Around the Premier League Tracks 2008
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Wednesday, 12 March
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Tonight’s match was at King’s Lynn where the Stars took on Ipswich in the first leg of the East Anglian Cup.


East Anglian Cup (first leg): King’s Lynn 34, Ipswich 58.


King’s Lynn were at full strength welcoming back to the side Sean Tacey and Kevin Doolan. New to the team were Kozza Smith and Rusty Harrison while John Oliver returned after his horrendous injuries of last season. Ipswich too were at full strength.

King’s Lynn became the third Premier League track to open its doors for the season in this inter-league challenge match for the East Anglian Cup, the second leg scheduled for tomorrow night. Although it was basically a season opener for the riders to gear up for the long season ahead there was added interest by the end of season play off between Premier and Elite sides to determine promotion and relegation. The home side thus had an early season chance to assess their chances against higher league opposition. The result was not encouraging for them.

Tomas Topinka gave the home fans plenty to cheer about after passing Swiderski and Miskowiak to win the opening heat but it was only good enough for a share of the points. The Witches’ reserves, Schramm and Kroner, then punched home a tapes to flag 1-5 in the reserves race to storm into a four point lead. The Stars responded with a 4-2 after Kevin Doolan passed Chris Louis to pull two points back but another 1-5 for the visitors from Jaroslaw Hampel and Chris Schramm in the fourth heat stretched the lead to six points with the score at 9-15 leaving the home side facing an uphill battle.

A titanic struggle between Kevin Doolan and Robert Miskowiak in heat 5 was eventually won by Doolan but, with Kozza Smith surrendering his third place by falling, the result was a shared race. Shaun Tacey then fell while at the back in heat 6 leaving Topinka to fight a lone battle in the rerun in which Hampel was just too fast for the Stars’ skipper. The 2-4 increased the lead to eight points and it stretched further to twelve in the next race when Steve Johnston and Chris Louis added another 1-5. Ipswich were almost out of sight with heat 8 already looking a forlorn hope for King’s Lynn. However the home riders made better starts in this race only for Piotr Swiderski to take the lead within a lap and Chris Schramm to pass Simon Lambert for third place and another 2-4 to the Witches. The score now stood at 17-31.

Jarek Hampel continued on his unbeaten way in heat 9 ending Kevin Doolan’s maximum hopes and again there was back-up for him as Tobias Kroner took third. This 2-4 to Ipswich saw the lead extend to 16 points before the interval. There was no change after the break. Chris Louis beat Tomas Topinka in heat 10 and Steve Johnston took third for a third consecutive 2-4. Ipswich had now scored 29 points in the last 7 heats and led by eighteen points. Piotr Swiderski scored his second race win in heat 11. Although John Oliver rode well to beat Robert Miskowiak, a fourth consecutive 2-4 went the visitors’ way putting them twenty points ahead. Kevin Doolan then took a Tactical Ride in heat 12 but it was John Louis who won the race. Doolan did pass the faster gating Kroner but his double points only gave the Stars a shared race by 4-4 taking the score to 27-47.

Hampel eased to his fourth win in heat 13 while there was a ding-dong battle behind him for second place between Topinka, Harrison and Miskowiak before the Witch suffered an engine failure leaving the Stars’ two to follow Hampel home for a 3-3. It looked like another 1-5 for Ipswich in heat 14 as Steve Johnston and Chris Schramm led until the final lap but a determined challenge by Kozza Smith saw him pass Schramm to limit the damage to a 2-4. In the last race Jarek Hampel completed a flawless maximum beating Tomas Topinka. With Piotr Swiderski taking third from Kevin Doolan, Ipswich scored their seventh 2-4 in the last ten heats. Perhaps it’s as well that King’s Lynn have recruited Jason Crump to bolster their side for tomorrow night’s return match.

Scorers: For King’s Lynn – Kevin Doolan 12 (including a 4 point TR) (5), Tomas Topinka 11 (5), Kozza Smith 3 (4), John Oliver 3 (4), Rusty Harrison 2+1 (4), Shaun Tacey 2 (4), Simon Lambert 1 (5).

For Ipswich – Jaroslaw Hampel 15 (5) (full maximum), Chris Louis 10+1 (4), Piotr Swiderski 10+1 (5), Chris Schramm 7+1 (4), Steve Johnston 7 (4), Tobias Kroner 5+1 (4), Robert Miskowiak 4+1 (4).