Around the Premier League Tracks 2007
.
.

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.