front in heat 6 when Gary Havelock, the early race leader, was nearly reeled in by Carl Wilkinson but held on to win the race. Adam Roynon finished third so the result was a 4-2 for a ten point lead. It got worse for Newcastle when the rampant Bears scored a 5-1 in heat 7. Chris Kerr and Daniel Giffard did the hard work on the opening bends leaving Josef Franc to trail in third. Now 14 points adrift, Newcastle gave Carl Wilkinson, taking the R/R ride, a Tactical Ride in heat 8. He duly delivered the six points by beating off a terrific challenge by Adam Roynon. With Jack Hargreaves third the Diamonds took a 3-6 from the race and the score now stood at 31-20.


James Grieves made it three rides, three wins in heat 9 but Carl Wilkinson was second and Sam Dore third so the race finished as a 3-3. Gary Havelock kept the pressure on Newcastle by passing Josef Franc to win heat 10 while Adam Roynon passed Sean Stoddart for third giving the Bears another 4-2 stretching the home side’s lead to 13 points. Heat 11 produced a great race between George Stancl and Chris Kerr with Stancl getting the verdict on the line. Paul Clews (R/R) took third place for a 2-4 pulling two points back for the Diamonds while heat 12 was won by James Grieves again this time by passing Josef Franc on the fourth bend. Jack Hargreaves fell on the second lap and although he remounted the race finished as a 3-3 taking the score to 43-32.

Redcar clinched the Trophy in heat 13 with a 5-1 from Gary Havelock and Chris Kerr after Kerr had passed both Wilkinson and Stancl on the third and fourth bends. Daniel Giffard won heat 14 for a 3-3 then, in heat 15, Josef Franc spoiled the Redcar party by ending James Grieves’ maximum hopes in winning the race. Although Grieves finished second Carl Wilkinson finished third ahead of Gary Havelock for third giving the Diamonds a consolation 2-4.

Scorers: For Redcar – James Grieves 14 (5), Gary Havelock 11 (5), Chris Kerr 10+1 (4), Daniel Giffard 7+2 (4), Adam Roynon 5+1 (4), Jack Hargreaves 5+1 (4), Martin Emerson 1 (4).

For Newcastle – Carl Wilkinson 13 (6)(with 6 point TR), Josef Franc 10 (5), George Stancl 9 (4), Paul Clews 4 (5), Sean Stoddart 2+2 (5), Sam Dore 2+2 (5).

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Sunday, 28 October 2007

There was just the one match raced tonight. It was the last of the major meetings left this season raced at Birmingham where the second leg of the final of the Jack Young Shield took place with Redcar providing the opposition. There was one other match scheduled - a Challenge Match, at Oxford where next year’s prospective Premier League side faced Somerset. The rain washed this out but the two teams will try again tomorrow night.


Young Shield, final – second leg: Birmingham 43, Redcar 46 Redcar won the Shield on aggregate by 95-84.


Birmingham need a head count these days to see how many guests they’re going to need for their matches. Tonight Lee Smart was able to ride so the Brummies only needed four guests in addition to using Rider Replacement at number 1 for Manuel Hauzinger. Replacing any four of Henning Bager, Emiliano Sanchez, Henrik Moller, Phil Morris and Ben Powell were Joel Parsons at number 2, Shaun Tacey at number 4, Chris Schramm at number 5 and Paul Clews at number 6. Redcar missing Mathieu Tressarieu and Josh Auty used Rider Replacement at number 2 and had Simon Lambert at number 4.

This match seemed delicately poised after a late rally by the Bears in the first leg saw them take an eight point lead. This had been good enough to see off Glasgow in the first round and, although they had a ten point lead, would have been good enough to beat Workington in the semi-final. Birmingham were wondering whether they would be left to rue the late collapse at Redcar last Thursday.

The match opened with a shared race won by Gary Havelock but things started to go badly for Birmingham in heat 2. Redcar looked to be heading for a 1-5 from Daniel Giffard and Jack Hargreaves until Lee Smart passed Hargreaves on the line to limit the damage to a 2-4. If that was bad for the Brummies, heat 3 was an absolute disaster and probably the turning point of the whole match even that early in the proceedings. Simon Lambert made the gate and James Grieves nursed him round for the whole race to relegate Jason Lyons to third place. This 1-5 left the home side gasping already six points down on the night and now with 14 points to pull back. They got no joy from heat 4. Although Chris Schramm won it for them Chris Kerr and Jack Hargreaves kept Lee Smart at the back for a shared race which took the score to 9-15.

Gary Havelock won heat 5 beating Jason Lyons in the process for another 3-3 but heat 6 offered Birmingham a chance to strike back when Chris Kerr fell on the third bend bringing down Chris Schramm and being excluded as a result. In the rerun, though, Chris Schramm’s bike gave up the ghost with an early fireworks display at the starting gate. Although Joel Parsons won the race for the home side, Daniel Giffard picked up the gift two points in the two finisher race. Birmingham won the heat 3-2 but this was really another body blow to their chances. Paul Clews raised home hopes by passing James Grieves on the last bend of the opening lap to win heat 7 while Chris Schramm finished third for a 4-2 to the Brummies cutting their arrears on the night to three points. James Grieves was out again in heat 8 which finished as a 3-3. Grieves passed Joel parsons at the start of lap 2 but Lee Smart again pipped Jack Hargreaves on the line for third place taking the score to 22-25.

Finally Jason Lyons came to the party. He won heat 9 from Chris Kerr and Shaun Tacey while Daniel Giffard’s attempt at an outside sweep for third place ended when his bike packed up. Again the result was a shared race and Birmingham were now fast running out of races to make inroads to their arrears. They could only share heat 10 as well as James Grieves won comfortably from Paul Clews and Joel Parsons but any lingering hopes they might still have had all but disappeared after heat 11 when Redcar took a 2-4 to increase their lead to three points again, eleven on aggregate. Chris Kerr was the race winner from Chris Schramm while Gary Havelock’s third place point was enough to put Redcar in the comfort zone. Birmingham replied with a 4-2 in heat 12 when Jason Lyons beat James Grieves from the tapes with Lee Smart third to get to within a point of the Bears with the score now 35-36 and Redcar still leading by nine points on aggregate.

Chris Kerr rode a brilliant first two bends in heat 13 to go from last to first but he was passed by Jason Lyons, taking the R/R ride, who went on to win the race. Kerr and Havelock were content to fill the minor places to give Redcar one hand on the trophy. It was finally done and dusted when Jack Hargreaves won heat 14 to ensure that every single Bears rider had recorded at least one race win. Paul Clews got past Simon Lambert who finished third ahead of Shaun Tacey for a 2-4 advantage to Redcar giving them a three point lead going into the last race. Jason Lyons won heat 15 but Chris Kerr and Gary Havelock took second and third to ensure a Redcar win on the night to add icing to the cake.

Congratulations go to Redcar for winning this trophy. There can be no argument that the Bears were the form team of the tournament. They were never able to build up sizeable leads from their home legs but, in truth, they never needed them. Their ploy of using James Grieves in heats 7, 8 and 10 (away) gave them a strong mid-match line-up and with Chris Kerr being able to join Gary Havelock in heats 11 and 13 for the away matches they posed problems which none of their opponents were able to solve.

Scorers: For Birmingham – Jason Lyons 15 (6), Joel Parsons 8+1 (5), Paul Clews 7 (5), Chris Schramm 6 (5), Lee Smart 4+1 (4), Shaun Tacey 3+2 (5).

For Redcar – James Grieves 12+1 (5), Chris Kerr 11 (6), Gary Havelock 9+2 (5), Jack Hargreaves 5+1 (4), Daniel Giffard 5 (5), Simon Lambert 4 (5).

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Saturday, 27 October

There were two individual meetings held tonight. One was the Garry Stead meeting at Stoke while the other was the Ace of Herts meeting at Rye House.


Garry Stead Meeting: at Stoke

Winner: Rory Schlein (Coventry)
Second: Ben Barker (Stoke)
Third: George Stancl (Edinburgh)

The format used was the standard one with 16 riders, 20 heats and each rider meeting each other once. The winner was the top point scorer from the 20 heats. In addition to the main event there were three ‘Old Men Racers’ heats between Les Collins, Gary O’Hare, Alan Grahame and Rob Hollingsworth. In the main event there was one casualty when the unfortunate Gareth Isherwood fell in heat 6 and withdrew from the meeting with a suspected broken wrist.

Rory Schlein won the meeting with a 15 point maximum. However it wasn’t all from the gate. In heat 4 he passed Adam Allott on the third lap on the outside while in heat 6 he didn’t realise that he had only completed three laps and coasted the latter part of the fourth yet still won the race! Mark Lemon led heat 11 from the gate but Rory Schlein passed him coming off the second bend to win that one. In heat 13 Ben Barker gated and looked in good position but Rory Schlein took Rob Grant wide causing him to fall on the first bend. The race was rerun with all four and Schlein made no mistake at the second time of asking. He then went on to beat George Stancl in heat 20 for a full house.

Ben Barker was runner up beaten only by Schlein and Tony Atkin after a titanic struggle between the two in heat 5. Third place went to George Stancl who finished a point ahead of former Potter, Mark Lemon, and James Wright while no fewer than eleven of the sixteen competitors won a race!

The meeting was of course in aid of Stoke’s Garry Stead who suffered such dreadful injuries which have confined him to a wheelchair in the match at Somerset earlier in the season . There was an excellent attendance which resulted in a full grandstand with supporters there from other tracks all of which contributed to an excellent evening’s entertainment including a fireworks display to bring Stoke’s 2007 season to a close.

Scorers - (five rides each): – Rory Schlein 15, Ben Barker 13, George Stancl 11, Mark Lemon 10, James Wright 10, Tony Atkin 9, Emil Kramer 7, Barrie Evans 7, Trent Leverington 7, Lee Dicken 7, Adam Allott 6, Rob Grant 6, Luke Priest 5, Jonathan Bethell 4, Gareth Isherwood 1 (2), Alan Grahame (Res) 1 (1), Aidan Collins 0.

‘Old Men Racers’ Scorers (from 3 rides each): - Alan Grahame 7, Rob Hollingsworth 6, Les Collins 4, Gary O’Hare 1.

Ace of Herts: at Rye House

Winner: Tommy Allen (Rye House)
Second: Chris Neath (Rye House)
Third: Tai Woffinden (Rye House)

Rye House brought their highly successful season to a close with this annual individual event which was followed by a fireworks display. The format for this meeting was a 12 rider, 15 heat one with the top eight riders proceeding to two semi-finals with the top two from each semi-final going through to the final. In the end it was a clean sweep for Rye House for first, second and third although the leader from the qualifying heats was Danny King. Edward Kennett finished third in the qualifying heats yet neither King nor Kennett could finish in the top three.

The four riders eliminated after the opening twelve heats were Robert Mear. Adam Roynon, Luke Bowen and Karlis Ezergailis with the other eight competing in the semi-finals, the first of which produced a win for Tommy Allen from Edward Kennett. Eliminated as a result of finishing third and fourth were Danny King and Lewis Bridger whose chain snapped on the third bend of the last lap causing him to fall while in second place.

In the second semi-final Chris Neath won from Tai Woffinden in a race decided from the gate. Eliminated as a result of finishing third and fourth in this race were Steve Boxall and Leigh Lanham. The final was decided from the gate and, perhaps surprisingly considering he only scored 7 points from his five opening rides, was won by Tommy Allen from Chris Neath and Tai Woffinden with Edward Kennett trailing in last.

Scorers - from the qualifying heats (from 5 rides each): – Danny King 13, Chris Neath 12, Edward Kennett 11, Tai Woffinden 10, Lewis Bridger 8, Leigh Lanham 7, Tommy Allen 7, Steve Boxall 7, Robert Mear 5, Adam Roynon 4, Luke Bowen 4, Karlis Ezergailis 2.

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Friday, 26 October


Somerset wound down their season tonight with a challenge match against an International Select.



Challenge Match: Somerset 49, International Select 44.



Somerset tracked Ricky Ashworth at number 1 in place of Magnus Zetterstrom and used Rider Replacement at number 2 for Simon Walker. The International Select side consisted of Bjarne Pedersen and Tomas Suchanek as the top pairing, Mark Lemon and Matt Bates at numbers 3 and 4 with the ubiquitous Filip Sitera at number 5 partnering the two reserves Casper Wortmann and Luke Bowen.

Somerset finished off the season by beating a select side which had effectively only four scorers. The Rebels had only five race winners but still managed to finish five points ahead of their opponents for whom Bjarne Pedersen was a class above the rest.

The first race resulted in an easy win for Bjarne Pedersen while Ricky Ashworth’s fall while holding third place cost the Rebels a 2-4 but they replied with a 5-1 in the reserves race. Daniel Warwick won the race while Casper Wortmann lost his second place to Stephan Katt. He slipped to the back when passed by his partner, Luke Bowen, and Bowen’s charge almost got him past Katt on the line. The Rebels then took another 5-1 from heat 3 stretching their lead to six points. Emil Kramer and Jordan Frampton made the gate to head home Mark Lemon but the Select hit back with a 2-4 from heat 4. Filip Sitera drove round the outside of Danny Warwick to win the race then Warwick suffered a puncture on the last lap on the run in to the line allowing Luke Bowen through for third place. The score now stood at 14-10.

Bjarne Pedersen sailed home for another race win in heat 5 from Emil Kramer but, behind this pair, Tomas Suchanek and Jordan Frampton passed and re-passed each other for the third place point which eventually went to Frampton for a shared race. Somerset hit another 5-1 in heat 6 courtesy of Stephan Katt and Ricky Ashworth who left Filip Sitera floundering at the gate. This increased the Rebels’ lead to eight points and they stretched it further to ten with a 4-2 in heat 7. Stephan Katt, out for two on the trot, won again with a flying start this time to beat Mark Lemon. Ritchie Hawkins’ third place added an extra two points to the home side’s lead but the International Select then gave Filip Sitera a Tactical Substitute ride from 15 metres back in heat 8 replacing Tomas Suchanek. Sitera made light work of his handicap and had gone ahead by the end of the third lap. However Ritchie Hawkins and Stephan Katt filled the minor places so the heat resulted in a 3-6 to the visitors making the score 29-22.

Casper Wortmann had a fearful crash on the back straight of heat 9 requiring medical treatment. He recovered but was excluded from the rerun in which Emil Kramer held off the determined challenge of Filip Sitera to win the race. This gave the Rebels another 4-2 advantage stretching their lead to 9 points. Mark Lemon made the gate to win heat 10 from Ashworth and Warwick for a shared race then Bjarne Pedersen rejoined the fray by winning heat 11 from Ritchie Hawkins. Stephan Katt and Tomas Suchanek had an interesting tussle for the third place point which finally went to Katt for another shared race. It was Lemon to the fore again in heat 12 with another race win but, again, there was no support forthcoming for him so this heat ended as another 3-3 with the score now standing at 42-33.

Heat 13 provided another routine race win for Bjarne Pedersen but there was a great battle behind him between Ricky Ashworth and Filip Sitera for second. Ashworth hung on so the Select were restricted to a 2-4 heat win which closed the gap to seven points. Luke Bowen then joined the list of Select race winners by hanging on to beat Jordan Frampton in heat 14. Stephan Katt suffered an engine failure so Mark Bates picked up the gift third place point for another 2-4 to cut the gap again - this time to five points. It was too little too late with just one heat left in which Bjarne Pedersen completed his maximum heading home Kramer and Frampton with Lemon at the back.

Scorers: For Somerset – Emil Kramer 12 (5), Stephan Katt 11+4 (7), Jordan Frampton 9+3 (6), Ritchie Hawkins 7 (5), Ricky Ashworth 6+1 (4), Daniel Warwick 4+1 (3).

For the International Select – Bjarne Pedersen 15 (5)(full maximum), Filip Sitera 13 (5)(with 6 point TS), Mark Lemon 9 (5), Luke Bowen 5 (5), Tomas Suchanek 1 (3), Matt Bates 1 (4), Casper Wortmann 0 (3).

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Thursday, 25 October



Redcar staged tonight’s only meeting. They faced Birmingham in the first leg of the final of the Young Shield.



Young Shield Final, first leg: Redcar 49, Birmingham 41.


Redcar again used Rider Replacement for the injured Mathieu Tressarieu at number 2 and had Joe Haines at number 4 in place of Josh Auty. Birmingham were once again forced to use three guests in addition to Rider Replacement for their injured riders – Manuel Hauzinger, Henrik Moller, Emiliano Sanchez and Ben Powell. They operated Rider Replacement at number 1 and had Shaun Tacey at number 4, Jason King at number 5 and Barrie Evans at number 6.

The last week in October once again sees the final of the Jack Young Shield with the weather kind enough to avoid any late and awkward rearrangement problems for the two teams (so far!). Redcar got to the final by disposing of Glasgow and Workington while Birmingham knocked out Mildenhall and Stoke. Redcar’s success had been achieved without the need for a sizeable home lead to take to the away leg while Birmingham had somehow managed to see off their opponents despite having to field seriously patched up sides. Everything was set for a real cliff hanger over both legs of the final with the eventual winners too close to call.

You can never write the Redcar Bears off! Just like in the semi-final when Workington led comfortably only to be hit by a late whammy from the Bears, Birmingham led by two points with just the last three races left only to be hit by two 5-1s and a 4-2 to find themselves with an eight point deficit to make up in the second leg. Redcar managed to triumph in the second legs at Glasgow and Workington defending similar leads so the second leg should be a thriller. Unfortunately the match was marred by an injury to Phil Morris in heat 11 in a collision with Chris Kerr which resulted in Morris having to be taken to hospital with what appeared to be an injury to his back.

In the early part of the match Birmingham had the better of the exchanges but Redcar kept hitting back keeping very much in contention. The opening four races were all shared. Gary Havelock won the opening race from the gate but in heat 2 Birmingham looked to be set for a 1-5 when Lee Smart and Barrie Evans gated. However Evans suffered an engine failure on the back straight leaving Smart to win it for a 3-3. Jason Lyons was fast away in heat 3 but James Grieves soon rounded him for the race win then in heat 4 all four riders fell on the first bend. It was an all-four-back decision and Chris Kerr gated to win the race in the rerun. Jack Hargreaves dived under Lee Smart on the third bend of the second lap and was deemed to have caused Smart to fall earning him an exclusion. The second rerun was won by Chris Kerr and this fourth shared race took the score to 12-12.

The deadlock was broken in heat 5 when Jason Lyons got the better of James Grieves while Phil Morris kept Joe Haines pointless for a 2-4 putting the Brummies two points ahead. Redcar hit back with a 5-1 which swopped the two point lead between the sides. Chris Kerr (R/R) and Gary Havelock team rode to keep Jason King at the back but the Bears were two points down again after heat 7. Shaun Tacey and Jason Lyons scored a 1-5 over Chris Kerr as Daniel Giffard fell at the back to regain the visitors’ two point advantage. James Grieves took the R/R ride in heat 8 and had a tapes-to-flag win. Phil Morris was second while Jack Hargreaves finished third after Lee Smart suffered an engine failure. The 4-2 tied the scores again at 24-24.

What a shock for Redcar in heat 9 when Jason King and Barrie Evans headed home James Grieves for another Brummies 1-5 putting them four points ahead. The visitors looked to be completely in command when they added a 2-4 in heat 10 from Jason Lyons who beat Gary Havelock and Shaun Tacey putting them six points ahead. Back came Redcar again in heat 11. Phil Morris made the gate but Daniel Giffard rounded him to lead the race. On the second lap Chris Kerr dived hard inside Phil Morris and both riders came down. The referee excluded Morris, a decision which did not meet with universal agreement. In the rerun Chris Kerr and Jason King had a good battle until King seemed to have a problem with his machine allowing Daniel Giffard through for a 5-1. This clawed four points back for the home side cutting the gap to two points. James Grieves won heat 12 but Jason Lyons and Barrie Evans comfortably kept Giffard at the back for a shared race taking the score to 35-37.

Then came Redcar’s grandstand finish! Chris Kerr and Gary Havelock combined beautifully in heat 13 to see off Jason King and Barrie Evans for a 5-1 putting the Bears two points in front. Heat 14 produced a crucial and thrilling race. Both Giffard and Hargreaves gated for the Bears but Shaun Tacey was not to be denied. He finally got past Hargreaves after a couple of laps but couldn’t quite catch Giffard so the home side took a 4-2 doubling their lead to four points. Finally James Grieves and Gary Havelock got the better of Jason Lyons from the gate in heat 15 and, try as he did, Lyons could not catch either of them. The 5-1 doubled the Bears’ lead again from four to eight points and this could turn out to be a crucial result for both teams. It certainly sets the second leg up nicely with the outcome still delicately balanced.

Scorers: For Redcar – James Grieves 15 (6), Chris Kerr 13 (6), Gary Havelock 11+3 (5), Daniel Giffard 6+2 (5), Jack Hargreaves 4 (6), Joe Haines 0 (4).

For Birmingham – Jason Lyons 13+1 (6), Shaun Tacey 9+1 (6), Jason King 8 (5), Lee Smart 4+1 (3), Phil Morris 4+1 (4), Barrie Evans 3+2 (6).

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Wednesday, 24 October

There were two matches raced tonight. At King’s Lynn the Stars raced Somerset in the second leg of the Knockout Cup final while at Birmingham the Brummies took on Wolverhampton in the second leg of the Midland Shield.


Knockout Cup final, second leg: King’s Lynn 59, Somerset 34 King’s Lynn won the cup on aggregate by 105-78.


King’s Lynn were at full strength while Somerset were without Magnus Zetterstrom and Simon Walker. Instead they had Ricky Ashworth as a guest at number 1 and used Rider Replacement at number 2 for Walker.

Having lost the first leg at home by two points and tracking a weakened team, Somerset’s chances of winning the trophy looked bleak. They recovered from a first heat 5-1 to the Stars from Tomas Topinka and Paul Lee by sharing the reserves race 3-3 thanks to a win for Stephan Katt and then doing likewise in heat 3 when Daniel Nermark fell and was excluded from the rerun. Emil Kramer led the rerun for a couple of laps but when his front wheel lifted Trevor Harding took the opportunity to pass him. Chris Mills fell in heat 4 while chasing race leader Ritchie Hawkins so the Rebels scored a 2-4 when Lambert followed Hawkins home with Daniel Warwick picking up the third place point. This took the score to 13-11 with the Rebels four points behind on aggregate.

Heat 5 was rerun after Trevor Harding had fallen and Jordan Frampton (R/R) was excluded for causing the stoppage. In the rerun Trevor Harding got a flyer from the gate and was followed home by Daniel Nermark for a 5-1 ahead of Ricky Ashworth extending the Stars’ lead to six points but heat 6, won by Topinka, was shared as Stephan Katt and Ritchie Hawkins comfortably consigned Paul Lee to last place. Jordan Frampton and Chris Mills were involved in a nasty looking crash in heat 7 which saw Frampton excluded for a second time. Mills was unable to take his place in the rerun and withdrew from the meeting as did Frampton so Mills was replaced by Simon Lambert. The rerun resulted in a 5-1 to the Stars as Adam Allott and Simon Lambert made stunning starts to leave Emil Kramer for dead. King’s Lynn were now ten points in front on the night and Somerset were now losing touch with their opponents. Adam Allott was out again in heat 8 and won again supported in second place by Paul Lee for another 5-1 which took the score to 31-17.

The floodgates had opened now as King’s Lynn added a third consecutive 5-1 this time from Nermark and Harding in heat 9 after Ritchie Hawkins was excluded for failing to beat the two minute time allowance, elected to go from 15 metres back then was excluded again under a fresh two minute time allowance. It became four 5-1s on the trot in heat 10 as Topinka and Lee added another from Warwick and Kramer. Rather late in the day Ricky Ashworth took a Tactical Ride in heat 11 against the two King’s Lynn reserves and won it warding off a spirited challenge by Simon Lambert in the process. Stephan Katt took third ahead of Adam Allott so the Rebels scored a 2-7 to cut the gap to 17 points. Daniel Nermark won heat 12 but Emil Kramer and Stephan Katt shared the points behind him taking the score to 46-29. The aggregate score was now beyond the Rebels as King’s Lynn confirmed their cup triumph.

Tomas Topinka won heat 13 from Ashworth and Kramer for a shared race then heat 14 produced a good tussle. Stephan Katt led from the tapes but Simon Lambert was first to pass him at the start of the second lap followed by an inside pass by Trevor Harding on the third lap resulting in another home 5-1. The Stars wrapped up a successful evening with a 5-1 in heat 15 but it was by no means routine. Tomas Topinka had a tapes-to-flag win but Daniel Nermark was taken way wide on the first bend leaving him stuck at the back. He thundered back into the race though and roared round the outside of Ritchie Hawkins before passing Ricky Ashworth on the inside to join Topinka for the maximum.

Congratulations go to King’s Lynn for winning the Knockout Cup for the third year in a row. I wonder if they’ll be allowed to keep it now!

Scorers: For King’s Lynn – Tomas Topinka 15 (5)(full maximum), Simon Lambert 11+1 (6), Trevor Harding 10+2 (4)(paid maximum), Daniel Nermark 10+2 (5), Adam Allott 7+1 (5), Paul Lee 6+3 (4), Chris Mills 0 (1).

For Somerset – Ricky Ashworth 11 (5)(with 6 point TR), Stephan Katt 9+1 (7), Ritchie Hawkins 5+2 (6), Emil Kramer 5 (4), Daniel Warwick 3 (5), Jordan Frampton 1+1 (3).



Midland Shield: Birmingham 45, Wolverhampton 45 Wolverhampton won the Shield on aggregate by 100-83.

Birmingham tracked Filip Sitera at number 1. Shaun Tacey at number 4 and Paul Clews at number 6. They also used Rider Replacement at number 5. Wolverhampton had Kenneth Hansen at number 4, Chris Kerr at number 5, and Joe Haines and Jack Hargreaves at reserve.

Having lost by 17 points at Wolverhampton on Monday night, Birmingham’s chances of winning the Midland Shield looked remote even against a scratch Wolves side whose only season-long regulars were Freddie Lindgren and William Lawson.

The Brummies got off to a bad start losing the first heat to a 1-5 from Lindgren and Lawson. They got two points back with a 4-2 in the reserves race won by Lee Smart
Then shared heat 3 when Jason Lyons beat Klindt and Kerr. Kenneth Hansen won heat 4 for the Wolves in a race which it took three attempts to complete after Lee Smart (twice) and Phil Morris had crashed on the first bend resulting in all-four-back reruns. The result was another shared heat taking the score on the night to 11-13.

Heat 5 was shared when Freddie Lindgren won from Jason Lyons and Shaun Tacey but Birmingham wiped out the two point arrears and got their noses in front with a 5-1 in heat 6 from Filip Sitera and Phil Morris who were followed home by Joe Haines and Kenneth Hansen. In heat 7, Sitera was out again taking a R/R ride and won again from Chris Kerr with Paul Clews third. This gave the home side a 4-2 and four point lead but William Lawson won heat 8 from Phil Morris and got support from Jack Hargreaves who beat Lee Smart for a 2-4 taking the score on the night to 25-23.

Jason Lyons kept the Brummies in front by winning heat 9 from Joe Haines and Shaun Tacey then the home side increased their lead to four points in heat 10 with a 4-2 from a heat won by Filip Sitera from Chris Kerr and Phil Morris. Jason Lyons then had two on the trot with a R/R ride in heat 11 which saw him beat William Lawson and Freddie Lindgren for a shared race then another win in heat 10 this time ahead of Nicolai Klindt. On this occasion Lee Smart finished third for a 4-2 to the Brummies extending their lead to six points with the score now 39-33.

Freddie Lindgren stopped Filip Sitera’s winning run in heat 13 while Kenneth Hansen took third place from Shaun Tacey for a 2-4 cutting the difference between the sides to four points again. The scores were once more all square on the night when Wolves took a 1-5 from heat 14. Jack Hargreaves and Chris Kerr did the damage for the visitors leaving Tacey and Clews to bring up the rear. Freddie Lindgren won heat 15 for the Wolves from Sitera and Lyons for a shared race and a drawn match.

Scorers: For Birmingham – Jason Lyons 15+1 (6), Filip Sitera 13 (6), Phil Morris 8+1 (5), Lee Smart 5+1 (4), Shaun Tacey 2+1 (5), Paul Clews 2 (4).

For Wolverhampton – Freddie Lindgren 13+1 (5), Chris Kerr 7+1 (4), William Lawson 7+1 (5), Jack Hargreaves 6 (4), Kenneth Hansen 5+1 (4), Nicolai Klindt 4 (4), Joe Haines 3 (4).

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Tuesday, 23 October

Tonight’s meeting was on the Isle of Wight where the Island Championships took place.

Island Championships: on the Isle of Wight

Winner: Lewis Bridger (Eastbourne)
Second: Filip Sitera (Ak Plzen, Czech Republic)
Third: Jesper Kristiansen (Denmark)

This meeting took the form of a 12 rider individual with 12 qualifying heats. As a result of the rather unsatisfactory nature of the race formula some riders met twice in these heats and others not at all. However only four of the field were eliminated as no less than eight riders went through to two semi-finals and a final.

If this was seen as likely to be a successful farewell to Chris Holder who is leaving the Islanders after this meeting it didn’t turn out that way. Holder certainly won the opening race after passing Andrew Bargh who led for three laps but he could only manage a third in his next outing after clipping Leigh Lanham’s back wheel and hitting the fence in a race won by Filip Sitera. A non-appearance in his third and fourth outings due to machine problems left him with just 4 points. However it was academic as he was forced to withdraw from the meeting feeling unwell.

Glen Phillips also pulled out of the meeting after scoring six points from three races due to feeling the effects of the injuries he sustained in a crash last week involving Chris Johnson in the Islanders match at King’s Lynn. This left the meeting wide open for some of the other contestants and Lewis Bridger looked the best bet by winning all of his four qualifying rides. For the Islanders, Cory Gathercole with two wins in his seven points and Krzysztof Stojanowski with one in his seven points kept the fans’ hopes alive of a home success.

As a result of the two withdrawals only two riders were eliminated after the twelve qualifying heats – Casper Wortmann and Daniel Warwick. The other race winners were Lee Smart (twice) and Filip Sitera.

In the first semi-final Jesper Kristiansen led from the gate but a determined effort by Lewis Bridger got him past Kristiansen on the last bend to win the race. Krzysztof Stojanowski finished third and Lee Smart fourth so both were eliminated.

In the second semi-final Filip Sitera won from the gate to beat Cory Gathercole. Leigh Lanham and Andrew Bargh finished third and fourth so they too were eliminated.

The final fittingly resulted in a win for Lewis Bridger who completed a full house with his sixth consecutive race win. Filip Sitera finished second to gain his third podium place in three consecutive days while Jesper Kristiansen finished third with Cory Gathercole falling on the second bend.

Scorers - from the qualifying heats (from 4 rides each): – Lewis Bridger 12, Filip Sitera 9, Cory Gathercole 7, Leigh Lanham 7, Lee Smart 7, Krzysztof Stojanowski 7, Glen Phillips 6 (3), Chris Holder 4 (2), Andrew Bargh 4, Jesper Kristiansen 4, Casper Wortmann 3, Daniel Warwick 2.

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Sunday, 21 October

There were two meetings staged today. At Glasgow the Ashfield Classic took place while at Mildenhall there was a four team tournament involving the Fen Tigers, Boston, an East Anglian Select and Peterborough.


Ashfield Classic: at Glasgow

Winner: George Stancl (Edinburgh)
Second: Filip Sitera (Ak Plzen - Czech Republic)
Third: Kauko Nieminen (Workington)

The format for this individual meeting was a 16 rider, 20 heat full individual with the top four point scorers being seeded directly to the final and the riders in 3rd – 6th place taking part in a semi-final to determine the remaining two finalists.

George Stancl retained his Ashfield Classic title by winning it again this time representing Edinburgh rather than Glasgow. Stancl was beaten just once – in his opening race when Jason Lyons just pipped him round the opening two bends. After that Stancl made the gate, headed for the fence and won his remaining five races unchallenged. This was the key to success on an Ashfield track which was tailor made for the fence scrapers. It was a hard task for a rider to pass on the inside as, after a few heats, the dirt was up against the fence leaving the rest of the track as bald as a coot.

There were some interesting races though and some close finishes with the rider on the outside line coming off best on most occasions. The afternoon was enlivened by the performance of a newcomer to British Speedway (at least north of the border). 19 year old Filip Sitera from the Czech Republic was a sensation powering into the bends and manoeuvring his machine with great skill to make some stunning passes. If this young man decides to expand his career on British tracks it would be surprising if he went to the Premier League. If he does however there will be a queue of tracks on his trail as news of this performance spreads.

Due to injuries in the Glasgow camp there was little for the home support to cheer about among their own riders although Lee Dicken made some determined starts and wide line sweeps. Also impressive for Edinburgh was Derek Sneddon who would have at least made the semi-final but for having to bale out on bend two of his second ride in heat 7 in order to avoid hitting George Stancl’s rear wheel. He dropped two potential points as a result.

The main challengers were as expected plus Sitera. Kauko Nieminen also dropped only one point from the qualifying heats when beaten by George Stancl in heat 13 although he just got up to pip Derek Sneddon on the line in heat 17. Both Stancl and Nieminen were seeded directly to the final while the semi-final produced a strong line up of Josef Franc, Filip Sitera, Jason Lyons and James Wright. Jason Lyons won the race while Filip Sitera took advantage of the struggle between Franc and Wright on the second bend to slip past them for second place. Lyons and Sitera joined Stancl and Nieminen in the final. Stancl produced another excellent race from tapes to flag in a fast time to take the £1,000 cheque. Again Sitera took advantage of the second bend melee to slip past Nieminen and Lyons for a very impressive second place with Nieminen finishing third.

It was an entertaining meeting made all the more enjoyable by being pushed on at breakneck speed. The Glasgow promotion had taken some stick for previous double-headers which had taken an eternity to complete but to be fair this was not the case this afternoon as 22 heats plus a ‘demonstration’ race were completed in a breathtaking one hour 50 minutes!

Scorers from the qualifying heats (all from 5 rides each): – George Stancl 14, Kauko Nieminen 14, Josef Franc 11, Jason Lyons 11, James Wright 11, Filip Sitera 10, Derek Sneddon 9, Adam Roynon 9, Lee Dicken 8, Trent Leverington 6, Chris Kerr 5, Robert Ksiezak 4, Sean Stoddart 3, Jari Makinen 3, Gary Beaton 1, Cal McDade 0.



The Big Bang 2: Mildenhall 21, Boston 22, East Anglian Select 27, Peterborough 38.

This meeting held at Mildenhall was a four team tournament with each of the four teams consisting of four riders each of whom took four races. Tactical Rides were allowed for teams who fell ten points behind the leaders.

Mildenhall had regular team members Shaun Tacey, Tomas Suchanek and Jason King plus Somerset’s Ritchie Hawkins while Boston fans attending must have thought Christmas had come early when they learned that Kevin Doolan, Lewis Bridger, Carl Wilkinson and James Brundle were to represent them. The East Anglian Select had Leigh Lanham, James Holder, Nicky Glanz and Chris Schramm while Peterborough turned up with Neils Kristian Iversen, Kenneth Bjerre, Daniel King and Claus Vissing.

One look at the line ups would lead you to believe that this would be a walk in the park (or is ride round the track) for the Peterborough Panthers. So it turned out. Kenneth Bjerre won all four of his races while Daniel King was beaten only in his last race by Chris Schramm who was on a Tactical Ride at the time. With Claus Vissing and Neil Kristian Iversen adding 15 points including another four race wins between them the Peterborough side dropped only 10 points from the 16 races to win by 11 points from the East Anglian Select.

Heats 8, 9 and 10 saw a rash of Tactical Rides. Shaun Tacey was first up for Mildenhall and won his race from Vissing, Doolan and Holder. Leigh Lanham followed him in heat 9 finishing second to Claus Vissing then Lewis Bridger completed the set in heat 10 by finishing second to Daniel King.

The track record was broken three times during the meeting. Kenneth Bjerre lowered the time to 50.17 in heat 2; Daniel King followed suit in heat 4 lowering it further to 50.04; finally Kenneth Bjerre got it under the 50 second mark recording a 49.81 in heat 5. Surely this is the lowest track record in British Speedway.

There were a number of other races on the programme featuring among others junior grasstrackers and fun races followed by a fireworks display to bring the season’s end to Mildenhall with an enjoyable afternoon’s entertainment and a ‘Big Bang’!

Scorers – all from 4 rides each: For Mildenhall – Shaun Tacey 9, Jason King 8 (with 4 point TR), Tomas Suchanek 2, Ritchie Hawkins 2.

For Boston – Lewis Bridger 11 (with 4 point TR), Carl Wilkinson 5, Kevin Doolan 3, James Brundle 3.

For East Anglian Select – Chris Schramm 12 (with 6 point TR), Leigh Lanham 11, James Holder 2, Nicky Glanz 2.

For Peterborough – Kenneth Bjerre 12, Daniel King 11, Claus Vissing 8, Neil Kristian Iversen 7.

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Saturday, 20 October

There were two matches raced tonight. The first was at Rye House where the Rockets were at home to Sheffield in the second leg of the final of the Premier League Play Offs. The other match was at Workington where the Comets were at home to Redcar in the second leg of their semi-final Young Shield tie.



Premier League Play Offs, Final, second leg: Rye House 69, Sheffield 23 Rye House won on aggregate by 111-74.


Rye House were at full strength while Sheffield again had Jordan Frampton as a guest at number 6 for James Birkinshaw.

Sheffield arrived at Hoddesdon with a nine point lead from the first leg but they were simply blown away by the Rockets who chalked up no fewer than eleven 5-1 heat wins. Three of the other four races were shared and the other resulted in a 4-2 for the home side.

Heat 1 was rerun with all four back after Ricky Ashworth had fallen in a first bend shoving match. In the rerun the Rockets set the pattern for the night by gating to a 5-1. James Cockle produced one of the two Sheffield race wins in heat 2 by holding off Adam Roynon for a narrow win while Jordan Frampton fell challenging Luke Bowen for third place on the second lap. Paul Cooper raised Sheffield hopes further by making the gate in heat 3 but things went pear shaped for the Tigers when he had an engine failure on the back straight leaving the Tommy Allen and Tai Woffinden to sail off for another 5-1. Adam Roynon produced a last-to-second burst on the first lap of heat 4 to join Steve Boxall for a maximum win and the score now stood at 18-6 with the Tigers already three points behind on aggregate.

Ricky Ashworth gated with the Rockets’ pair of Woffinden and Allen in heat 5 but slipped back when taken wide by Tommy Allen on the first bend. This gave Rye House a 5-1 and they added another in heat 6. Joel Parsons gated in this heat but he was passed by Chris Neath on the first lap then by Stefan Ekberg at the end of the second lap. Andre Compton stopped the rot in heat 7 by winning the battle of the first two bends to emerge in front and go on to win. With Luke Bowen and Steve Boxall following him home it was only good enough for a shared race but the Rockets were soon back on the maximum trail again. Heat 8 produced another 5-1 won by Chris Neath from the gate while Adam Roynon saw off the early challenge of Ben Wilson to take the score to 36-12.

Tommy Allen led from the gate in heat 9 and he was joined by Tai Woffinden after he had passed Joel Parsons at the end of lap 1 for another maximum. Andre Compton took a Tactical Ride in heat 10 but it was Ekberg and Neath who made the gate for the home side. Compton did pass Chris Neath at the end of the first lap but couldn’t catch Ekberg so his second place was only enough to share the heat 4-4. Heat 11 was pulled back after the Sheffield riders had made the gate and in a 1-5 position down the back straight. In the restart Steve Boxall beat Ricky Ashworth to the first corner with Ben Wilson in third but Luke Bowen passed both Tigers on the inside of the third bend to add another 5-1 to the score. Heat 12 produced an excellent battle between Tai Woffinden and Andre Compton. Compton led the race from the start but Woffinden passed him on the third/fourth bends of the first lap. Compton got back into the lead on the third lap with an outside drive but Woffinden was not to be denied and forced his way back in front again off the last bend. Adam Roynon had a good view of this in third place as the meeting’s sole 4-2 was recorded and the score went to 54-20.

The last three heats all went to the Rye House side by 5-1 margins to swell the size of their victory on the night to 46 points and to see Ekberg, Allen and Woffinden go through the card unbeaten but the score did not reflect the effort the Tigers put into this match. They were simply unable to contain a team riding with confidence at the top of their form. Congratulations to Rye House for winning the Play Offs. I guess that makes them league champions in the record books ahead of King’s Lynn and Birmingham the latter of whom finished second in the table yet did not contest the Play Offs.

Scorers: For Rye House – Tommy Allen 14+1 (5)(paid maximum), Tai Woffinden 12+3 (5)(paid maximum), Stefan Ekberg 10+2 (4)(paid maximum), Steve Boxall 10+1 (4), Chris Neath 9+1 (4), Luke Bowen 7+3 (4), Adam Roynon 7+2 (4).

For Sheffield – Andre Compton 11 (5)(with 4 point TR), James Cockle 4 (4), James Cockle 4 (4), Ricky Ashworth 2 (4), Ben Wilson 2 (4), Paul Cooper 0 (4), Jordan Frampton 0 (4).



Young Shield, semi-final, second leg: Workington 47, Redcar 43 Redcar won through to the final on aggregate by 93-87.


Workington were without Ulrich Ostergaard with a knee injury and Mattia Carpanese. They had to use Rider Replacement for Ostergaard at number 5 and had Andrew Bargh as a guest at number 2 for Carpanese. Redcar were without Mathieu Tressarieu and Josh Auty so used Rider Replacement for Tressarieu at number 2 and had Joe Haines as a guest at number 4 for Auty.

Ulrich Ostergaard’s withdrawal from this match made Workington’s task to overturn Redcar’s 10 point lead a massive one. They never looked like doing it; the closest they got was by opening a four point lead on the night but the Bears seemed to have all the answers to keep the home side at bay.

Redcar increased their eight point first leg lead to ten points by taking a 2-4 in the opening race. Gary Havelock and Joe Haines made the gate for the visitors and, although Kauko Nieminen got past Haines on the fourth bend bike problems resulted in him having to nurse his machine home for second place. Workington replied with three consecutive 4-2s. John Branney won the reserves race from Daniel Giffard while Charles Wright passed Jack Hargreaves on the last bend of the third lap for the first of them which levelled the scores. James Wright then gated ahead of James Grieves and Craig Branney in heat 3 for the second 4-2 then Kauko Nieminen (R/R) and John Branney looked like adding a 5-1 in heat 4 until Chris Kerr past Branney on the last bend to rescue two points for Redcar with a 4-2 taking the score to 14-10.

Gary Havelock won again in heat 5 after being passed by James Wright on the second lap before re-passing him for the race win. Craig Branney finished third so the race was shared as was heat 6 which Kauko Nieminen won from Chris Kerr and Daniel Giffard. Heat 7 was a disaster for the Comets as they conceded a 1-5 to James Grieves and Joe Haines. This levelled the scores again and worse was to follow for the home side as a 2-4 in heat 8 left them trailing by two points on the night. James Grieves won again from Charles Wright while Daniel Giffard picked up the third place point after John Branney had retired from the race while lying second. This took the score to 23-25 with Redcar now 10 points ahead on aggregate.

Chris Kerr kept the Bears in front by winning heat 9 from the constant challenge of James Wright. With Craig Branney third the heat was shared but Workington levelled the match in heat 10 when Kauko Nieminen passed James Grieves for the win with Andrew Bargh third for a 4-2. The Bears tracked Gary Havelock and Chris Kerr in heat 11 and were looking to regain the lead but Craig Branney rode an excellent race to head Kerr and Havelock home for a 3-3 which kept the scores tied. Workington went back in front in heat 12. James Wright beat James Grieves with John Branney third for a 4-2 which made the score 37-35 but time was fast running out for the Comets.

It was as good as over when Redcar levelled the scores again with a 2-4 from heat 13. Gary Havelock beat Kauko Nieminen again while Chris Kerr finished third. The Comets again took a two point lead in the match in heat 14 with Craig Branney winning from Joe Haines and John Branney for a 4-2 and they ended with another 4-2 in heat 15 when James Wright beat Gary Havelock with Kauko Nieminen third.

Scorers: For Workington – Kauko Nieminen 14 (6), James Wright 13 (5), Craig Branney 9+2 (5), John Branney 7 (6), Charles Wright 3 (5), Andrew Bargh 1 (3).

For Redcar – Gary Havelock 12+1 (5), James Grieves 12 (5), Chris Kerr 10 (6), Joe Haines 5+1 (5), Daniel Giffard 4+1 (5), Jack Hargreaves 0 (4).

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Friday, 19 October



Tonight’s big match was at Somerset where the Rebels took on King’s Lynn in the first leg of the final of the Premier League Knockout Cup.



Knockout Cup: Final, First leg: Somerset 44, King’s Lynn 46.


Somerset had Chris Holder deputising for Magnus Zetterstrom at number 1 while King’s Lynn were at full strength.

Chris Holder suffered an engine failure in heat 1 and Tomas Topinka and Paul Lee took full advantage to get King’s Lynn off to the perfect start with a 1-5 over Simon Walker but the Rebels hit back immediately with a 5-1 in the reserves race through Stefan Katt and Daniel Warwick over Simon Lambert. King’s Lynn went back in front again with a 2-4 in heat 3. Daniel Nermark and Jordan Frampton were involved in a thrilling race with Nermark prevailing. Trevor Harding finished third against an ailing Kramer so the Stars went two points up. Chris Mills then won heat 4 from Hawkins and Lambert for a shared heat and the score then stood at 11-13.

Jordan Frampton fell in heat 5 and was excluded from the rerun which was won by Tomas Topinka from Emil Kramer. Paul Lee’s third place point gave the Stars another 2-4 increasing their lead to four points but it was all square again one heat later. Although Chris Mills made the gate in heat 6 Chris Holder passed him on the inside and Simon Walker on the outside of the first bend to take a much needed 5-1 for the Rebels to level the match. However King’s Lynn re-took the lead in heat 7. Daniel Nermark won the race from Ritchie Hawkins while Trevor Harding finished third after a good scrap with Stephan Katt for the odd point. The 2-4 put the Stars two points up again but Somerset wiped their lead out and went in front by two points after taking another 5-1 from heat 8. Simon Walker won the race comfortably but Daniel Warwick just held off Paul Lee fore the vital second place which took the score to 25-23.

There then followed six shared races but three retirals by Somerset riders made it hard for the home side to add to their advantage. In heat 9 an unsatisfactory start was declared when Jordan Frampton fell on the first bend. In the rerun Emil Kramer beat Chris Mills but Jordan Frampton never left the tapes so Mills and Allott only had to finish the race for a 3-3. Chris Holder won heat 10 but Nermark settled in second place while Harding roared round the outside of Walker on the second lap for third and another 3-3. In heat 11 Stefan Katt rode an excellent race to round the field on the outside on the first two bends then held off Tomas Topinka for all four laps but Ritchie Hawkins retired while lying third so another 3-3 resulted. Daniel Nermark won heat 12 from Kramer while Warwick just held off Allott on the run in to the line for the fourth shared heat in a row taking the score to 37-35.

Chris Holder won heat 13 from Topinka and Mills for the fifth consecutive shared heat and it became six in a row in heat 14. Stefan Katt and Jordan Frampton were headed for a 5-1 from the race when Frampton shed a chain on the third lap leaving the Rebels with just one finisher again. Somerset’s jinxed night continued in the last race when, after taking the lead from the start, Chris Holder retired on the back straight of the first lap leaving Daniel Nermark to hit the front. Emil Kramer held second place until he was passed by Tomas Topinka on the last lap resulting in a 1-5 to the Stars overturning their two point arrears and giving them a two point lead to take into the second leg next Wednesday.

Scorers: For Somerset – Stefan Katt 9 (4), Chris Holder 9 (5), Emil Kramer 8 (5), Daniel Warwick 6+4 (4), Simon Walker 6+1 (4), Ritchie Hawkins 4 (4), Jordan Frampton 2 (4).

For King’s Lynn – Daniel Nermark 14 (5), Tomas Topinka 12+1 (5), Chris Mills 7+1 (4), Paul Lee 5+2 (4), Trevor Harding 5+1 (4), Simon Lambert 2+1 (4), Adam Allott 1+1 (4).

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Thursday, 18 October

There were two meetings tonight. At Sheffield the Tigers faced Rye House in the first leg of the final of the Premier League Play Offs while at Redcar the South Tees Silver Helmet took place.


Premier League Play Offs, final, first leg: Sheffield 51, Rye House 42

Sheffield again had Jordan Frampton as a guest in place of James Birkinshaw at number 6. Rye House were at full strength.

Sheffield just couldn’t build up a head of steam as they had in the semi-final of the Play Offs against King’s Lynn. Indeed only a last heat 5-1 put some real distance between them and the Rockets but it is Rye House who go into the second leg as firm favourites to win on aggregate.

Sheffield got off to the perfect start with a 5-1 in the opening race from the Wilson/Ashworth pairing against Stefan Ekberg and Chris Neath but their first set back came in the reserves race when James Cockle fell on the third bend while third. Adam Roynon won the race from Jordan Frampton and Luke Bowen picked up the gift third place point for a 2-4 to the visitors. Andre Compton worked his way to the front in heat 3 but had to leave Paul Cooper to fend for himself as Tai Woffinden took up the challenge for the Rockets. The result was a 4-2 to the Tigers who re-opened their four point lead. However the home side were rocked by a 1-5 to the visitors when Steve Boxall made a fast start with Adam Roynon. Joel Parsons briefly passed Roynon for second place but Roynon re-passed him shortly after for the Rye House maximum which levelled the scores at 12-12.

Andre Compton won heat 5 but Ekberg and Neath shared the race behind him then Sheffield stormed back into a four point lead again as Wilson and Ashworth repeated their 5-1 success of heat 1 by heading home Steve Boxall. In heat 7 Tommy Allen fell on the third bend causing the race to be stopped and rerun without him. Tai Woffinden won the rerun to share the points then Sheffield added two more points to their lead with a 4-2 in heat 8 with Ben Wilson beating Chris Neath and taking the score to 27-21.

In heat 9 Andre Compton won again while Steve Boxall suffered an engine failure when lying second. Adam Roynon rescued the second place by passing Paul Cooper as the Tigers extended their lead to eight points with the 4-2. In heat 10 a third consecutive 5-1 from the Ashworth/Wilson pairing stretched the Tigers lead to 12 points but the downside for the Tigers was that it allowed Stefan Ekberg to take a Tactical Ride in the next heat against the weak Joel Parsons/Jordan Frampton pairing. Ekberg, Neath and Parsons produced a stunning race but Ekberg eventually pulled away leaving Neath and Parsons to fight for second place. Parsons won that battle but it still resulted in a 2-7 to the Rockets cutting the Sheffield lead to seven points. It was down to five points when the Rockets added a 2-4 in heat 12 after Tai Woffinden had lowered Andre Compton’s colours while a great race behind these two saw Adam Roynon take third place from Jordan Frampton taking the score to 40-35.

Ricky Ashworth remained unbeaten by winning from Stefan Ekberg while Joel Parsons’ third place ahead of Boxall gave Sheffield a 4-2 in heat 13 which put them seven points ahead again. Back came Rye House with a 2-4 in heat 14. Adam Roynon won the race from Frampton and Allen to reduce the gap to five points but Sheffield finished with a 5-1 from Compton and Ashworth to finish nine points ahead. Alas for the Tigers it doesn’t look nearly enough for the second leg on Saturday.

Scorers: For Sheffield – Andre Compton 14 (5), Ricky Ashworth 12+3 (5)(paid maximum), Ben Wilson 11+1 (4)(paid maximum), Joel Parsons 6 (4), Jordan Frampton 5 (5), Paul Cooper 2 (4), James Cockle 1+1 (3).

For Rye House – Adam Roynon 11+1 (6), Stefan Ekberg 11 (5)(with 6 point TR), Tai Woffinden 10 (5), Chris Neath 4+1 (4), Steve Boxall 4 (4), Tommy Allen 1 (3), Luke Bowen 1 (3).



South Tees Silver Helmet at Redcar.

Winner: Peter Karlsson (Wolverhampton)
Second: Chris Holder (Isle of Wight)
Third: Daniel Nermark (King’s Lynn)

The format for this individual meeting was a 16 rider, 20 heat full individual.

The opening four races provided wins for Gary Havelock from Lewis Bridger; Chris Holder from Daniel Nermark, Peter Karlsson from Freddie Lindgren and James Grieves from Casper Wortman. In heat 4 Jason Lyons fell on the third lap while leading bringing down Josh Auty who had to retire from the meeting thereafter.

The second set of four races saw Daniel Nermark beat Gary Havelock and Chris Holder lead Josef Franc home. Peter Karlsson won again by beating Lewis Bridger then Freddie Lindgren won from Chris Kerr. This left Peter Karlsson leading on his own, a lead he was never to relinquish. Gary Havelock, Daniel Nermark and Freddie Lindgren had all dropped just one point and sat on the 5 point mark.

In the third stanza Peter Karlsson won again to keep in front and there were wins for James Grieves, Jason Lyons and Daniel Giffard. Peter Karlsson had now opened up a two point lead on the field with 9 points while Gary Havelock, Chris Holder and James Grieves had 7 with Daniel Nermark on 6.

The penultimate group of four races produced a win for Gary Havelock in heat 13 to keep in touch but Peter Karlsson won heat 14 to keep his two point lead. Daniel Nermark kept his challenge going with a win in heat 15 while Chris Holder did likewise in heat 16 beating Chris Kerr. These results kept Peter Karlsson two points in front of Gary Havelock, and Chris Holder with Daniel Nermark another point adrift.

In the last set of races, James Grieves won heat 17 in a heat where Gary Havelock fell ending his chances of victory. Heat 18 went to Josef Franc while Chris Holder won heat 19 to keep the pressure on Peter Karlsson who was out in heat 20 against Daniel Nermark, Jason Lyons and Chris Kerr. Nermark made the gate in the first staging of the race running the entire field out to the fence and causing Chris Kerr to fall. The race was rerun with all four back and Peter Karlsson made no mistake at the second attempt winning from Daniel Nermark and Lyons to take the trophy.

Scorers: Peter Karlsson 15, Chris Holder 13, Daniel Nermark 11, Gary Havelock 10, Josef Franc 10, James Grieves 10, Lewis Bridger 9, Jason Lyons 7, Chris Kerr 6, Daniel Giffard 6, Freddie Lindgren 6, Ludvig Lindgren 5, Casper Wortman 5, Nicolai Klindt, Kenneth Hansen 1, Joe Haines 1 (5), Josh Auty N (1).

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Wednesday, 17 October



Tonight’s only meeting saw the staging of the Pride of the East at King’s Lynn .


Pride of the East: at King’s Lynn

Winner: Chris Holder (Isle of Wight)
Second: Tomas Topinka (King’s Lynn)
Third: Daniel Nermark (King’s Lynn)

The format for this individual meeting was a 16 rider, 20 heat full individual followed by a grand final in which the top four point scorers from the qualifying heats took part.

The opening four races provided wins for Tomas Topinka from his team mate, Daniel Nermark, and former team mate, Kevin Doolan in heat 1; for Chris Holder from Mark Lemon and Simon Lambert in heat 2; for Josef Franc from Chris Mills and Leigh Lanham in heat 3; then for Shaun Tacey from Chris Schramm in a race which had only two finishers after falls for Cameron Woodward and, in the rerun, for Kozza Smith.

The second set of four races saw Chris Holder and Tomas Topinka make it two wins from two races in heats 5 and 7 respectively while Lewis Bridger won heat 6 and Daniel Nermark heat 8. This meant that the tournament leaders after maximum men, Holder and Topinka, for the top four places after two rides each were Daniel Nermark and Josef Franc with 5 points each and Chris Mills on 4 points.

In the third stanza Kevin Doolan joined the chase for a top four place by beating Josef Franc in heat 9 then Chris Holder remained unbeaten in heat 10 by winning from Lewis Bridger. Tomas Topinka joined Holder on maximum points after winning heat 11 from Leigh Lanham and Daniel Nermark kept his challenge going by winning heat 12 from Chris Schramm. So following the unbeaten Topinka and Holder on 9 points each were Daniel Nermark on 8, Josef Franc on 7 and Kevin Doolan on 6. The Elite League riders Lewis Bridger, Mark Lemon, Leigh Lanham and Cameron Woodward were all but out of it even at this early stage.

The penultimate group of four races produced a win for Kevin Doolan in heat 13 then Lewis Bridger hauled himself back into contention by beating Josef Franc in heat 14. The two leaders met in heat 15 and it was Tomas Topinka who emerged successful ahead of Chris Holder. Daniel Nermark won heat 16 to keep right on the leader’s tail. This meant that after four rides each Tomas Topinka had 12 points with Chris Holder and Daniel Nermark on 11. These three looked a good bet for the final but the fourth place now seemed to be a contest between Kevin Doolan and Josef Franc on 9 with Lewis Bridger on 8.

In the last set of races, Kevin Doolan took a giant step towards making the final by winning heat 17 leaving Lewis Bridger’s win in heat 18 too late a success to get him there too. Tomas Topinka completed his five rides with the maximum 15 points by winning heat 19 then in a crucial heat 20 Chris Holder won from Daniel Nermark and Cameron Woodward leaving Josef Franc to finish last and blow his chance to make the final.

The final was between Tomas Topinka (15), Chris Holder (14), Daniel Nermark (13) and Kevin Doolan (12). Chris Holder won the trophy by winning the race from Tomas Topinka while Daniel Nermark took third place from Kevin Doolan.

Scorers from the qualifying heats: Tomas Topinka 15, Chris Holder 14, Daniel Nermark 13, Kevin Doolan 12, Lewis Bridger 11, Josef Franc 9, Chris Mills 8, Chris Schramm 7, Mark Lemon 6, Leigh Lanham 6, Shaun Tacey 5, Adam Allott 4, Cameron Woodward 4, Darren Mallett 3, Simon Lambert 2, Kozza Smith 0 (2).

Around the Premier League Tracks 2007

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Sunday, 14 October

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Three matches were raced today. Two of the were at Glasgow where the Tigers ran a double header. In their first match they faced Birmingham in a Premier League match. They then took on Stoke again in a Premier League match. The other match was at Newcastle where the Diamonds raced against Redcar in the first leg of the Tyne Tees trophy.

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Premier League: Glasgow 43, Birmingham 46 Birmingham won the aggregate bonus point by 99-83

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Glasgow had Kauko Nieminen guesting for the injured Shane Parker with Rider Replacement operating for Craig Watson at number 1 while Birmingham also used Rider Replacement at number 1 for Manuel Hauzinger and had Shaun Tacey at number 4 for Henrik Moller, Chris Schramm at number 5 for Henning Bager and John Branney at number 6 for Ben Powell.

This turned out to be a thrilling and exciting meeting marred by two dreadful accidents, the first of which resulted in a trip for David McAllan to hospital and a ban from both meetings for Phil Morris. The second accident might have cost Glasgow the match as Robert Ksiezak went over the fence after lifting while on a 5-1 with his partner in the last race.

Although Chris Schramm led the opening heat early on he was passed by David McAllan. Phil Morris also passed Schramm for second place so the race was shared. Birmingham took the lead in heat 2. John Branney made the gate to win the race from Michael Coles while Lee Smart eventually got the better of Lee Dicken for third place and a 2-4. Robert Ksiezak made the gate in heat 3 to win from Jason Lyons. Behind them Shaun Tacey moved Nieminen out to move into third place but Nieminen re-passed him on the third lap for a 4-2 which levelled the scores again. Heat 4 was won by Chris Schramm for a 3-3 which took the score to 12-12.

Jason Lyons saw off Robert Ksiezak at the start of heat 5. Kauko Nieminen moved into second place and the race was shared but in heat 6 Glasgow took the lead with a 4-2 thanks to a win from Nieminen. Chris Schramm got the better of a duel with David McAllan for second place to put the Tigers two points ahead. However the Brummies hit back with a 1-5 wiping out the Glasgow lead and putting themselves back in front in heat 7 when Shaun Tacey and Jason Lyons beat Trent Leverington. A David McAllan win in heat 8 resulted in a shared heat with the score now standing at 23-25.

Heat 9 was a disaster for the visitors as they conceded a 5-0. Chris Schramm was excluded for bringing down Robert Ksiezak in the first running while in the rerun John Branney fell and was excluded from the second rerun which gave the Tigers a gift five points. This resulted in Glasgow re-taking the lead by a three point margin but Birmingham knocked two points off that in heat 10 when Jason Lyons won from David McAllan with Shaun Tacey taking third place ahead of Leverington. Birmingham followed this with a 1-5 from Shaun Tacey and Phil Morris with Trent Leverington and Michael Coles trailing at the back to put the Brummies three points ahead again, a lead they kept after a shared heat 12 won by Jason Lyons which took the score to 34-37.

In heat 13 Phil Morris took David McAllan wide on the fourth bend and the Glasgow rider crashed heavily into the fence. At first it looked a serious enough accident to call for an emergency ambulance but later reports suggested that McAllan’s injuries were not as bad as had at first seemed. Nonetheless he went to hospital for a check up and withdrew from this and the following meeting. Referee Jim McGregor took a dim enough view of the incident to band Phil Morris from taking any further part in this meeting and also banned him from the Stoke meeting which was to follow and in which Morris was due to have been a guest for Glenn Cunningham effectively imposing a one match ban on the Birmingham rider. In the rerun Chris Schramm won from Leverington and Dicken who had to push home for a point to share the heat 3-3. Shaun Tacey won heat 14 to maintain Birmingham’s lead so they went into the last heat leading by three points with Glasgow needing a 5-1 to pull it round. The Tigers looked as if they might do it too when Kauko Nieminen and Robert Ksiezak led from the start. With Jason Lyons pressing hard Ksiezak found some extra grip on the fourth bend causing his bike to lift and the rider to be catapulted over the fence into the brick wall. Amazingly he walked away from the accident. The race was awarded as a 3-3 so Birmingham took all three points.

Scorers: For Glasgow – Kauko Nieminen 14 (6), David McAllan 9 (4), Robert Ksiezak 8+2 (6), Lee Dicken 5+3 (6), Trent Leverington 5+1 (5), Michael Coles 2 (3).

For Birmingham – Jason Lyons 15+1 (6), Shaun Tacey 10 (5), Chris Schramm 10+2 (5), Phil Morris 6+1 (5), John Branney 3 (3), Lee Smart 2+1 (4).

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Premier League: Glasgow 43 , Stoke 41 Glasgow won the bonus Point on aggregate by 94-84. The match was curtailed to 14 heats after a horrendous looking accident in heat 15 which was not rerun.

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Glasgow were without Craig Watson, Shane Parker, Robert Ksiezak and David McAllan for this match. They again had Kauko Nieminen as a guest for Parker and used Rider Replacement for Craig Watson. They also drafted in Lee Smart for McAllan and John Branney for Robert Ksiezak. Gary Beaton was nominated as their number 8. Stoke were without Rusty Harrison, Glenn Cunningham, Chris Schramm and Jaimie Smith so used Rider Replacement at number 4 and had Shaun Tacey as a guest at number 3 and Chris Schramm as a guest at number 5. Jaimie Smith was replaced by Luke Priest at number 7. This meant that four of the riders who represented Birmingham in the first meeting also took part in the second! Who said that double-headers were expensive to run?

Stoke got off to a bad start when Ben Barker was excluded for having no dirt deflector in heat 1. He came back into the race off 15 metres but Leverington and Smart took a 5-1 from the heat with Barker finishing ahead of his partner, Lee Complin. Stoke hit back with a 2-4 in the reserves race. Luke Priest and Barrie Evans made the gate but on the last bend Lee Dicken passed Evans for second place to prevent what had looked like a 1-5. Kauko Nieminen won heat 3 but Barrie Evans and Shaun Tacey shared the points behind him for a 3-3. Glasgow stormed into a six point lead in heat 4 when Leverington and Dicken saw off Chris Schramm for a 5-1 which took the score to 15-9.

The Tigers seemed to be on easy street with another 5-1 in heat 5 as John Branney and Kauko Nieminen won from Lee Complin after Ben Barker had pulled out of the race at the tapes. The Tigers’ had now opened up a ten point lead and Stoke must have regretted not giving a Tactical Ride to Chris Schramm in heat 6 when he won it accompanied by his partner, Barrie Evans for a 1-5 to the Potters cutting the gap to six points. It was down to two points when Stoke hit home another 1-5 in heat 7 as Lee Complin and Shaun Tacey made the gate to keep Trent Leverington back in third place. With the TR Stoke could have been a point ahead at this stage. Back came Glasgow in heat 8 with another 5-1 this time from Lee Dicken and Lee Smart from Ben Barker to open their lead to six points again with the score now at 27-21.

With Kauko Nieminen out in three of the next four heats Glasgow were looking to put this match to bed and in heat 9 Nieminen won from Barrie Evans and Chris Schramm for a 3-3. In heat 10 Nieminen won again but this time it wasn’t so easy as Shaun Tacey passed him at the end of the third lap. However he re-passed Tacey and with Chris Schramm third this race was shared too. In heat 11 Stoke pulled two points back. Lee Complin won for the second time from Trent Leverington while Ben Barker took third place from Michael Coles for a 2-4. In heat 12 it was Nieminen again but again Stoke packed the minor places for a shared race to keep within touching distance and take the score to 38-34.

In heat 13 Glasgow entrusted the R/R ride to their number 8 Gary Beaton. Lee Complin made it three race wins on the trot by beating Trent Leverington while Chris Schramm finished third for a 2-4 which cut the Tigers’ lead to two points with just two races to go. John Branney came to the Tigers’ rescue by winning the heat but Ben Barker and Barrie Evans set up another last heat decider by sharing the points behind him. In heat 15 there was another horrendous accident when Chris Schramm spun 360 degrees entering the third bend and Lee Complin clipped him at full speed. The momentum took Complin over the safety fence and he crashed into the brick wall in front of the bar area at Ashfield. With the fence in a state of disrepair the meeting was abandoned at this point with the score standing as at heat 14.

Scorers: For Glasgow – Kauko Nieminen 14+1 (5)(paid maximum), Trent Leverington 11 (5), Lee Dicken 7+1 (5), John Branney 6 (4), Lee Smart 5+2 (4), Michael Coles 0 (4), Gary Beaton 0 (1).

For Stoke – Barrie Evans 10+2 (6), Lee Complin 10 (5), Chris Schramm 7+2 (5), Shan Tacey 6+3 (4), Ben Barker 5 (5), Luke Priest 3 (3).

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Tyne Tees Trophy, first leg: Newcastle 45, Redcar 45

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Newcastle were without Christian Henry and Jonas Raun so had George Stancl as a guest at number 1. Craig Branney was due to guest at number 2 for the Diamonds but pulled out of the meeting so they used Rider Replacement instead. Redcar were without Mathieu Tressarieu and had Adam Roynon as a guest at number 2 instead.
George Stancl passed Gary Havelock at the end of the first lap to go on to win the opening heat while Sam Dore’s fall on the third lap ensured a shared heat. In the reserves race the Bears threatened to score a 1-5 until Jack Hargreaves hit a rut and fell causing the race to be awarded as a 3-3. Heat 3 was shared too. Josef Franc made the gate from James Grieves and, although Sean Stoddart briefly held third place, he was passed by Josh Auty for the third consecutive 3-3. The deadlock was broken in heat 4. Chris Kerr came from the back to move into second place behind Carl Wilkinson while Paul Clews got up to pip Jack Hargreaves on the line for a 4-2 taking the score to 13-11.

In heat 5 Sean Stoddart and Josef Franc made the gate and there was nothing Gary Havelock could do about the 5-1 which extended the Diamonds’ lead to six points. George Stancl kept it that way with a heat 6 win from Giffard and Kerr but the Bears hit back with a 2-4 in heat 7 when James Grieves beat a hard-pressing Carl Wilkinson with Josh Auty in third place. Newcastle then restored their six point lead by taking a 4-2 in heat 8. Carl Wilkinson (R/R) won the race from Adam Roynon while Paul Clews picked up third place taking the score to 27-21.

Josef Franc remained unbeaten by an opponent in heat 9 winning it from Chris Kerr. However Daniel Giffard picked up the third place point when Sean Stoddart fell for another shared race. James Grieves beat George Stancl in heat 10 but this time Sean Stoddart took third place from Josh Auty so this heat was shared too. Redcar hit back with a vengeance though. In heat 11 Adam Roynon made the gate closely followed by Gary Havelock and Carl Wilkinson was left to follow the two Bears home for a 1-5 which closed the gap between the sides to two points. James Grieves kept the pressure on by winning heat 12 from the previously unbeaten Josef Franc for a 3-3 which took the score to 37-35.

The Redcar comeback was complete when they took a 2-4 in heat 13. Gary Havelock beat George Stancl with Chris Kerr in third place after Carl Wilkinson had fallen on the third lap for a 2-4. Sean Stoddart stopped the run of four consecutive race winners for the Bears by winning heat 14 but it was only good enough to share the race as Jack Hargreaves and Josh Auty team rode behind him to keep Paul Clews at the back. In the last race James Grieves tied the match by beating George Stancl and Josef Franc with Gary Havelock stuck at the back.

Scorers: For Newcastle – George Stancl 12 (5), Josef Franc 11+2 (5), Carl Wilkinson 9 (5), Sean Stoddart 7+1 (5), Paul Clews 5+1 (7), Sam Dore 1+1 (3).

For Redcar – James Grieves 14 (5), Gary Havelock 8+1 (5), Chris Kerr 6+1 (4), Adam Roynon 6+1 (4), Daniel Giffard 6+1 (4), Josh Auty 3+2 (4), Jack Hargreaves 2 (4).