Around the Premier League Tracks 2007
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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).
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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