Around the Premier League Tracks 2008
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Thursday, 13 March
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It was Sheffield’s turn to open their season tonight. Their choice of opponents for their first match was Elite League Coventry in the first leg of a Challenge Match. With Berwick, Newcastle and King’s Lynn all starting their season with home defeats the Tigers looked odds-on to follow the pattern. Meanwhile two other Premier League sides were due to be in action although on Elite League tracks. Peterborough were hosts to Mildenhall but the match at Ipswich where the Witches were due to race their return match against King’s Lynn in the second leg of the East Anglian Cup was postponed due to a waterlogged track. The two teams will try again tomorrow night.


Challenge Match (first leg): Sheffield 37, Coventry 56


Sheffield introduced newcomers Lee Smethills and Sam Martin to the team while Coventry’s new boys were Simon Stead, Andreas Messing and Stanislaw Burza.

Sheffield got off to a poor start as the Bees scored a 1-5 from the opening race. Billy Janniro passed Andre Compton then Joel Parsons to join Rory Schlein up front for the maximum and another two point advantage went Coventry’s way in the reserves race with a win from Claus Vissing for a 2-4. Back stormed Sheffield in heat 3 with a 5-1 from Ben Wilson and Ricky Ashworth at the expense of Chris Harris. Their joy was short-lived though as Coventry struck another 1-5 in heat 4 through the fast gating of Simon Stead and Stan Burza, taking the score to 9-15.

An exciting heat 5 saw Ben Wilson hold off Billy Janniro who in turn held off Ricky Ashworth with Rory Schlein stuck at the back for a 4-2 cutting the lead to four points.

The Tigers pulled two more points back with another 4-2 when Andre Compton beat Simon Stead in heat 6. Just as the meeting was boiling up into a close fought contest, Coventry moved up a gear and slammed home two 5-1s in the next two races. With Sheffield’s third pairing struggling, Chris Harris and Oliver Allen hit home the first then Billy Janniro and Stan Burza followed up with the second rocketing the Bees into a 19-29 lead.

Ricky Ashworth and Ben Wilson raised home spirits with a 4-2 when Simon Stead could only split the pair but Coventry effectively killed the Tigers’ chances stone dead with two more 1-5s in heats 10 and 11. Chris Harris and Oliver Allen did the damage in heat 10 by heading home Andre Compton then Billy Janniro and Rory Schlein added the second against Paul Cooper. Sheffield then gave Ricky Ashworth a Tactical Ride and he responded by winning heat 12 from Chris Harris. Andreas Messing was third though restricting Sheffield’s heat advantage to 6-3 with the score now standing at 31-44.

Simon Stead beat Andre Compton in heat 13 and Rory Schlein’s third place gave the Bees a 2-4 and they added their seventh 1-5 of the meeting in heat 14 as Oliver Allen and Stan Burza beat Ben Wilson. Ricky then Ashworth completed a fine personal performance by winning the final heat from Stead and Janniro for the match’s one and only 3-3.

Scorers: For Sheffield – Ricky Ashworth 15+1 (5) (including a 6 point TR), Ben Wilson 8 (5), Andre Compton 6 (4), Paul Cooper 3 (4), Joel Parsons 3 (4), Lee Smethills 2 (4), Sam Martin 0 (4).

For Coventry – Simon Stead 12 (5), Billy Janniro 11+2 (5), Chris Harris 9 (4), Oliver Allen 7+2 (4), Stanislaw Burza 7+3 (4), Rory Schlein 6+1 (4), Andreas Messing 4 (4).



Challenge Match: Peterborough 56, Mildenhall 34


Peterborough were at full strength while Mildenhall had Jaimie Smith as a guest at number 2.

It was hard to understand the logic of this fixture since it was clear that it was more of a mismatch than a match. The Fen Tigers look to be a team of dubious Premier League strength yet here they were riding at Peterborough against the full strength Elite League side. I wonder what the fans made of this match though having paid good money to watch what turned out to be a bit of a farce.

As it happened the Fen Tigers didn’t do too badly. With Jaimie Smith holding off Sam Simota in the opening race won by Hans Andersen they lost a 4-2 but shared the second race won by Claus Vissing when James Cockle and Mark Baseby relegated Henrik Moller to the back. However two Panthers’ 5-1s put them into a 10 point lead with the score at 17-7.

The Panthers scored another two 5-1s in the next two races to stretch the lead to 18 points but they then conceded a 1-5 when Jan Graversen and Casper Wortmann led home Henrik Moller after Daniel King’s bike had packed up at the gate. Claus Vissing rode a fine race to win heat 8 but, again, Jaimie Smith beat Sam Simota for second so the Panthers took a 4-2 to stretch the lead to 32-16.

Mark Baseby fell at the start of heat 9 causing a rerun from which he was excluded then, in the rerun, Robbie Kessler also fell after his bike had reared and he too was excluded giving the Panthers a 5-0. Morten Risager, also involved in Kessler’s crash, was withdrawn from the meeting and was replaced in the second rerun by Henrik Moller. This was followed by an Andersen/Simota 5-1 then Jaimie Smith took a Tactical ride in heat 11. A cracking race between Daniel King and Kai Laukkanen resulted in King getting the verdict after a wide sweep saw him pass Laukkanen on the last two bends. With Jaimie Smith keeping Henrik Moller at the back the Fen Tigers took a 3-4 from the race. Kenneth Bjerre pulled out of his last ride to allow Henrik Moller more track experience but it didn’t help the Dane who again finished at the back of the field in a race won by Claus Vissing. The 3-3 took the score to 48-24.

Hans Andersen then pulled out to give Claus Vissing an extra ride and he finished third to Daniel King and Kai Laukkanen for a 4-2 to the Panthers. Both Panthers’ reserves were out again for heat 14. With Claus Vissing leading Casper Wortman and Henrik Moller it looked another 4-2 but Moller suffered an engine failure so the race was shared. Moller was out again in heat 15 – this time with Sam Simota (apparently this heat did not count towards the final score – are there no rules for these challenge matches or do you just make them up as you go along?). Mildenhall took full advantage when Jan Graversen and Kai Laukkanen took a 1-5 from the race. Since it seems unbelievable that heat 15 can be discounted it has been included in the final score.

Scorers: For Peterborough – Claus Vissing 16 (6), Kenneth Bjerre 9 (3), Hans Andersen 8+1 (3), Daniel King 8+1 (4), Sam Simota 8+1 (5), Morten Risager 4+2 (2), Henrik Moller 3+1 (7).

For Mildenhall – Jan Graversen 8+1 (5), Kai Laukkanen 7+1 (5), Jaimie Smith 6 (4) (including a 2 point TR), Casper Wortman 5+1 (4), James Cockle 4+1 (5), Mark Baseby 3+1 (5), Robbie Kessler 1 (3).