Around the Premier League Tracks 2007

.

.

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).