Around the Premier League Tracks 2008
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Thursday, 20 March
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With the match at Redcar, where the Bears were due to meet Stoke in a Premier Trophy match, being postponed till Monday because of a waterlogged track, tonight’s sole action was at Sheffield where the Tigers raced against Scunthorpe who were making their first appearance in a Premier Trophy match.


Premier Trophy: Sheffield 57, Scunthorpe 36.


Sheffield were at full strength although the team was rearranged with Ricky Ashworth moving to number 1 and Andre Compton to number 3. Ben Wilson took over the third heatleader spot at Number 5 with Paul Cooper at number 4 Scunthorpe lined up with Andrew Moore and Carl Wilkinson at 1 and 2; Magnus Karlsson and Viktor Bergstrom at 3 and 4; while Richard Hall plus the two reserves, Byron Bekker and Benji Compton, formed the third pairing.

The Scorpions might have wished for a less formidable trip for their first match in Premier League circles than a visit to Owlerton stadium but, if Sheffield thought they were in for an easy time of it, they were mistaken. It wasn’t until the second half of the match that Sheffield pulled well clear of the newcomers.

When Andrew Moore touched the tapes and had to go from 15 metres back in the first heat, Sheffield cashed in with a 5-1 then added a 4-2 in the reserves race won by Lee Smethills. Magnus Karlsson beat Andre Compton in the third race for a shared heat then the visitors hit back in heat 4 with a 2-4 after Richard hall had come through the field to win the race from Ben Wilson taking the score to 14-10.

An Andre Compton win in heat 5 led to a 4-2 for the Tigers then they pulled away further with a 5-1 from the Ashworth/Parsons combine to stretch the lead to 10 points. The Scorpions might have given the impressive Karlsson a TR in heat 7 but they didn’t. Karlsson won the heat from Ben Wilson while Victor Bergstrom got on the score chart with third producing a 2-4 cutting the lead to eight points. However Sheffield regained their ten point lead with a 4-2 in heat 8 won by Joel Parsons from Benji Compton. Disappointingly for the Scorpions, Carl Wilkinson ran a third consecutive last as the score moved to 29-19.

It was hard to understand the Scorpions’ logic when they handed the TR to Richard Hall in heat 9 when he was up against Andre Compton but they clearly knew what they were doing as Hall obliged with the full six points from Cooper and Compton for a 3-6 cutting the home side’s lead to seven points. The Ashworth/Parsons pairing was proving a real thorn in the visitors’ side as another 5-1 went Sheffield’s way in heat 10 when they both passed the unbeaten Magnus Karlsson relegating him to third place to register their third 5-1 on the trot and increase the Tigers’ lead to 11 points. Ben Wilson won heat 11 for a share of the points but Sheffield added another two points to their lead with a 4-2 in heat 12 as Andre Compton reversed his heat 3 defeat by Magnus Karlsson by beating the Swede with Smethills taking third for a 4-2. The score was now 44-31.

Heat 13 provided an excellent race between Ashworth Wilson and Moore. It was won by Wilson from Moore and Ashworth. Sheffield continued to pull further away with this 4-2 and even more so with a 5-1 from heat 14 from Smethills and Cooper. The last heat had to be rerun after Richard Hall fell and was excluded. Ricky Ashworth won the rerun from Magnus Karlsson for a final 4-2 for a 21 point victory.

Scorers: For Sheffield – Ricky Ashworth 12+1 (5), Joel Parsons 11+2 (5), Lee Smethills 10 (5), Andre Compton 9+1 (4), Ben Wilson 8 (4), Paul Cooper 6+2 (4), Sam Martin 1 (3).

For Scunthorpe – Magnus Karlsson 11 (5), Richard Hall 10 (5) (with 6 point TR), Andrew Moore 7 (4), Benji Compton 6+1 (6), Viktor Bergstrom 2 (4), Carl Wilkinson 0 (3), Byron Bekker 0 (3).