Around the Premier League Tracks 2007

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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).