Around the Premier League Tracks 2007
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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.