Around the Premier League Tracks 2007 - the close season 2007/8

.

.

Thursday, 15 November


Premier League News



Workington: Carl Stonehewer is determined that he’ll be fit for the new season although he is not sure yet where he will be riding:

.
WORKINGTON Comets legend Carl Stonehewer has admitted he can no longer expect to be the first name on the team sheet. The 35-year-old Manchester-based rider has confirmed he will be back racing next March - but he has yet to talk to the new Workington management team.

.

He attended the Comets presentation night earlier in the month and has been swimming regularly as he continues to make good progress from the back injury he sustained in July. The former skipper had been drafted back into the Workington team early in the season after an 18-month lay-off, following an injury to Danish rider Kenneth Hansen. Stonehewer’s career looked over after he suffered a badly burnt arm in a 2005 track smash which meant he missed the whole of 2006.

.

Said Stonehewer: “I'm progressing well and will be fit for the start of next season, but at the minute I don't know where I'll be riding. Obviously I would like to ride for Workington but at this stage I cannot say for sure what's happening. I haven't spoken to Keith Denham or Ian Thomas about next season. “Workington have signed Kauko (Nieminen) and Charles (Wright), but it's really too soon to do much more than that. The promoters still need to sort things out and then we'll see if there is room for me back at Workington. “Everyone knows I love the place and would like to be back there, but I'm no longer the out and out number one rider I was and therefore I suppose I can no longer expect to be the first name on the team sheet.

.

“All I can say at this stage is that I will be back on a bike racing again next season and only time will tell where that will be.” Stonehewer has also sung the praises of former owner Tony Mole following the Keith Denham takeover - as well as wishing the new man well. “Tony was the man with the courage to put his money into bringing speedway back to Workington. Crowds have always been good but they did take a bit of a dip and I think Tony realised the time had come to move on and let someone new with fresh ideas have a go at it.

.

“I'm sure the right man has bought it in Keith Denham. He's local, successful and has loads of fresh ideas about how to take the club forward and I think we all wish him all the very best in that. I've know Keith a long time and I'm sure he will be a big success at Workington. “I never thought I would ever see him and Ian Thomas working together, but Ian is a very shrewd speedway promoter with all the experience needed to go alongside Keith.

.

Hopefully it will be a combination which works for the good of Workington.” Stonehewer finished the season 11th in the Premier League averages on 9.17, which came from 17 matches and 82 rides.

There’s also news that the Derwent Park track is to receive a major upgrade:

WORK on the Derwent Park speedway track has been going on since the weekend with around 2,500 tons of shale removed from the circuit. New owner Keith Denham wants the new track bedded in over the winter ready for the start of the 2008 season.

.

And Denham has also promised Workington fans that as long as he’s involved there won’t be any more stock car racing at the track. “We’ve had a lot of volunteers down there getting stuck in while the weather has been good and we’ve made a lot of progress.

.

All the shale has been removed and we’re now in the process of screening it all to remove the big, dangerous pieces. “The depth of the shale in certain parts of the track varied by a good few inches and we are going to do a fair bit of work on those areas before the shale is put back down. We still have to take out the concrete blocks left for the stock car fence and it really was frightening to see what was in there. “I can categorically state now that as long as I have anything to do with Workington speedway there won’t be any stock car racing on this track.

.

I am determined to make the Derwent Park raceway the best and most exciting in the country and I’m sure we will see some different racing next season. “I am fairly confident, that when we get the track sorted as we want, the track record will go on opening night,” he said. Denham bought the Comets speedway club off previous owner Tony Mole at the end of last month and is bidding to re-create ‘the Workington experience’ at Derwent Park. “I want to get back to what it was like in 1999, 2000 and 2001. The atmosphere was absolutely incredible and you can only do that with entertainment. People used to come from miles and miles around and we want them coming from all over the area again by providing top-class entertainment.

.

“We are going out to get the people to come. We will properly market the team and there will be three or four people from my company helping to do that Denham is also to seek permission from the Workington directors to widen the track in front of the grand-stand. That wouldn’t mean taking anything else off the rugby pitch but moving towards the stand. “I have a meeting arranged for this Saturday with the Workington board and I have to say that so far they couldn’t have been more co-operative, receptive and pro-active. I’m hoping we can have a long and fruitful partnership at Derwent Park. It was good to see the Town chairman Dave Bowden down at the week-end to watch us working on the track,” said Denham. He is also planning a fans forum when he will be giving an up-date on developments on the track and with the team, as well as answer questions from the supporters.

Source: News and Star


Berwick: Peter Waite is alarmed at the prospect of possibly four new teams being admitted to the Premier League next year in which case he sees a split with regionalisation as possibly the way forward:

BERWICK gaffer Peter Waite claims speedway’s Premier League faces a north-south split. Waite said: “It looks a s though FOUR new clubs could gain admittance at the annual conference.

.

It costs us £1,500 to send a team to the Isle of Wight and that’s just travel costs. Now Plymouth want in.“Running the Premier League on a regional basis could be speedway’s saviour. If four clubs are accepted, we will have a rider shortage. It would make sense to have home and away fixtures against the other northern sides.”

Source: The Sun